Baby boy!

After years of waiting for a little brother, he is finally here! My mom was induced three weeks early due to complications and he came into the world at 5 pounds 4 ounces and 17 inches long. He was in the NICU for the first 6 days, but was released last week and got to meet his niece! They get along great as long as I'm not holding him! Baby girl looks like a giant compared to him! It is actually pretty funny. She is almost in the 99th percentile for her height and he is not even close! Plus, she is WAY ahead of him in development so she will scream at him expecting a response and get mad when he just sits there.
She is becoming more and more active. Today she started mimicking sounds she hears. She has also learned to scoot when she is on her back and how to sit up without much help (sometimes she will fall forward but otherwise does it all herself). She will walk with assistance and never wants to sit still! I can't wait for her to be ready for museums, but I also want her to be my baby forever :)

Challenges I will gladly face!

When baby girl started rolling, I knew we had a smart one on our hands and I was thrilled! Later on we had an appointment with her doctor (who had already noted this without my knowledge). When we spoke with him he told us that although she cannot be tested at this age, he strongly suspects she is gifted. I have a gifted sister and am as well. So, I know there will be many challenges that lie ahead. From behavioral issues (boredom at school, not enough mental stimulation, etc) to frustration issues (a gifted child's mind often grows faster than their body which makes tasks they KNOW frustrating since their body cannot yet comprehend it). He recommended I do lots of research into the subject (signs she exhibits and how to nurture her mental age while still respecting her physical age) and we will see if she is still showing signs at her next check-up. So, I have spent hours reading about it. She meets or exceeds every single indication of a gifted infant (up to her age and a little beyond)! We play more with her toys, watch documentaries (even though she cannot understand them, they expose her to things outside of her natural surroundings such as elephants and space), read books (children's and research books), take her outside often to explore new sights and textures, and talk to her about absolutely nothing. I know that nurturing her ability will consume the majority of our lives around her (since she doesn't sleep much during the day) and that there are some issues likely to come with her ability. I know I may get frustrated at times and the older she gets, the more nurturing she will need. However, this is one of the challenges of parenthood I will GLADLY face. I will spend every waking hour helping her learn and grow until she takes this on herself. Mostly, I am excited! Being a gifted child, my favorite thing was going to museums. Any museum. The old boring museums? Loved them! To this day, I take every opportunity to explore new places and go on vacations to historical places just so I can visit new museums. The part that excites me so much? She is showing signs of being just as curious. Which means I may have just found a museum buddy I don't have to drag behind me to get there! I can't wait to see if she will be as big of a nerd as her mom! Yes, I'm excited she is smart, but I always figured she would be since her father and I are both above average. Now, I'm just excited to help her grow into her full potential :) I may have to sacrifice everything (including our savings account for a better school if her school is not meeting her needs), but they are sacrifices I am willing to make!

My little brat :)

The other day baby girl kept spitting out her binky and sticking her fingers in her mouth. Since we don't want her doing that I kept telling her no, removing her fingers, and replacing them with her binky. She would look at me, spit out her binky, and stick her fingers in her mouth. Finally, I said "Michelle I am serious! No fingers!".....she looked at me with a HUGE smile, spit out her binky, and stuck her fingers in her mouth. I turned to my husband shocked and asked if he saw it. He replied with "your kid". I turned back to her and she laughed at it! I repeated it....she spit out her binky and laughed again! I guess we have a new game....
I'm gonna call it "my daughter is a brat and she got it from mom".

Tummy time sucks!

Baby girl hates tummy time. Like, with a passion. As soon as she knows it is coming she whimpers. However, hubby read somewhere that they should be rolling over from tummy to back by 8 weeks. So, I broke out the toys and laid her on the blanket. This was only the third time I have made her do tummy time. Within seconds of laying her down she rolled over. She hates tummy time so much she just wanted it done with. She did it three times in a matter of ten minutes and now I can't get her to stop! She scared herself the first time and I thought it was hilarious. She just lay there on her back shocked to see mommy and daddy looking down at her. Once she realised it was okay she kept smiling and kicking. She was talking up a storm and told me all about "milking ducks" (it is a saying my grandma used to use). She would not be quiet! I love it! Anyways, after looking into it, I found that they shouldn't be able to roll over until 12 weeks at the earliest, but more commonly 16 weeks. I know everyone thinks their baby is a genius, but come on. My baby just accomplished a task at half the projected age. I'm a pretty proud momma!

Our song

Today in the car baby girl started to whimper because she didn't feel good. I turned on little child by white lion and she was instantly quiet. I played that song for her while I was pregnant from the first day I knew. Every night I would lay down, put my phone on my belly, and have it on a loop. Now that she is here I play it for her whenever we are riding together, cuddling, or she just needs some noise. It almost always puts her to sleep. Although the lyrics are fitting, this song actually has a meaning for me. 24 years ago when I was in utero my mother would put headphones on her stomach and play the exact same song. I hadn't heard the song in 15 years and I was going through some CDs of top 80s songs and that was one of them. It instantly calmed me. My mom told me the story of my first song. Now, I have given my daughter that same song. We listen to it together and both relax and let our stress melt away. We have our song and no one else can take that. No matter how far we are or what may take me away, she can always listen to it knowing I love her more than anything.

Her first mini vacation

Every year my family has a big reunion in southern Illinois. It is about four hours (with no stops) from our home. I was excited to take baby girl, but dreading the drive. She JUST turned 7 weeks old. We planned on the trip actually taking 6-7 hours. The night before we left baby girl developed a cough. It didn't seem serious so we just went to bed to prepare for our busy day. That night she was up numerous times coughing, she was really congested, and she was choking on what she had coughed up. I don't remember hearing her choke, but I remember jumping out of bed and flying across our room to check on her. She ended up clearing her airway on her own and we fell asleep. The restless night continued....

We eventually got out of bed and decided to finish packing and keep an eye on her. If it got bad we would stay home. She was doing well, so we headed out. We figured with a sick baby the journey would take even longer. I was not looking forward to it.... however, during the entire drive we stopped once. That was only so I could eat. We fed her while we were there and then headed out. The entire ride she didn't cry. I was amazed. That night she discovered the mirror. Daddy held her in front if it and she saw me. She thought it was amazing. Then, she saw daddy and got the most confused look on her face. I couldn't stop laughing. She would look back at my reflection and become confused when I started to talk. She saw the baby and screamed at it. I was almost crying I was laughing so hard.
Later, we were outside hanging out with my sister and baby girl coughed. The problem this time was that she couldn't clear her airway. Her eyes started to roll back and I pictured my sister all over again...

Here is where I should explain that situation. When my sister was about 15 months old we walked into the kitchen to fill her cup. She wanted juice, but I was giving her water. She was holding my hand the entire time. When I handed her the water she inhaled and held it like she was going to throw a fit. I told her I wasn't dealing with it, walked into the living room with her, and she flopped down on the couch. I walked back into the kitchen to grab something when I noticed she still hadn't screamed. I ran to her, knelt down, and rolled her over. She was stiff and her eyes had rolled back. She was beet red. I screamed for my dad and handed her off to him. As I did she went completely limp. She was dead weight. As my mom laid her down to start CPR I called 911. My sister did start  to breathe on her own. The ambulance arrived and took her to the hospital. I drove there with my other two sisters. The entire night all the nurses and doctors told us was that it was my fault and I wasn't watching her. She choked on something and I was to blame. I remained adamant this wasn't possible since she had my hand the entire time. She isn't tall enough to hold my hand and bend over and grab something to choke on. She didn't have anything in her hand to start with. It wasn't possible. All they kept saying was that I should have paid attention. After over two hours of these accusations, they finally ruled that out. They discharged her the next day saying it was simply a stuffy nose.

Anyways, my sister and I relived it in the parking lot of a cheap motel. She finally started getting air and I just sat there saying I couldn't go through that again. She is almost healthy now.

Saturday we drove over an hour to meet with my aunt and uncle from the other side of my family and once again not a peep. That night there was a big storm and she was fascinated by the lightening. She absolutely loved the sights and sounds before the rain came. When the rain did come, it was brutal. I wasn't sure how she would handle it being so loud. I looked down and there she was....out cold. She couldn't keep her eyes open to save her life.

Sunday was the actual reunion and then we headed home. The ride home was as amazing as the ride down. The kid whimpered once. That was it. She was so good it actually worries me that she is just storing evil for later in life.

Through the entire illness, this girl has been a champ. She isn't fussy or whiny because of it. She just coughs and moves on. However, the cough has taught her one thing. When she coughs, she gets attention. Now, if I go too long without talking to her or touching her she fakes it. She is horrible at faking it, but its so cute how could I ignore her??? And as soon as I give her attention the cough magically vanishes. I actually think it is one of the funniest things she does.