Little Giggler

Charlotte is becoming more and more interested in her environment. She looks and smiles shyly at her reflection in the mirror, almost as if she's flirting with the baby she sees! The other day Armistead was holding her and she pulled herself toward his hand (that had a glove with finger puppets on it). She still doesn't quite know how to use her hands, but she has been known to push things away and pull herself toward something she wants. I think she's going to start reaching for things soon! She certainly loves to clasp her hands together and most of all, put them in her mouth. She even sucks her thumb sometimes to help her go to sleep.

The cutest milestone is the laughter. She laughs whenever I change her clothes, especially when I'm taking her arms out of something. Such a sweet giggle! I can't wait for when she laughs at things she thinks are funny or entertaining.

Can't sleep

It's so darned frustrating when my baby sleeps 5-7 hours in a row and I consistently wake up at least an hour before her... and then can't get back to sleep till after I feed her! I hope and pray I can start sleeping at the exact times when she sleeps. It seems like in the beginning I slept more readily, maybe because I was so sleep deprived. Now it turns into a mind game every time I lie down at night (or morning) as to how quickly I'll fall asleep, and how soon she'll need me. I CRAVE solid sleep like air or food.

Trip to Nashville

Charlotte had so much fun visiting her extended family and friends in Nashville. She especially wooed her great-grandmother, and enjoyed singing old folk songs with her grandpa!

Playin'

Playing with Charlotte has gotten more and more fun. She is beginning to grasp things, if you put them near her hand, and she pays great attention to her toys, images, and especially people's faces. Yesterday she started laughing as I was changing her clothes! At first I thought it was just a complaint, but she kept doing it, like she was laughing at me! So rewarding.

One of her favorite things to look at is a baby in this book we have about babies moving. She just stares at her, and starts working her arms and legs and mouth like she's working up the courage to talk to her! And although she often cries and fusses through it, bedtime reading is becoming a routine around here, especially Goodnight Moon.

Another fun thing for me, and possibly Charlotte, is performing for her. I love to sing and dance and clap for her, and she sure pays attention to that!

Charlotte has arrived-- a while ago

So I slacked off a little at the end of the pregnancy. I see that my last post was in November, and my daughter was born on January 10, 2008, at 1:30 a.m. Perfect in every way, 7 lbs 2 oz, 19 in. long. Her name is Charlotte Lucy. Here's a photo.

So the sleeplessness of pregnancy was nothing compared to motherhood/parenthood (Armistead is up nearly as much as me, since the little one likes to stay awake after she eats at night). But overall things are going far better day and night at 7 weeks than they were at first.

She is such a little darling. Beginning to coo, smiling like a pro, and making tons of eye contact. She even pushes up on her elbows a bit when lying on her tummy. I am really enjoying these short times of "play," and can't wait till we can go for walks this spring.

More sleeplessness

Wow, just when I thought it was getting better, sleeplessness strikes again. My new-mom friends had warned me: once you get up to go to the bathroom, don't count on getting right back to sleep. Now there are a hundred questions and worries: What kind of parents will we be? How will I deal with our spunky dogs once the baby is born? Will I ever see the outside world again after her birth? And fear of more sleeplessness. This week an extra bonus is a cold that still hasn't gone away. But the human body is amazing in its capacity to recuperate and deal with the demands of the day.

I have been feeling more connected to the baby lately. It's kind of hard not to when she takes giant leaps inside my womb. I think we've created the next Mia Hamm. Sometimes I get it on four corners, which I can only imagine is her flinging both arms and both legs all at the same time. We put the crib together with a lot of teamwork, and that makes the whole thing seem more real as well. It is so sweet, and CRAZY to imagine we're (God willing) bringing home a baby in about 2 months.

Sleeplessness

Okay, time to vent. I'm almost 27 weeks pregnant, and here come the sleepless nights. Not so bad, probably not nearly as bad as it will get. But when I have to wake up FOUR times a night to pee, something is not right. On top of that my dogs seem to think that we feed them at the crack of dawn (5:45 a.m.). So after a night of tossing and turning and peeing, I spent those last precious 45 minutes of the morning hearing the unmistakeable sound of dog toenails going click click all around the house.

One thing no one warned me about with pregnancy is the whole back issue. Besides the aches and pains of carrying all that weight around, you cannot lie or lean for long on your back because you'll press too hard on the aorta and cut off circulation! This is another reason for sleepless nights. You must shift around from one side to another, and even when you're not cutting off circulation in your back, you are inevitably cutting off circulation to one arm or the other. So that's been a fun component of sleep.

I know I sound whiny. Really things are going pretty well for me. Now that I'm working part time, I do have opportunities to take naps (which I don't often take advantage of), and time to get ready for the baby. Yesterday Armistead and I bought some fun curtains for the baby's room. With any luck we'll have it put together in roughly 3 months (in time for her to be born)!