My dear Allie,
I’m so glad we named you Alena Joy. You truly are a joy to us! We’ve been amazed at your growth and development these past two months. In your second month alone, you reached so many milestones.
You’ve started cooing and “talking” in baby language, responding to us when we ask you questions and carrying “conversations” with us.- You can now recognize both your daddy and your mommy; you will give us a great big gummy smile and flail your arms and legs in excitement when you see us.
- You are also recognizing your “feeding place” – the spot on the sofa where most of your meals are given to you. You get excited when we sit with you there and put your bib on. Your breathing gets faster and you often start licking your lips in anticipation. You certainly love food still!
- You will smile at other people when they talk to you – even people you’ve never met before.
- You will also smile at your veggie mobile and attempt to converse with the hanging vegetables above your crib.
- In general, you are smiling a lot more than you frown nowadays. Although your pout is still as cute as ever.
- You are discovering your hands; you will stare at your fists and munch away at them often.
- You are also starting to respond to your own image in the mirror. Although most times, you’ll look at mommy’s image more.
- Your favourite hangout is no longer the bassinet – you can’t see enough from there.
- The baby rocking chair and the sofa are fast becoming your favourite places to chill. From those perches, you can look at the world and take it all in.
- Your most alert and active time of the day is between 8-10 in the morning. You really seem to enjoy hosting your own morning talk show!
- Your longest stretch of sleep so far has been 6.5 hours. That’s only happened once though. Most nights, you’ll sleep for 3-4 hour stretches.
- You went to church with us for the first time this month as well. You were very cooperative while we were there, mostly napping in someone’s arms. Getting you to sleep that night, however, was a different story. Your poor daddy was up till 12:30am, trying help you sleep!
- You surprised us when at 7 weeks old (53 days, to be exact), you rolled over from your tummy to your back! You’ve done it many times since so we know it’s not just a fluke. That was the day that table top tummy time was no longer an option and we had to set out the floor mats for you.
Here’s the video we took of you the night you rolled over for the first time:
And here’s what you thought about the experience:
You are a fantastic baby. You feed well and sleep relatively well. And the vast majority of the times you cry, it’s because there’s something you need. Being your mother is pretty amazing so far. I must confess that there are days were I feel like what I really enjoy about motherhood only comprises of 30% and the rest of motherhood is stuff I don’t like. But when I step back and reflect on your development, I have to say, it’s a pretty rewarding feeling.
We are so proud of you, Alena. We thank God for you. And we certainly look forward to seeing what developments this next month will bring!
With much love,
Mommy
