The 6 Week Mark

Well, I do realize that it has once again been several weeks since I've blogged. I can't even say that its because I've had to take care of Makaela all the time... I just haven't thought to sit down and blog. But, I thought since Makaela is preciously sleeping, I would take some time to update on whats been going on.

I am loving life as a mommy and am SO thankful that the Lord has blessed us with Makaela. I don't think I could be any happier and I'm so thankful that I don't need to be working. I'm thankful that the Lord allowed us to start a family so quickly, and I really believe that being a full time mom is what the Lord has for me. What I do throughout the days is pretty much all the same so I will just tell you whats been going on with Makaela.

Where to start...bathtime. She has not been a huge fan of bathtime for the past few baths, and Nathan is usually not home when she is getting a bath. Hence... there are no pictures of how much she hasn't enjoyed bathtime, however, last time she loved her bath and Daddy was home (maybe thats the trick). We'll see how it goes tomorrow...

She also has not been a huge fan of tummy-time, but has recently taken a liking to that... again after she has been fed. We know the more time she spends on her tummy, the better... but she seems to be excelling so quickly! Today, she had her head lifted far beyond the 45* and was even using her arms to push herself up!! She will also stand up by herself--all we have to do is balance her and she does the rest of the work herself. She seems so petite, but she is so incredibly muscular! She is one strong little girl and has been since the day she was born. Must have been that extra week she got to cook :) I'm convinced she is going to be able to walk by the time she's like 6 months... ok maybe a little exaggeration :)

She started smiling at us about 2 weeks ago. It was hard to tell at first if her smiles were still just from gas or something. Nathan and I, on separate occasions, said "she smiled at me" followed by "at least I think she did." We quickly realized that they were intentional smiles and she is just a smiling machine now...as long as she's been fed and changed that is. Her little toothless smiles are so cute we just can't get enough!

She has also entered the "cooing" stage. Again, most often after she's been fed and she's happy, she will make all kinds of noises and they are just SO CUTE! We could just sit and watch her forever, and sometimes we do...needless to say there is an abundance of housework that needs to be done now. We just can't help ourselves though :)

Lastly, we have started to put Makaela into her crib and she doesn't seem to mind at all...in fact she might like it even more than the bassinet. She has given us 5-6 solid hours of sleep the last few nights before she decides she is ready to come sleep with mom and dad. She picks and chooses her nights when she sleeps well... that is... sometimes she will sleep for about an hour by herself, then if she comes to bed with us she will sleep for another 5-6 hours just fine. Sometimes she will sleep for 5-6 hours by herself and then she will come to bed with us and sleep for a while longer. We put her in her crib on Tuesday night for the first time and she has slept great each night since then. We are so thankful for this and are hoping the pattern will continue, but we'll see. We can only take each night as they come :)

Thats about it for now... she is just growing and changing everyday. I'll try to do a better job to keep things updated as she changes :)