"She Likes the Movin' and a Groovin'"

I love to write about how Carly changes from week to week.  Her physical skills improve and her cognitive ability grows by leaps and bounds.  My favorite thing to watch, however, is her growing awareness of the world around her.  I am excited that this essentially never stops.  It's the beauty of the human life, always maturing.  In fact, I'm sure many of you have seen a growth in mine and Brian's maturity over the past year, and especially the past 4 months.  I know I can see it in myself.  I knew becoming a Mom would change my outlook and awareness about the world.

Physically, Carly is getting close to mastering her ability to grab whatever she wants to grab.  She doesn't get the concept of pushing (like pushing a button, or playing the piano), but you can bet if you have something that she wants she is going to get it.  She has grabbed my glasses right off my face multiple time now!  She has also been experimenting with the features on our face, particularly the result of what will happen if she sticks her little fingers close to our mouths.  Which brings me to her cognitive development.  She is beginning to learn cause and effect.  If she puts her fingers near our mouths than her little fingers will probably get chomped on!  If she reaches for something in her play gym, she knows she will be able to see and touch rather than just look at!  When I am making breakfast or lunch in the kitchen I have to be careful not to let her grab my food unless I want to clean up a big mess!  It was hard to keep her from my oatmeal this morning!  Carly is trying her best to go places, but is not real successful at this point in her development.  She can't scoot forward like she intends to, and somehow ends up facing a different direction most of the time.

  We have been giving Carly lots of tummy time, and overall she seems to enjoy it.  She still prefers to be on her back looking up at things, but likes the change in scenery.  It's so funny to me that she has been rolling over for 3 months now, but still can't remember how to do it all the time.  She gets so frustrated when she can't roll over, but is so pleased when she figures it out.  Anyway, this is how you can often find miss monkey in our house:

I know these pictures aren't the greatest quality.  I tend to get out the iPod when taking a photo rather than just using the camera.  You can see she still loves that spider!

After my work week this week, I slept in while Brian and Carly got up to play.  When I came out of the bedroom I found her wearing a Cyclone onesie and jeans.  The perfect daddy outfit! ;) I, of course, added a bow!

Seems appropriate as we watched the NBA draft last night and had a Little Cyclone and a Big Cyclone get drafted in the first round!  It was fun to see Harrison in the green room, and very cool that Coach Downs got to be there with him!

And finally, I want to share this photo with you.  I snagged it one morning before we had gotten out of bed and couldn't believe how much it resembled Brian.  I should really put their baby photos side by side.  And, if you can't tell, her hair is now blonder than her daddy's hair, especially on the top where the sun kisses it!

Thanks for checking in with us this week as we were experiencing bad storms.  We were under a hurricane advisory and tornado watch all week.  When I drove to work on Sunday it was scary...I had never ever driven in rain that bad before.  I was thankful the cars around me were also going 40 and using their hazards.  The winds picked up so bad one night that Brian even decided to take Carly into the closet.  There was a tornado warning for us and he wanted to be safe...especially with our big glass doors in the back of the house.  He said she did not enjoy the closet. Ha.  She is SO opinionated!  Brian and I have no idea which one of us she gets that from?! ;)

"When I See an Elephant Fly"

The Weiss family had a wonderful "weekend" this week.  We look forward to our one day together every single week and when it arrives we try our very best to make the most of it.  So, the highlight from yesterday was our trip to Magic Kingdom to see more of the new Fantasyland expansion that has been opening in phases. Dumbo's circus has arrived and there are many sights to see!  Here is Carly and I checking out all the elephants, giraffes and monkeys spitting water!

After hanging out there we decided to go ride the Dumbo ride for the first time!  There are now two Dumbo rides right next to one another, and instead of waiting in line, you enter a circus tent, get a pager (like at a restaurant) and play in the tent (it was way cool...I wanted to play in this play place) until your pager beeps and it's time to ride the attraction.  Only at Disney!  It's incredible and appeared to us as guests that all the kinks were worked out.  Carly loved watching the kiddos run around the play area.  I really can't imagine her ever being able to do that, but at the same time know it will be so fun when she can.  This is super silly, but we decided to take a short video of Carly riding Dumbo.  Hope you enjoy it. :)

We also tried to take a family photo while on the ride, but the sun got in the way a bit.

Other than our fun time at Magic Kingdom, we merely relaxed on the couch at home.  We took turns playing with Carly and enjoyed each others company.  We made tacos for lunch and chicken and rice for dinner.  Nothing too exciting.  I look forward to someday having an actual weekend together.  But I guess it's best that we don't while Carly can't remember.  Once she is older I think she will need that family time.

"I Want Candy!"

Carly had her first taste of candy this week!  Just kidding...it was merely cherry flavored Tylenol at the doctor's office.  And might I say she really didn't want it at all...she spit it all out and it got all over her pretty pink dress and somehow even up her nose!  We thought she might need it as badly as she felt after her last set of shots, but we were mistaken.  She did great!  She had another three shots and certainly was frightened by the pain but I was able to catch her eye and told her it was going to be okay.  She barely even cried! Yay!

Carly is steadily growing in the 20th percentile compared to her fellow baby girl peers.  She weighed in at 12.5 pounds and measured 24 inches long (I still think she is 25, ha).  I don't remember what the circumference of her head was, but it matched up with her 20th percentile little body.  I do want to note that she is just the perfect size!! She is substantial and sturdy, but yet still so tiny.  I don't get tired of carrying her around and she doesn't get tired of me carrying her!  I am thankful she has stayed so little...the longer she stays little the more I get to enjoy it!

Carly has acted fairly normal since her shots, for which we are thankful.  She did sleep a bit more that day (that was fun!), but is back to her normal self.  Her legs look way worse than last time, though.  Her thighs are swollen and the red marks are the size of a quarter on each leg, but she seems to be un-phased.

One thing I thought was humorous was that we asked the doctor if it was a concern that Carly was only taking 30 minute naps.  He said it's certainly not normal but that she is probably just showing us what type of person she is going to be.  He said that she might be the type of girl who only needs power naps to re-charge her batteries and might be that way forever.  What is funny is that Carly's grandma (Brian's mom) is just like that!  So I guess we know who she gets that from. I really hope for the sake of my sanity over the next 3 years that she chooses to take longer naps!  Otherwise I guess I know who to blame... ;)

My parents sadly left on Wednesday morning at the crack of dawn so Brian graciously volunteered to take them to the airport.  I didn't even hear him crawl back into bed (and that's saying something for this light sleeper).  After Carly's doc appointment, we came home and laid on the couch most of the day.  Because Carly was taking hour long naps, we actually got to watch a movie!  Oh my goodness I can't tell you how amazing that was!  We chose Jurassic Park and loved it.  Did you know that movie came out in 1993?  I remember going to the theater to see it with my dad...nearly 20 years ago at this point.  Makes me feel old!

I don't have much to report other than Carly's stats.  The past two nights she has only slept a 6 hour stretch.  Her nights keep getting shorter and shorter.  I am going to try to fill her up to the brim with milk tonight to see if that helps.  Actually, let me just recap how many hours of sleep she has slept in one stretch throughout her life so I can compare to future babes.

4 weeks: 7 hours
5 weeks: 8 hours (I know...I was super lucky)
6 weeks: 9 hours
7 weeks: 9 hours
8 weeks: 8 hours
9 weeks: 8 hours
10 weeks: 10 hours
11 weeks: 10 hours
12 weeks: 10 hours
13 weeks-17 weeks: 7.5-8 hours
18 weeks: 6 hours

Doesn't add up if you ask me!  I know we have been super super blessed with her long nights...but if you count that up that's 12 weeks of sleeping 8+ hours.  So going back to less makes for one very tired mama!


Thanks for checking in!  I enjoy writing about what's going on in our lives and enjoy being able to keep friends and family who are far away from us in the loop.  We have a pretty laid back month ahead of us (well...we think) and then Brian's brother, our sister-in-law and our niece arrive.  We'll have fun showing them around Disney!

"My Girl" {4 Months}

Carly is 4 months old today!  Time is flying by...as I knew it would.  It really started going fast after I went back to work.  3 days of work, 1 day with my hubby and 3 days home with my girl.  Round and round it goes!

What's new with Carly as she heads into her 4th month of life?  Well...new this week are a few things.  The one that sticks out the most is her need to grunt!  She can be very aggressive with her speaking and it is absolutely hilarious.  I will share this video with you only if you promise to pretend you can't see me in it. ;)

Carly has officially found her hands and will take a good look at them for about 10 seconds then once she figures out what they are will move onto bigger and better things.  Sometimes she will even find her arm and follow the line of her arm all the way to the tips of her fingers.  I am excited for her that she is really beginning to make the connection that her hands belong to her and she can do wonderful things with them!  She has certainly improved upon her grabbing skills this week and continues to let out a few giggles! 

She is on a fairly consistent 2.5 hour schedule.  She wakes up between 6-6:30am and crawls into bed with me until about 9-9:30am.  She naps at 11:30am, 2pm, 4:30pm, 7:15pm & then goes to bed between 10-10:30pm.  She eats following her mere 30 minutes naps at 6am, 9am, 12pm, 2:30pm, 5pm, 7:45pm & at bedtime.  We stick to this very well on Sundays, Mondays & Tuesdays when I am at work but we are pretty laid back about it when I'm home all the time.  Somehow we always manage to get her to bed between 10-10:30pm (minus usually one hiccup each week) and she always wakes 7.5-8 hours later.  Yes, her sleep time continues to get shorter rather than longer.  I am hoping it doesn't continue to get shorter and eventually stretches out again.  We also started sleeping her on her tummy at nights about two weeks ago.  She seems to love it and moves all over her crib in the nights.

I've been doing some reading about when to start her on food (recommended age is 4-6 months) but we have decided to wait until at least 6 months (we can always change our mind if we want).  She is far from ready being that she is still trying to connect her mind to her hands.  She is uninterested in our food and isn't to 15 pounds yet, both of which need to happen before she would be successful at digesting solids.  Plus her milk keeps her plenty full.  We could potentially put rice cereal in her bedtime bottle to keep her full longer, but we aren't ready to do that either.  We have tried to increase the amount of ounces she gets at night, but it seems to just give her gas.  I'm sure in the next few weeks she will transition from 4 ounce bottles to 4.5 ounce bottles.  Since she is still eating 7 times per day the amount she gets per feeding is quite less compared to most babies who are only eating 6 times per day. :)

Tummy time is going well.  She actually doesn't enjoy being on her tummy because it limits her view of the world, but we need to keep giving her practice.  She is great at pushing herself up but hasn't been rolling over as much.  We encourage her but she just doesn't like being on her tummy so she gets too upset before she is willing to focus on rolling.  She'll get there...we obviously know she is capable!

Carly's hair has grown enough to put little clips in it and boy do I take advantage of that!  She has never really enjoyed the headband thing, but doesn't mind the clips.  She has a million cute little outfits and dressing her in the mornings is so much fun!  I want to do a photo shoot of her everyday she is just so cute. ;)  My friend Christi gave me a small lesson on how to use my camera the other day, so hopefully I will practice and my photos will improve in quality.  But, until then they will just be the quality that comes out when I press the button!  Here are her 4 month shots in her toy box: 

This outfit was bought for her cousin, Cora, by her Grandma & Great Grandma and her bow was made by her cousin, Kayla.  Super cute little ensemble!

You can always find Carly with her tongue out or her hand in her mouth.  She will suck on anything you put near her mouth, including the ice cube I gave her the other day (don't worry, I held onto it).  She is a happy little girl who sometimes can be a little moody.  She requires entertainment almost the entire day and wants very little time to herself.  Her favorite thing to do is walk around Disney parks.  She is the ultimate people watcher like her daddy and such a social bug like her mommy!  She is a certainly a spunky little thing and is not lacking in personality! 

Love you, our pretty little 4 month old girl!  

"We're Goin' to the Zoo, Zoo, Zoo"

We have all been having a lovely time with Carly's other set of grandparents here this week (my parents).  The arrived late late on Tuesday evening and we hit the ground running on Wednesday.  We went to EPCOT in the morning then rode the boat off to Hollywood Studios. I was very impressed that my dad was able to put Carly to sleep while we were riding! 

We met up with Brian, headed to Bible Study, then came home and had dinner while watching the second game of the NBA finals.

Thursday we had a relaxing day at home.  We went for multiple walks and watched a big storm pass over us.  We all went to Sonny's BBQ that night and for the first time ever I didn't have to feed or put Carly down for a nap while we were out to eat.  She enjoyed people watching, as per usual. 

Friday was off to the parks again, this time to Animal Kingdom.  And, lo and behold, Brian & I realized it was Carly's first time at DAK!  She doesn't really know what animals are at this point in her learning journey, so she got a bit fussy on the safari.  That's ok, though, it was time for her to have dinner anyway. :)  Here is Carly & Nana right by the Hippos (although you can't see any of the 5,000 pound creatures in the background). 

We actually were able to accomplish a lot in only 2 hours at DAK before our dinner reservation at the Tusker House.  We met Minnie Mouse, saw The Lion King show, went to A Bug's Life 3D show (which Carly loved...it was just a giant TV for her and she loves the bright lights the TV makes) and got on the Safari!  It was a fabulous Safari...probably the best I've ever been on.  All the animals were getting ready to head in for the night so they were on the road walking to the different fences throughout the savannah.  We saw 9 giraffes (so close you could practically pet them), 4 white rhino, elephants, cheetahs, and the Lion was actually up and walking around!  After the Safari we had an African themed buffet at the above mentioned restaurant and left absolutely stuffed!  My parents love eating on Disney property, so we try to eat a nice dinner once each time they are here.  Sure works out well for Brian & I!  Another reason we love having our parents in town...they always seems to pay for meals (thanks for spoiling us, you four!)!  Plus, being that we went to Africa in 2004 (South Africa, Swaziland & Mozambique), it was a trip down memory lane when it came to the flavors of the food.  In case anyone cares, it's pretty authentic there! 

So... I know this picture didn't turn out real well, but it here is Carly posing for her first visit to DAK:

Today has been another laid back day, just watching some TV and taking walks outside.  I don't know if my mom will cook dinner tonight or if we will get a pizza.  Either way it will be pretty chill. Maybe this afternoon we will venture over to Celebration to walk along the lake and grab a coffee.

Tomorrow I start another week of work.  I really miss Carly when I'm there...and dread the tiredness that will soon be running through my veins.  Somehow I get through it each week, though.  I'm thankful I am such a night owl!  At work I'm really fine, it's just the next morning when my daughter wakes me up that I essentially feel sick to my stomach.  Ha.  Glad we have built-in babysitters again this week!  They don't leave until Wednesday morning, so that means Brian gets to golf on Tuesday rather than caring for Carly.  Happy first Father's Day to him! :) 

"1, 2, 3 o'clock, 4 o'clock, Rock!"

As you all know from my sleep entry last week, miss Carly has given us a run for our money both during the day and in the middle of the night when it comes to sleeping.  After two very strange weeks, I think we are back into a routine...although this time I won't hold my breath.  For the past few weeks, there has been no rhyme or reason to her sleep patterns.  Sometimes she would sleep through the night, others she would wake up at unpredictable and inconsistent times.  I think we have been up nearly every hour of the night the past two weeks.  It's unfortunate and I've gone a bit crazy trying to function on so little sleep (it's not real relaxing to crawl into bed at 2am and know I could be woken up at any minute).  Fortunately, though, she seems to have settled back in to sleeping 8 hours a night.  Those blessed 10 hour nights are out the window, but I'm so grateful that she was sleeping them when I first went back to work.  I still believe it was God's way of easing me back into it.  8 hours is great, and I will be thankful for it.  She still does need 9-10 hours, so on the days that I work I just let her join me in bed.  I actually really like that time, so I'm tossing the books out the window on this one.  I think that it's precious that she will sleep in my arms and I relax knowing I don't have to keep one ear on to listen for crying.  She loves it, too, and sometimes will even give me 3 more hours after she wakes up.  It works for now and we love it so I'm sticking with it. :)

As for naps...those have been inconsistent as well.  There has been ONE day that she actually slept longer than 30 minutes for all of her naps, but we figured that wouldn't last.  With her not sleeping during the day practically at all, I did A LOT of reading on the subject (thank you so much for all the texts and emails I got with support and advice...I appreciated hearing others' thoughts on the matter of not napping).  What I essentially found out was that I was letting her get overly tired and babies who are too tired don't go to sleep well and don't stay asleep, either.  So this week we focused on getting her in her room and relaxed before she realized she was tired.  This has helped her go down easier, but hasn't helped her stay asleep longer.  We really have tried everything, from nursing her to sleep, to holding her to rocking her, bouncing her and letting her cry for a while.  She just won't sleep longer than 30 minutes. I've even hovered over her crib at the 29 minute mark waiting for her to flinch so I can soothe her back to sleep, but when her eyes pop open she looks up at me like I'm stupid.  I think she is thinking, "really...I'm clearly awake...why are you pretending I'm still sleeping?"  But at least we can get her to sleep now.  Last week she wouldn't fall asleep unless she was nursing but then would scream when I put her down, so she was taking her naps on me.  Now we are back to laying her in her crib and rubbing her back.  Brian was the one who tried that method one night and it worked!  I was shocked and thrilled!

Carly is so much happier when she sleeps well...so I think we will have to continue to work hard at helping her sleep.  As of now she is up for 2 hours then sleeps for 30 minutes from the time she wakes up in the morning until the time we put her to bed at night.  What can I say...at least she's napping!

Alright...you are probably super tired of reading about sleep patterns, so I'll share a few photos from the friends that came to play with Carly this week.  The first one is Jen, a friend who visits frequently from New York, and the second is Carly with her friend, Eden.  They really enjoyed one another and are only 2 1/2 months a part, so I think Christi & I will continue to get them together!  It's really neat how babies are so interested in each other.  They certainly know they are more similar than adults!

These girlies are certainly checking each other out!  Eden is more advanced than Carly so she would reach out and grab Carly.  I don't think Carly minded it at all!  Thanks Jen, Christi & Eden for coming over to play with us this week!

"Over the River & Through the Woods"

This past week Carly got to spend some quality time with Grandpa & Grandma (Brian's parents).  We didn't go to their house but they traveled across the country to come to ours!  Carly loved the undivided attention, the new toys that they brought for her to play with and the coos and smiles she received all weekend long!   We had a fairly uneventful long weekend and I think that's just what they were hoping for!  Friday evening when they arrived we were all together, but then we weren't all together again until Tuesday.  Brian and I both worked Saturday, Sunday & Monday...opposite shifts as usual.  So Grandma & Grandpa got some time to spoil her while her parents were away. :)  I believe quite a few photo shoots took place throughout the weekend:

It's fun to watch someone else love my daughter so much.  I know that her four grandparents love her the most next to Brian & I, and for some reason that seems really precious to me.  They would do anything for her and they share in our joy as we watch her grown and develop.  I'm sure she will always look forward to seeing her grandparents as much as I always did growing up.

Carly hit some big milestones while they were here, which was fun for all of us!  She began grabbing at the things around her...an incredible awareness that's developing!  She got this great new toy to go along with her spider (it's a bee that flies onto a flower) and she can't get enough of the vibrating the bee does as it flies.  her grasp is so tight that she can hold the flower while I hold the been and I can pull it from her and let it go so it will vibrate in her hand.  It pretty much rocks her world.  She also let out some giggles that they were able to witness!  She doesn't do it very often yet, but when she does it rocks my world. :)

Tuesday was our only day together and we made the most of it!  We had a fairly chill morning, with Brian cooking his flank steak, sweet potato mashed potatoes (my new favorite food) and green beans.  He is quite the griller!  It stormed most of the morning but he endured through!  After lunch we took an adventure to Saratoga Springs, the resort that Aaron, Kelly & Cora (Carly's uncle, aunt & cousin on Brian's side) will be staying at when they come to visit next month.  It got Carly really excited for her cousin to come play with her!  After our walk we ate at Red Lobster (I hadn't eaten there since 2009 and it was way delicious) and then came home and Grandma & Grandpa soaked up their play time with our sweet girly.  I love this picture I snagged of them...Carly was so happy!

We had a really nice time together!  I hope they can come back in August before Rhonda starts school...but if not we know they will see her in September when we are home for Marc & Chelsea's wedding.