Busy Days

I made this little video a couple of weeks ago, and just never got around to putting it here.

Drea seems to be learning so much so fast lately! Everyday she gets closer and closer to crawling! She can pull herself up on all fours and rock back and forth. She's been going backwards by accident, but today she figured out how to move her legs to go forward. Now she just needs to figure out what to do with her arms and she'll be crawling. She's gotten really good at rolling across the floor in both directions, and has started trying to pull herself up. She's also sitting by herself indefinitely now once I put her in a sitting position, and she's been trying to figure out how to sit up from a lying position.

On May 20th (around 2 or 3am) she surprised me. She'd woken up and Brian walked over to her crib to try and calm her back to sleep. When she stopped crying he turned around and went back to bed and she yelled "Da Da". Now I know they aren't supposed to talk yet and they are usually just making sounds at this stage, so I assumed it was just a coincidence that she picked the consonant that sounded like the person she was mad at. Well, just a few minutes later she started back up. Brian went to get her bottle, and I got up to try and soothe her until he got back with it. She thought I was going to pick her up and started crying and said "Ma Ma". There's been a couple of times since then that she's made the muh sound like that when she wanted me. If it was just the Da Da or MaMa one time I'd say it was just babbling, but I really think she was saying words. She knows who Daddy and Mama are, and we've been playing the "say da da - say ma ma" game with her since she started babbling. It really had a different tone than we she babbles.

We've had her first trip to the zoo and finished baby swimming lessons in the past week or so, and I hope to get around to posting pictures of both of those soon. Brian and I had a nasty cold for the last week; we're getting better, so hopefully I'll update the blog a little more often soon. I don't know if anyone but me is actually still reading it, but I like to use it to keep up with what happened when since I never remember to write things down in baby books and such until after they've happened.

Rockin & Rollin

Drea is officially on the move! I went late last Thursday with Susan to look at rugs, and I ended up going back the next day to buy one. Almost as soon as we had it down Drea was rolling all over the place! She now rolls in both directions easily and has figured out that she can roll to something if she wants it. She's also trying her best to learn to crawl. She's been pulling up on her hands and knees and rocking back and forth. She's actually scooted backward a couple of times; I expect her to at least be able to creep forward any day now.
She's also started making some new sounds lately too. In the last two weeks she's been using M's, N's, and D's more when babbling. Last night she imitated noises Brian was making. She tries to sing along with her toys that play music now too.

We've made a good bit of progress with eating solids too. She doesn't get a lot to eat, but I try to give her a fruit or cereal around lunchtime and a veggie in the evening before her bath. She's pretty cooperative with most foods, but seems to prefer green beans to almost everything else at this point. I'm looking forward to her being able to pick up small pieces of food and feed herself. There just isn't enough variety available in jarred baby food. I've considered making some baby food for her myself now that I know what she is most likely to eat. She has figured out what we're doing when we eat and drink, and gets upset if we eat or drink and don't give her anything. I've been pretty picky about what food she eats, but since we both only drink water we've actually let her have a sip or two from our glasses occasionally. Of course now whenever she sees one of us holding a cup she thinks we are supposed to give her a sip.
Just last week she started being able to sit up unassisted for a few seconds at a time. She's doing it for longer periods of time every day, and is even attempting to push herself up to a sitting position (she's got a good bit of work to do before she can actually do that though).
I can't believe how fast she's growing and changing! She's gotten so sweet in the last few weeks; she's so cute sometimes I can hardly take it. A few weeks ago at church (I think it was on the 2nd) I took her over to another baby to let her see him. She was so excited she smiled and squealed. She turned around to me and grabbed my face with both hands and pushed her face into mine. She does this now whenever she is overexcited or feeling embarrassed/shy. She's got quite a temper and is easily overstimulated, but most of the time she's really happy and sweet.

Sleep Deprived

My little baby girl is growing up too fast! Every time I turn around or blink she's doing something new. She's in a hurry to grow up; she spends most of her time awake trying to figure out how to crawl around. During the last few days she's been able to sit by herself unsupported for several seconds before she topples over.

Drea and I have been going to parent/child swim lessons at the YMCA, and she loves it. They don't really teach the babies to swim at this point - the main focus is getting the babies used to being in the water. We hold them under their arms and walk backwards so they can kick their legs in the water, we let them sit on the steps and play in it, sing songs that require hand motions (wheels on the bus, hokey pokey, etc), and do other activities meant to get them used to having fun and splashing the water. Drea is thrilled the whole time.
She's also gotten too big for her nap nanny. She started trying to squirm out of it when she woke up, and would end up with her head on the floor and her bottom still in the nap nanny. So last weekend we started putting her in her crib at night. She's not really happy about it, but has done better than I expected. I had finally conquered my insomnia issues by going to bed early. I would go lie down and then Brian would bring Drea in the room when he was ready to go to bed already asleep in her nap nanny and put her on the floor. If I had been asleep long enough before they came in I could stay asleep. But now he brings her in much earlier and puts her in the crib, and this means she's in there awake anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours. So I'm awake. By the time she falls asleep I'm wide awake, so here I sit awake at 3am while Brian and Drea are sleeping. I was getting up early and going to the gym, but I haven't been able to do that in a week. I hope she'll get used to the crib soon and start falling asleep easier; I've been joking that I'm going to go buy a bed to put in the extra bedroom so I can get some sleep. Sometimes that idea is really tempting. I've been pretty grumpy lately.

Mother's Day

For several years I was depressed on Mother's Day, because I worried that I might never get to be a mommy. I was really looking forward to Mother's Day this year. Brian brought me some white roses on Saturday, cooked dinner for us Saturday night, and gave me a card from him and another from Drea on the way to church. I have another present, but he had to order it and it won't be back for a couple of weeks. After church I drove us all to Piedmont to see Nannie (my grandmother).
She enjoyed spending time with her youngest great-grandchild. We left her house after about an hour and a half and came back home. Brian wasn't feeling well, so I had to take Drea to the grocery store. We were having Mama and the rest of the family over to grill burgers and hot dogs for dinner, and I hadn't been able to make it to the store earlier. I was tired because we had just started transferring Drea to sleep in the crib and I've not been sleeping well. My mom was going to go to the store for me while we were at Nannie's, but she got locked out of her car at her step-mom's house and had to wait on my dad to show up with the spare key. But I managed to run in and out of the store pretty quickly (even with a baby up past her nap time) and get home just in time for everyone to show up.
Mama had bought some finger paint and used it to get the hand prints and foot prints of the kids to make Mother's Day cards for me and Melissa. She had the older kids write their own, and wrote some sweet things in mine herself. I had my usual card for her as well as a card from Drea and had already used a stamp pad to put Drea's footprint in it in place of a signature; I guess great minds think alike. It was one of those cards you can record things on, and I had recorded Drea "talking" on it.
It's always nice seeing everyone, but I was exhausted by the time they left at 9:30, and since Brian was feeling better I went to bed early pretty soon after they left. I enjoyed getting to see my family and loved my presents, but I was feeling grumpy and exhausted by the time it was over. I'm thrilled to be a mommy, but I think maybe next year I will just run away for the day and let everyone else take care of all the other stuff. :) OK, I probably won't, but I'm hoping next year I'll actually get some rest.

6 Months Old!

Drea was 6 months old yesterday, and we enjoyed celebrating her "half birthday". She has been growing fast and learned many things in the last week or two. She can see things across a room now, she gets squeals when she's excited, laughs independently, has started grabbing everything she can get her hands on, investigates everything around her, stands up on her feet when you hold her hands, and tries to hold her bottle by herself.

She loves to feel the texture of things. She rubs her hand on the wall next to her changing table while I'm changing her. She plays with tags and straps, and her newest favorite toy is "anything Mama is holding". She stares at everything she holds with an intense serious expression as she manipulates it with her hands. She's just so much more aware of the world around her now. When we go outside she wants to lean out and touch the petals on flowers and leaves on trees. She loves to watch videos of herself and other babies on youtube. She's really thrilled when she meets a baby or toddler at church. She loves water and is fascinated when she sees me washing something in the sink. She wants to stick her hands under the faucet and feel the water on her hands. She loves it when I sing to her, and gets especially happy if I substitute the lyrics for songs with singing her name over and over. She thinks the Sesame Street theme is marvelous when changed to "Drea Ann".

Just last week she started being affectionate. Sometimes when I'm holding her she will put her hands on the sides of my face and either kiss me (by putting her open mouth against my cheek) or just push her cheek against mine. She has recently become a little more clingy and wants to go back to me when I hand her to someone else. She prefers Brian and I to other people, and doesn't want anything to do with most strangers.

She still has to be propped up on something and can't sit up all by herself, but I don't think it'll be much longer before she can sit on her own. She is obsessed with trying to crawl or creep, but hasn't quite figured out how to move forward yet - she spins around in a circle. She can roll from back to tummy and sometimes tummy to back. She's rolled all the way over a couple of times, but hasn't figured out she can roll from one place to another just yet. We've got to get the house baby proofed.

We had the family over for her half birthday last night. I didn't expect her to get any presents, but her aunt and uncle bought her Violet. Violet talks and plays music. Whenever she talks Drea wants to bite her nose.
We had strawberry shortcakes for dessert. I decided it would be OK to let Drea have a bit of a treat, so I let her try just a few bites of whipped cream. I also let her stick her hand in some to see how it felt.
We had a pretty good time, but Drea was exhausted by the time everyone left. I can't believe how time flies by so fast sometimes. It seems like we just brought her home and she's six months old already!

A Walk in the Park

It's been a while since I posted. I keep meaning to post, but then I get too busy with Drea. I haven't been struggling as much with insomnia lately so there's no more posting at 3am. That's a good thing though, and I'm definitely not complaining. Now that the weather is nice and (mostly) warm we've discovered that Drea really loves going outside. Sometimes when she is feeling fussy it is the one thing guaranteed to calm her down. It also helps when she's fighting sleep at nap time. We walk around our yard and little street at home, and she usually drifts off to sleep. Here we are taking a little walk at home.
On the 25th we realized we were running too late to make it to church on time, so we went to the park at the Civic Center instead. We walked on the trail and then took Drea to the playground and walked around the duck pond there. Drea loves to swing. She's not quite big enough to fit in the baby swings, so I packed my wrap in with her. It seems to be just a little too much packing. She was fine with it though; she likes to chew on the wraps.
When we went by the duck pond there was a crowd of people feeding the ducks. She was really interested in them, so we stopped and let her watch for a while. This is her serious face when she is concentrating and trying to figure something out. It reminds me of some of Brian's facial expressions.
She got tired of the stroller while we were walking so Brian wore her on his back part of the time. This was my favorite picture from our walk.

The only downside to doing all of this fun outdoors stuff with her is that she seems to be as affected by all the pollen as we are. So I have to balance the fun of going outside with the fact that she will get a stuffy nose and runny eyes. We don't let it stop us from going out entirely, but I think we'd be outside a lot more if there wasn't such a high pollen count.