People I am indeed losing my mind!

Seriously this mommy brain stuff is for real. I have went thru the last week and a half thinking Elaura was 4 months old , on Feb 7th. Just tonite, I realized that her birthday isnt til the 28th of the month, thus shes only 3.5 months.

So I took her in for her 4 month checkup today, thinking I was a week late. In reality, though, I was 2 full weeks early! Total mommy brain.

Overall a good visit, shes up to 12 lbs 3 oz and over 23 inches long. 32 and 37 percentile respectively. So she is well porportioned. Im a little concerned that she isnt babbling much. So we will be taking her in to have her hearing checked. She doesnt seem to respond to noise so much but it is really hard to tell if an infant is hearing. Id rather check it now . She did pass her newborn hearing screening .

Poor thing though, she got 3 shots. Elaura was angrier than I have ever seen her. She has a pretty shrill cry already and her face was beet red. I hate watching that. Seems to be sore tonite but overall dealing pretty well.

Thats all for now folks
MJ

Thinking ahead

I usually dont allow myself to comtemplate this too much, as it usually is many years ahead. I have been thinking of this fall and next fall. This fall Ezekiel goes to kidnergarten! Im really excited for him, he loves learning and I think he will do awesome if he can keep his superhero identity secret.

Next fall Zemirah will start kidnergarten. That seems unreal to me. My little princess ZZ will be in kidnergarten??!!! Where did I lose several years. Shes a very petite little girl, so its easy to forget that she will be 4 this august and thus turn 5 next fall!

That will leave me with a mere two muchkins at home. If I go with the school therapists plan, I could even put Gideon in preschool next fall as well and gasp for two half days a week, I'd have 1 kid, thats not even possible. I must say though Im leaning very strongly against preschool for Gideon but will revisit the topic next spring. One reason is that I feel the kids benefit more from being home with mom that last year and I can teach the same stuff they do in preschool at home. And trust me with this large of a family, socialization isnt an issue! For Gideon,who is special needs, I am anticipating that school will be a struggle as well, I cant fathom making him go a full two years more than he has to. Yes, I understand there are benefits and he can learn from other kids but he can also do that with his family and in sunday school and various other things. And although very tempting, I wont put him in preschool early just so I can have a break at home. My thought processes might change in the future. If I send him to preschool, I think the earliest Id want to do it is age 4. If we dont do any preschool, he will start kidnergarten in 3 yrs.

At that point, Ill just have Elaura at home. I cannot fathom the idea of one child at home. She will be so spoiled lol! I guess thats the baby of the familys role.

Its days like today when progress on getting the house in shape and organized is really slow, when the laundry pile is taller than my washer, when the dishes overflow the sink, that I like to remember this too shall pass. They wont be little forever and I wont always be watching them undo all the work i just did.

God is good ...a ll the time
MJ

Baby Squirrel

I lovingly call Elaura my baby squirrel, mainly cause it rhymes with girl lol. It works out pretty well when singing a rhyming type song to her. Anyway baby squirrel is officially 4 months old today.

I know its clinche to say where did the time go. But seriously how did I manage to lose 4 months of time. I even found myself thinking she had just turned 3 months old, when in like days she was due to turn 4 months.

Elaura is the sweestest little thing, she is very petite, so she looks all that much smaller. Everywhere I go, almost everyone I encounter makes a comment about how cute she is. Im suprised she doesnt have a complex yet. She really is getting into the laughing and talking sounds, totally love hearing tiny little baby cooing. Im starting to notice she has a preference for her mother lol! She will watch where I go, if I pass her off to someone else.

Her sleep patterns are beginning to emerge. Generally speaking she takes a pretty good 2 hr morning nap, which is helpful, since Im most motivated cleaning wise in the morning. The nicest part of the sleep equation is that she has been routinely falling asleep between 8-830. I nurse her and lay her down in her cradle awake and quite often shes out for at least 4-6 hrs. Several times she has slept til 4 or 5 in the morning. Very nice!

Gideon just adores her. I love watching the interactions between them. Elaura seems to be developing affection for Giddy as well. She just smiles and stares at him. He in turn loves to poke at her and pat and rub her head. I just have to encourage him to be soft. He even loves holding her, very sweet!

She hasnt started rolling over yet but she certainely loves kicking and scooting herself a little bit. She is also beginning to really enjoy grasping blankets, the side of cradle, my shirt. Her very favorite thing to do is to suck her fingers. When she was just born, she managed to find her thumb several times. She has given that up for two or three finger sucking!

I am very blessed to have sweet little elaura in my life, God is good all the time!

MJ