Lord, I was born a ramblin' (wo)man

Look at that beauty there.  Perfect in every way, even with the spit bubbles on her chin.  I expected the "She is so cute!" responses when people see her as that's the natural response (even if the baby isn't all that cute).  But the one response that I didn't anticipate was how many people told me upon telling me how beautiful she is follow it up with "you need to have more babies".  I definitely want another -- E is more hesitant than I.  That's usually how our relationship works -- I'm pretty impulsive and E thinks more logically.  Hell, I actually started talking about having another three days after she was born.  

But before we could even consider thinking about another, we would need to find more affordable childcare as we couldn't afford $2,000 a month for daycare.  I didn't anticipate how expensive childcare is here in Cleveland.  The daycare that we currently have her enrolled in for September is going to cost us $1,000 a month.  It's right across the street from campus.  We've been told recently by multiple sources that they overcharge because they know they have a monopoly on the doctors' children being so close.  I currently have someone here at the Clinic looking into child care closer to home, something a little more cost effective.  

I was going to photoshop out the drool on her chest -- but as disgusting as it sounds, I think it's kind of cute.

On sleeping:  Just when I started to think that we were making huge progress in the transition, we were hit with a roadblock!  Lady was doing wonderful until about 3 days ago.  We have fallen into a beautiful routine, one that I actual look forward to each evening.  Between 8:30pm-9:00pm, we move upside to our bedroom where I feed her in our bed.  She is usually really sleepy by the time that she is finished.  Her & I move into her room and I turn on her Sound Soother (Surf's Up is our current favorite) and we rock while I sing (probably not very well) "Moon River" or "Blackbird".  After about 5-10 minutes, I move her to the crib and down she goes.  If she isn't fully asleep, I immediately depart and sister falls asleep within a minute or so.  She started waking up at midnight, then pushed it to 2am, then 3:30am and finally 4:20am!  

But the last 3 nights, she has been up before midnight.  On Monday night, she didn't want to be put down.  I got her into her crib and she woke up 15 minutes later.  I tried to put her back to sleep -- I was swaying my way to her crib and she would be asleep in my arms and fuss for 2 seconds waking herself up, rinse & repeat.  I eventually just put her down with me in our bed.  But she was NOT a good sleeper last night.  She was up at least 4 times with full blown crying.  It's very  unusual for her to cry at all during the night -- lady is usually a fusser, not a cryer.  Last night was a little better.  Definitely not crying in the middle of the night -- a little fussy and definitely wanted her mama.

Dancing machine:  We have a dancing queen on our hands!  When the music comes on, Finn will kick her legs like crazy.  If she is in her Kickin' Coaster, she "jumps" and kicks.  Of course, Mama makes a fool of herself dancing and singing for her.  E walked in on one of our dance recitals and wanted to know what exactly was I teaching her from "Mo' Money Mo' Problems".  I was teaching how to throw her 'Rolly in the sky and wave it side to side!

In a fit of giggles:  We almost have the giggles.  When I have a ponytail in, I'll take the tips of my hair and brush them across her face & chin.  We get a "he he" or a "he he he" -- but no fit of giggles yet.  It's a coming!  This also means that sister is just starting to get ticklish, which is going to be super fun.

Chat stew:  The squeals and squawks are getting less.  Oh, they still happen and they still happen a lot, but now they are slowly being replaced with goo's and gaa's.  I still love those squeals when they come along and I try to make them come as much as possible.  But pretty soon we are going to have a babbling baby on our hands.

Sophie, Je t'aime:  Yesterday, I introduced Sophie, the French teething giraffe to Finn.  Let's just say they became real quick friends -- besties, in fact!  Finn likes that she can grab Sophie's legs and hold on while she sticks Sophie's neck in her mouth.  And Sophie's texture is matted rubber, which allows her better grip.  Now if we can just keep Sophie out of the mouth of the beasts.

Growin' like a weed:  Last weekend, we bought our first set of size 2 diapers.  We need to run through all our size 1's before we swap -- but we are definitely ready for a bigger size.  And I'm already having to pack up some of her 0-3 month clothes, we will be moving into 3-6 before you know it.  We have her 4 month doctor's appointment (although she is going to be one week shy of her fifth month by then) -- so I'm excited to see what her exact weight and length is.

Baby Rolls:  So, she hasn't rolled again since her initial roll over a week and half ago.  I think the stars aligned just right, so I could be home to see it first.  But she doesn't realize that is what we want her to do.  But on a brighter note, she enjoys tummy time now.  Last night was the first night that she supported herself with her arms!


I have the most beautiful photos of her that I'm going to post later this week -- trying to write the perfect words to go along with them.  So make sure to check back by Friday for them!