2 Weeks!

My baby is 2 weeks old already. Time really flies!

She is growing and changing so quickly right now it's hard to keep up with it all. She's now sustaining her head up for several seconds when on her tummy. She bats her arms at objects and sometimes accidentally grasps them. She recognizes my voice because she stills when I call out to her.

We know she is hungry when she snorts, then grunts. If she starts to cry we haven't got the memo, but usually we are able to catch her before she gets upset.

Now that her cord is gone, and she can be submerged, she loves soaking in her little bathtub. She especially loves it when her daddy uses the blow dryer on her hair and body after a bath.

Daddy also has the touch with soothing her using the 5 S's (swaddling, side lying, shooshing, and swinging) techniques that we learned from the Happiest Baby on the Block video. Mommy of course is the only one who can provide the 5th S (sucking). I do notice that sometimes she stays on the breast just for comfort suckling after she is done drinking.

Nights are fairly predictable now. I go to bed around 10:00 and daddy stays up with Anika until her next feed around midnight. She then wakes at around 2:30am, and 5 am for feeds, so I get my sleep in 2 hour segments until about 7:00. I get up with her and she often has some alert playtime first thing in the morning while her dad sleeps in a bit longer. I really cherish these morning play times all on my own with her. We read books, sing little songs, chat, play on her mat on the floor, or in front of a mirror. The rest of the day is usually full of sleep, feed, wake cycles and there are so many things to do, and people who want to see her.

My mother in law arrived on Wednesday and will be here until the end of the month. Along with her arrival also came a dump of snow that's making getting out of the house a little more difficult with the slippery roads. I'm hoping this weekend's rain will wash it all away.