This picture just cracks me up!

Slurping my hand

One BIG Week!

What a big week Leighton just had!!! She's 4 months now, but 2 months adjusted. These are big things for a 2 month old!

• She started sleeping through the night!! I was giddy with excitement on Thursday when I woke up at 9:30 in the morning, having last fed her at 11:45 pm the night before. She then continuously got better by going to bed even sooner. Last night, her last feeding was at 9 pm, then we woke her up at 8 am this morning!


• On Friday during Tummy Time, she picked up and held for a few minutes one of her teething rings! I'm not sure if she knew what she was doing, but I think it still counts. :)


• Finally, this morning during TT, she rolled over!! She had been flipping her little hips over for some time now, but couldn't quite figure out how to flip her upper body with them. Well, she somehow got her right arm under her. She started to get a little fussy not knowing how to get off her arm, so I flipped her hips over for her to show her how it's done. So then I flipped her back the way she was, and within a couple of minutes she rolled herself right over!
  

What a big girl she is!! :) Mommy and Daddy were so proud! (Especially the sleeping through the night part. We especially appreciate that one!)

Saturday we took our Christmas pictures on our front porch steps. This was the first time Leighton had been outside exposed and it was a little chilly. We weren't out there too long and got her warm again. Poor little thing got a red nose! (We went in right after this picture.)

4 month Pics

Santa (Poppa) visits Leighton!

Our Little AU Baby!

Getting ready for the oldest rivalry in the South!!

Leighton's 1st Halloween

More tummy time

I had videotaped this tummy time, but unfortunately the file was too big to attach. Look at how high she was picking her head up!!

I just love her eyes!!

Good days, and then days like Monday

Just when I think we're making some progress with this whole schedule thing and keeping Leighton awake during the day (apparently most newborns have their days and nights mixed up and it'll take a few weeks before the switch is flipped), we have days like Monday. Not only did she decide to be wide awake at 2 in the morning, but when she finally did fall asleep, she'd wake up only 20 min or so later screaming. We felt so helpless! At first we just thought that she wanted to be held, but it persisted so much longer than we would've thought. I mean, if she was truly tired, wouldn't she eventually fall asleep? Then it hit us, well thanks to my sister-in-law who was up here visiting. Chili had been our meal of choice for the past several days and since I'm still pumping and Leighton is getting part bm/part formula those chili beans, onions, and spices were being passed onto her. Poor little thing! Starting yesterday her feedings were strictly formula, although I continued to pump to keep my milk coming. That precious milk of mine had to be poured out. :( Then, Tuesday night was back to normal!! Of course we're not even close to sleeping through the night, but at least she was sleeping. She woke up to feed at 1:45am, then again at 3:00 (she seems to like to cluster feed at night). I consider those feedings a success, because I was able to sleep from 11-1:30, and 3:30-7:15. Yay for sleep! I am now being very careful in what I eat.

Leighton's Nursery

Leighton's Cherry Tree

The painting I did for Leighton's room:

And here's the inspiration:

The Original Due Date

Today is her original due date, which is hard to believe, since she's already 2 months old! She was 2 lbs 10.5 oz, 15 in at birth and now she's 6 lbs 10 oz, 20 in. What a long way she has come!! Here's our little due date baby today:

Sleeping Like A Baby

Bright Eyes

Picking Up Her Head

Sweetie pie!

2nd Doctor's Appt & Sleeping

Well, she's almost 6 lbs now!! She weighed in at 5 lb 13 oz and is 18 3/4 in long, which is exactly one pound and one inch more than she was at her last appt two weeks ago. Now that it's Sunday, we guess that she probably is 6 lbs. Her preemie clothes and preemie diapers are barely fitting now, which is so exciting. She also got her first round of immunizations and actually responded very well to them. Besides the worst scream that I've ever heard that brought tears to my eyes, she didn't get the low-grade fever or loss of appetite that the doctor said would be normal if she did. She's such a good little baby. :) She doesn't fuss too much, just when she's hungry and sometimes right before she falls asleep, which is all to be expected.

She's also letting me sleep for a little longer at a time!! Ever since last Wed night, she's done what the doctor calls cluster feeding. She'll have two feedings very close together right before bed, then sleep for 6 hours! I'm definitely enjoying this, because I can get a 5 hour stretch instead of just 2-3 hour stretch like I was getting before, and I am definitely feeling better. I'm not quite as deliriously tired as I was before. I'm just plain tired instead.

Smiling :)

I think we finally caught a half smile on camera!

Taking My Bottle

I finally caught her with her eyes wide open! You can really see how blue they're getting. Notice the darker ring around them. I think she's getting Mommy's eyes. :)

Bath Time 2

Well, we finally remedied the bath tub problem. Jonathan bought us a new bath mat that works perfectly. It's like it was made for our bathroom sink and Leighton fits great in it.

She seemed to cry a little more this time we bathed her, but I think it might have had to do with the fact that she was hungry. We've seen this pouty face a few times, but finally caught it on camera! It's so sad, but so cute when she does it!

But right after this face, she was fine!

My Daddy Loves Me

Funny Faces

Daddy burping me Mommy playing with me

I'm hungry and found my hand!

I'm gassy!

"Heyyy...whadup?"

Sucking on my thumb :)

Bath Time!!

So we've got to buy a bigger tub to bathe Leighton in. We're using that little bin that the hospital was using and gave to us. I think she's pretty much outgrown it now, and she's a slippery little thing, so it's so awkward trying to hold her and bathe her in that thing at the same time. Besides the fact that the tub is too small, she actually likes being bathed and especially having her hair washed. It's so sweet, but I do have a funny story to tell. Last Saturday night, we were deliriously tired to the point that we were just laughing at every little thing, even if it wasn't that funny, but we still needed to bathe her. So, we got through the bath part, I had wrapped her in her warm towel, and was about to wash her hair, when she did it. She had a blow out in the towel in my arms! Poor little girl was shaking because I was laughing so hard. Needless to say, bath time lasted longer than we had hoped, since we had to put her back in the tub, reclean her, and I had to clean out the towel. It's funny how once you become a parent, you all of a sudden don't care if you're spit up on, pooped on, pooted on, or peed on, because that little girl has already done it all! LOL Here's a picture of her during her first bath at home.