This week, Abigail is noticeably staying awake for longer periods of time. Before, she'd wake up and immediately start crying until she is fed. She used to fall asleep towards the end of her feeding, and then we would change her, swaddle her, and then back to sleep she'd go. Now, our routine is changing a bit. She seems to wake up and lay there for a little bit-- happily looking around, kicking her legs and making her cute cooing and gurgling sounds. Soon enough though, she'll cry to let me know she's hungry. After eating, burping and being changed, she's still wide awake and usually very alert and happy. She usually "talks" to us, smiles, and occasionally laughs in response to whatever we're doing. She definitely loves it when we talk to her, play music, or even just make silly noises.
Besides this, Abigail has gotten a lot more expressive with her face and even with the sounds she makes. She seems to be learning how to move and control the different muscles in her face. She can raise her eyebrows, and I've even seen her raise them one side at a time, too. She can move her lips and eyes to make different expressions, and she is learning to make more noises now. We are definitely starting to be able to tell how she's feeling just by listening to her noises.
Her neck and back muscles are getting much stronger. I admit, they always have been surprisingly strong for her age...even the nurses were surprised that she was almost able to turn over completely before she was 2 weeks old. But now, she has much better control of her muscles, rather than the jerky random lifts and turns her neck was doing before. She turns her head to face where ever she hears noise. I doubt she can see far enough, but she sure loves to turn her head towards the TV to make it look like she's watching it. Her eyes are able to track so much better now too! She makes good eye contact, and can follow whatever she's interested in as long as it doesn't move too fast.
Also, Abigail is starting to learn and remember certain routines. For instance, she knows our feeding, burping, and changing routine very well. She can be crying hysterically because she's hungry...but when I put her to lay on her side on the Brest Friend, she automatically calms down a bit, and knows to open her mouth, because she's about to be fed. Also, she knows the routine when her dad takes her to her room to change her diaper, although she's still not crazy about having her clothes changed; she especially dislikes having the shirt or whatever go over her head and face.
This week, I also starting working on sleep training. My friend had posted on facebook about letting her baby "cry it out." Another mom friend of mine that I was talking to also mentioned to me how hard it is for her to put her 1 year old down to sleep, because he's so used to being rocked to sleep and held every time. Apparently he can't fall asleep any other way. I'm definitely not a fan of just letting the baby lay there and cry herself to sleep, but in an effort to make our routine a little easier and hopefully make putting her to sleep easier in the future...I've started putting Abigail down in her bed as soon as I see that she appears sleepy, but not completely asleep. As soon as I put her down, she usually wakes up a bit. But then, I give her her pacifier, give her a kiss on her forehead, and gently stroke her head and run my fingers through her hair. I will usually walk away from her sight and see if she can fall asleep on her own. Sometimes she does. But other times when she still is a little fussy, I'll turn on her puppy that plays white noise, and that usually helps her fall asleep. She loves that thing! It's funny because I had seen it at Target long before she was even born, and I always used to play with it and tell Michael that I wanted it for the baby. He ended out getting it for her and gave it to me for Christmas, when I was still only 4 months pregnant.
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| Sleeping with her puppy |
- Likes: being swaddled, toys with lights and music, pop music with a fast beat (especially from the Glee soundtrack), white noise, being held/sat upright, vibration, laying on her mommy's chest
- Dislikes: baths, having clothes pulled over her head/face when changing her, being in her carseat/carrier too long if the car/stroller is not moving,
Also....I know this is not something that Abbie is doing, but in the past week or two, I've been starting to understand her cries. It's funny because I had read that parents can eventually be able to distinguish what the baby wants or needs by the sound of their cries. I thought that was crazy, because it all sounded like an angry screaming to me at first. But I realized that her cries do sound different! I can't really explain it, or describe how each one sounds, but I can tell her hungry cry, from her exhausted and need to sleep cry. She also has a "I don't like this, I'm too overstimulated cry." It's the weirdest thing, but so cool at the same time. I try and point out the differences to Michael, but I guess it still all still sounds like screaming to him, haha. Maybe since he'll be home more, he'll learn them soon too.
Last but not least, here's a picture of my beautiful 6 week old! I love this picture of her with her new glasses. Haha...She's definitely ready for summer! :)
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| Ridiculously cute :) |
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