Julah - Week 8

Date: April 22-28, 2011
Weight: Over 12 lbs

Length: 22"

Sleeping: Sleeping 4-5 hour stretches at night, and working towards 2 longer naps during the day instead of a bunch of small ones

Eating: 3-4 oz
New things this week: Discovered that her hands have fingers and they fit in her mouth. better than her fist.
Diapers: Size 1
Clothing: 0-3 months
Facial Expressions: Genuine smiles!

Eyes: Blue

Hair: Reddish Brown

Here she is concentrating on getting her fingers in her mouth:

Julah’s First Easter!

On Sunday, Julah made her first appearance at Highland Park Presbyterian Church for the Easter Sunday service. Aunt Rachael came along. It was quite chilly so we kept Julah bundled up and didn’t get many pictures. She did great in church and was very well behaved.

Afterwards, we headed back to our house for lunch and an Easter egg hunt. My cousin John Michael brought his family (wife: Dr. Michelle, kids: Aiden 7, Rowan 4, Kamen 2) over. Also joining in the festivities were James (my brother), Larry & Dee (my parents), Rachael (my sister), Jon (Duffy’s brother), Josh (our Hawaiian brother), Antwon (our neighbor) and his 4 month old daughter Peyton. We had a great time and a full house! My idea of hiding the eggs: throwing them on the ground and putting them in obvious places. Aunt Rachael, however, was digging holes to put them in.

Rowan and Kamen doing an Easter craft

The whole group getting ready to begin the egg hunt:

Rowan helping Peyton find her first Easter egg

Rowan (aka: The Baby Whisperer) helping take care of Julah

Julah loves her pacifier, but she can’t quite keep it in her mouth. Lately, she’s been trying to stuff her fingers in her mouth, but as soon as her fingers touch her wet tongue, it shocks her and she retracts them back into a fist. The fist is then too big to get in her mouth - which makes her soooo mad!

I’m getting better at understanding Julah’s different sounds and cries. She has one for when she’s hungry…a demanding informative cry that comes about every three hours. If there’s any doubt that it’s a “hungry” cry you can hold her up close to your face. If she tries to eat your nose - she’s hungry. If she looks at you like you’re insane - she’s not hungry. She has another cry for gas…a sharp “the world is ending” cry followed by a confused look on her face. But there was one I couldn’t put my finger on….a cry that sounded like she was on a rollercoaster. It would rise and fall, almost stop and then start full blast again. Last week, I figured it out…
Over-tired. I didn’t know that was an issue with babies, but Julah has perfected it. She is so alert to what is going on around her that she doesn’t like to fall asleep. Then she gets so exhausted and frantic that she can’t go to sleep. Kind of like when you’re up at 4am and you desperately want to sleep because you know you have a big day ahead of you, but can’t, and just want to cry it’s so frustrating. I’ve found the only way to let her work out of it is to let her cry for a little bit and work all that nervous energy out. Then, I go in and hold her. She instantly stops crying, puts her head on my shoulder, sighs, and falls into a deep sleep.

It’s made such a difference in her morning routine - she is so much happier and rested! This morning I was chatting with her as I dressed her and I leaned in close and said, “Are you a happy girl?” She smiled right back at me! She look so amused at my funny conversation.

Well... I can't end a post without a picture of her cuddle time with Daddy: 

 ...and a picture of her cuddling with one of her pets.