Monday, December 18, 2006

More Celebrations, etc.

We celebrated Christmas with Erik's family last night - a week early since Doug & Elissa will be gone to Saskatchewan next weekend. We were joined by Erik's cousin, Mark (who's living here at the house for about a month) and Todd & Brianne. There was plenty of food and lots of gifts!

It's been fun watching Micah enjoy Christmas this year. He's much more excited about everything than he was last year as a one-year-old. Him and Nathan had fun playing behind the Christmas tree (check out N & R's blog for more cute pictures).
By the way, this is Micah's "CHEESE!" face and it comes out in all the pictures lately!











Micah playing with his new Fisher-Price Alphabet Zoo from Grandma & Grandpa.




Some shots of Keziah with her eyes open. She is almost 4 weeks and I think she's starting to look a bit more awake and aware these days.























Yesterday the girls from our care group held a Baby Shower lunch for me (to make up for the cancelled shower on Thursday night). It was a lot of fun and I got some more cute outfits for Keziah. I have felt so blessed by our care group. They made us a whole pile of food for our freezer that we've barely made a dent in, plus all the gifts yesterday. They even gave me a gift certificate to the Wild Orange Spa!

Here's a little glance into Keziah's closet - she's already got more clothes than Micah does, I think! But girls need more clothes than boys, right? (At least that's what I tell Erik when he complains that my side of the closet is over-taking his!)




Life around the house is going fairly well these days. I'm pleasantly surprised to see Micah falling into the role of big brother. He's quite concerned for Keziah when she's crying, especially if her "nuk-ie" falls out of her mouth. He has also become very affectionate with her in the last week - sometimes a little overly affectionate! But it's very cute and I'm excited for them to learn to play together in the future. Micah definitely could use a playmate!

Keziah has been sleeping really well at night. Last night it was 6 hours and the night before it was 7! The tough part has been getting her to go right back to sleep after feeding. The other night I was up with her for an hour and a half in the night. But last night she went down right after I fed her at 9:30pm and then when I fed her again at 3:30am she went right back down again! It was wonderful!

I've been reading a lot of the The Baby Whisperer lately which I borrowed from a friend a few months ago when Micah was starting his separation anxiety (yes, Ej, I'm talking about your book - I haven't forgotten that I need to return it and I plan to soon!) It has been very interesting and I've learned a lot of new things. But, at the same time, it has created more worries! I really related to Heather's recent blog when she wrote about how we hope baby will sleep better but when that happens, we worry they are sleeping too much! Reading this book has now got me worrying about how Keziah feeds. I mentioned before that she seems to eat really fast. They say a newborn should be nursing for 20-40 minutes at a time, but Keziah's usually done after 10-20. When I fed her last night, she only nursed for about 7 minutes and then she was totally out. The book mentions that there are some babies who are just more efficient and you'll know they're getting enough if they can go 3 hours between feeds. It's not that she's always falling asleep while eating - she seems satisfied afterwards and can go the full 3 hours. So, I don't know why I'm worrying so much about this but I just am! I find myself constantly watching the clock while she nurses and I'm going to drive myself crazy! Who said we were more laid back the second time around??

I'd also like your opinions on the Oprah show that aired recently about the secret language of babies - based on the theory that there are 5 universal sounds that newborn babies use to communicate with us. Several of you blogged about that episode. I watched it before Keziah was born and tried to remember the sounds. I was very excited to put it all into practice. But, so far, I haven't been able to distinguish any of the classic sounds coming from my baby. I can tell when she's hungry because of how she roots and smacks her tongue and I can usually tell when she's sleepy, too, but it's not because I hear the "neh" or "owh" sounds that they talked about on the show. I'm curious to know if those of you with newborns have heard your babies making any of the sounds? Maybe my ear is just not practiced enough! It sure would be nice to know what all the extra crying is about...

Here's one last picture... So far Micah has gotten more use out of the baby swing than Keziah :o)

"CHEEEESE!!"

11 comments:

Trev and Rebekah said...

I'm glad Micah is falling into the role of big brother. That's an answer to prayer.
Your little girl is getting so big. I'm sure you'll have fun dressing her in all her new clothes.

The Keowns said...

my kids used to play in the swing just like Micah. Liam loves his fisher price Zoo too (although he loves throwing the animals around the living room the most!)
isn't it funny about the girl clothes thing? Cassidy has three dressers and a closet full, and the boys share one dresser and closet.

Nathan & Rosanna Toews said...

Love the post Jamie! Girls do need more clothes... just the way it is!

KDees said...

Hey Jamie,
Sounds like things are going well in your household. Good to hear!!

-Me- said...

Hi Jamie! I keep telling myself that once my second arrives I will be more laid back also...maybe I'm just kidding myself?? uh oh!

-Me- said...

Oh, forgot: Girls definitely need more clothes then boys!!! My daughter actually has more clothes then I do I think!!!

kelly ens said...

love the pictures! and SO glad to hear keziah's sleeping well right now! as for the feeding thing...count yourself very fortunate! i stressed for the first 5 months of taeya's life about her feeding. but once i finally had 2-3 people say to me "if she's gaining weight, and is happy from one feeding to the next (3 hours or whatever it was), she's fine!" then i finally relaxed and started enjoying the fact that she had become an effective eater!
about the oprah thing...maybe it's different as newborns, so i couldn't really "test" it out with taeya, but there's no way NOW to hear a difference in her cry. it's just on or off! :)

Ej said...

Jamie

Don't worry too much about the feeding stuff(easier said than done). J-man was the same way(when I still had milk). He stopped gaining weight and wanted to eat every 60 minutes when I was drying up. As long as she is gaining weight and happy she'll be okay. But I so remember feeling super stressed out during those first few months!

Now I just fake it and hope no one realizes that I have no idea what I doing!

And I am in no rush to get the book back - so don't rush reading it on my account - I know where you live ;-)

Did you get my email? - I've had problems with bouncing emails lately.

suzspeaks said...

Looks like your first christmas celebration was fun!

I agree with you - girls do need more clothes!! I love Micah's CHEESE face, Jaxon has a great one too!

Just this week Jaxon has started the seperation anxiety bit. I do not like it at all...

Have a good day!

karina said...

what a little cheeser micah is :) just like his daddy... i can just picture the two of them (maybe joined by craig glen) being silly together.

Anonymous said...

Jamie, I've almost decided to completely STOP reading all books. They make me worry and so paranoid, because James always seems to have one or another symptom of some awful thing. My hubby says I can't read books anymore. Since I've stopped I think I have noticed I'm a bit more relaxed actually. And of course, sleep really, really helps. I'm a complete basket case when I am really tired, and I try to do everything at once. Keziah is just beautiful, and Micas is adorable. Hope you are feeling better, and we'll talk to you soon. I'd love to call you sometime. Do you have my email? eternal_13@yahoo.com It is true that as long as she is gaining weight, content, and alert she is just fine. I have to tell myself that about James every day - although he recently has started to eat longer. I think I liked the quicker feedings though! It's hard to sit for 20-40 minutes.