Mommy in Training: The little things...

What a cliche to say "she is growing up so fast", but it is true. She isn't even 5 months old yet, and still every day I find something new compared to the day before...

*Ginger sure knows how to turn it on. When it's just Mommy and Daddy, she is extremely vocal and rarely is she not humming, laughing, screeching, and just playing with her voice in general. We call her our future American Idol, because it will almost appear that she is singing at times. Up and down the musical scale with her vocals, no words yet of course, but seriously this girl is a talker! Sometimes people don't believe me because when she has visitors, she's so entrenched in the new person that she's not as talkative, but when its just our little family, watch out!

*She is easy to please. A lot of people have made mention so far that she is a very mellow baby. She smiles and laughs pretty easily, especially for Mommy and Daddy. But she doesn't mind being handed over to friends and family to be held and visit, most of the time just kinda staring at you and occasionally cracking a smile.

*One of the best moments is when she wakes up from sleeping in her crib, she'll fuss and cry and as soon as she sees mommy pop my head over the crib, she smiles and laughs and giggles and is clearly happy to see me. I love that moment.

*She's a daddy's girl through and through. Don't get me wrong- we have a blast every day together but when Dad gets home and picks her up in his arms, she squeals and smiles and couldn't be happier. Watching that, neither can I.

*She's starting to realize that Woody is her doggie and he just cracks her up. He follows us around a lot, and with her up on my shoulder, him following me behind, he gives her lots of giggles and squeals too. Every morning for her feeding, she makes sure he is sitting in front of our big chair, and of course he wouldn't want to be anywhere else.

*One of her favorite places to visit is Paul's garage. There is so much to look at out there that it's about the only place we go where she is silent. She just stares and stares- it's like eye candy to her.

*She's a 100% mommy's milk baby, which I feel so, so, so lucky about. And I do mean luck, because I know a lot of my friends who for one reason or another were unable to strictly breastfeed. We've worked hard and have been committed, but we didn't run into ANY obstacles like the books or others have had. I attribute part of that to pure luck.

*She's a sleeper- i just knocked on my wood desk because I don't want to jinx this, but she's been sleeping really well since about 8weeks, without a drop of formula or any food so far. I have to go almost EVERY morning, at 7:45am to wake her up for the day. And her bedtime is usually between 8-8:30pm! This girl likes to sleep- she sleeps at the top of the range of hours typical for her age. She's like her mama AND her papa on that one.

*Even though she is a sleeper, she now is beginning to resist certain moments of our routine. She knows when we walk to her nursery and turn the fan on and draw the curtains, it's nap time and sometimes she still wants to play, so she'll let me know she's not happy about it. Once asleep, she's out, but she's starting to fight naps a little bit and I can tell this child will not be timid growing up. We don't believe in the cry it out method while she's still this young, so mommy does a lot of rocking, soft humming, and pacing back and forth in her nursery. And I wouldn't give it up for anything. That's why I became a mom, right?

There is a lot more to document, but I'll leave that for another day. Until then, here's a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure. By the way, she's found her feet, and thinks they're great. I think she was a bit behind the curve on that one- but it was cute to see the moment that she realized for the first time that she could actually reach them.

She's flipping! I can't seem to capture it on video, but trust me I'll keep trying.