Burps, Blemishes and other Baby Fun

Somehow while we weren't looking, our sweet Christin has been accomplishing "firsts" like she's in a hurry to grow up or something! She is already past the one month mark and has achieved some of those first milestones. Her first smile was actually not at me, but at a brightly colored Lamaze toy that I had been holding in her line of vision. It wasn't just a fluke, either! I tried it again a day or two later and she did it again! I think she was just shy of four weeks old at that point. Not to worry, I did get a glimmer of a smile directed towards me just shortly after. Whew! It's tough to take backseat to a bright green stuffed butterfly!

Christin has also started a bit of cooing--using her voice for something other than crying. Her body is filling out a bit, too, and her eyes are less cross-eyed-looking; all signs that the newborn stage is over and she's graduated to "infant" status. Where does the time go?

Then one morning, it was as if someone had flipped a switch and she woke up with signs of infant acne and cradle cap, all in the same day. Right now she's got a worse case of blemishes than I ever had as a teenager, which is saying something! Glad I got the pictures done for her baby announcement before the hormones kicked in!

Christin is so funny--she sometimes is eating so vigorously that she doesn't want to stop to burp. She'll actually burp while nursing and I'll hear the little air bubble come out her nose! None of my other girls have tried this trick--it's uniquely Christin.

Her vigorous nursing, though, wasn't enough to keep the mastitis away. Life around here has been at a fairly high stress level, what with the moving plans, not having my husband around for several days last week, and children who have been struggling with obedience lately. (Maybe the last two go together, what do you think?!) So last week, when I received unexpected guests in the middle of a feeding and got interrupted, I developed almost an immediate plugged duct which led to a high fever only hours later. I was able to continue on with our various packing and moving chores, but at a slower pace. I am thankfully feeling back to normal now and hope that I won't have to go through that again!

Christin continues to do great sleeping. For about two weeks now, she's been averaging 8-9 hours straight with a "dream feed" (eating while basically staying asleep) either at the beginning of the night, when I wake her to eat before I go to bed, or in the morning, when she wakes up at 6. Her long sleeps do wonders for me--I'm so thankful. Clara Anne and Chloe both trained to sleep through the night fairly early, but not this early and so it feels like a miracle! Her sleeping so well has been a wonderful blessing especially considering everything else going on!

I have new pictures to post, but . . . another time! I'll leave you with a quote from Clara Anne about Christin, "Mommy, I like her! She is really precious to me!" You said it, Clara Anne!