4 Months

Canaan turned 4 months last Wednesday.

Grandma spent the week with us keeping Canaan during the day while Daddy was out of town visiting a friend. She is working at turning Canaan into a football fan. In the first two days Grandma was here, we watched three football games.

I discovered that eating at PF Changs while on an elimination diet is not good at all. There were 3 items on the menu I could eat as long as the sauce was not added to the dish. I had ginger chicken with broccoli. It was really bland. I don't expect to go back there until I can eat something yummy.

Canaan has started taking her pacifier again. She likes to play with it - taking it out of her mouth and trying to put it back in her mouth. She gets frustrated and does not like anyone to help her put it back in her mouth. We may be in trouble...I thought the independence started much later than 4 months old.

She has been rolling over like crazy. She is still only rolling from her back to her tummy, but she likes to roll over. She gets frustrated after being on her tummy for a while. As soon as you put her on her back, she will roll to the tummy again. When we went to visit the doctor this week, she tried to roll over while on/in the scale and then rolled over while the doctor was checking her ear.

Thursday afternoon Grandma and I finally got some video of Canaan laughing. It was really cute!

4 month stats = weight 12 lb 11 1/2 oz (36%), height 24.8 inches (77%), head 15.8 inches (29%) - The doctor said that Canaan would not win any blue ribbons, but she is doing well. At the very least, she should weigh 10 lb 4 oz so she's doing better than that. I think because of the elimination diet, she is not gaining what she might be gaining. I told Matthew over the phone the doctor's blue ribbon comment. He didn't think that was very funny and told me the doctor better have been joking.

Canaan is doing everything on the list the doctor gave us that she should be doing except one thing. She is not holding up her chest when lying on her tummy. She is getting A LOT of tummy time now that she is rolling over so much so I bet she will be doing this soon.

We took her to Target for 4 month pictures on Sunday (you just have to enter my first and last name). This was not a very good experience. Our appointment was at 3 pm so we got there a bit early to change her clothes. We ended up having to wait until around 3:45. It was tough on Canaan. She did very well and we even got some smiles. Of course, I always think her pictures turn out cute!

10 years

I cannot believe it's been over 10 years since I graduated from college. I thought several times this summer about the fact that I had now known some friends for 10 years or more, but I did not connect it with being out of school for that long until I received something from Hardin-Simmons in the mail about celebrating the 10 years at the upcoming homecoming. What?? How did 10 years go by so quickly?

HSU sent a form to fill out about myself to be included in a book I think about those who graduated in 1999. There is a space for a paragraph that is titled "WHAT I'VE BEEN DOING SINCE HSU DAYS & OTHER COMMENTS". How do you fit 10 years worth of life into a paragraph? I guess I will do my best.

17 weeks

Like I mentioned earlier, Pops was in town last weekend so we took some family photos when Matthew's aunt and uncle came down for a visit. We happened to have dressed all matchy-matchy completely unintentionally. Of course, we had to get some pictures of us being so coordinated! Below are my favorites.

Canaan is trying to figure out how to get toys, burp cloths, etc in her mouth. It is a little amusing to watch her, but she sure gets frustrated when she can't figure it out. She mostly is able to touch everything with her tongue, but she doesn't really get items into her mouth.

She does not like kiddos getting in her face. A friend of mine told me about this after watching Canaan. Her son had gotten close to Canaan. I observed this myself when a girl at a Sunday school dinner was trying to give Canaan toys. Canaan did not like having the girl or the toys right in her face. I don't blame her!

Canaan has become my little alarm. Matthew and I thought my alarm was waking her up each morning. It turns out that she has just been waking up between 5:15 and 5:30 most mornings recently. Her little noises are much better than that pesky alarm buzz. I have still been setting my alarm, but I haven't heard it go off since sometime last week.

Brrr...

From Sunday to Monday, the temperature dropped 30 degrees or more. We had the strangest weather yesterday. I saw dark clouds, sunny skies, rain, snow, sleet, sunshine, wind, sleet, sunshine, dark clouds, snow, sunshine, over and over again. It was cold! And this morning I woke up to a dusting of snow on the ground and rooftops.

I just want to clarify that I am NOT ready for winter.

16 weeks

Here's what has been going on in Canaan's life over the past week.

• Friday while laying on her activity mat, she rolled over for the first time! She rolled from her back to her belly twice. I haven't seen her do it since then.
• She met Pops (her paternal grandfather) on Friday. I'll have pictures of them together in my next post.
• Matthew has been watching all our animated videos to see what will be appropriate to show Canaan at some point. He now is on a kick to find some of the Disney movies that are currently out of circulation. I'm not sure that we need to be in a hurry, but Matthew has already started thinking of the ones he would like to get.
• Canaan had several really good days this week where she ate and slept well during the day. She is not always a good napper so this was great for Matthew.
• She continues to smile more easily and more often each day.
• I still have not heard her laugh again. I've already forgotten what that little laugh sounded like, although I have not forgotten that it was one of the most beautiful sounds I've ever heard.
• The weather over the weekend was pretty cool. The only long sleeve clothes Canaan has at the moment are 3 to 6 month size. They were a tad bit big, but not too bad. She has some really cute things to wear as it gets cold. Girl clothes are just so cute!
• Canaan is still not a big fan of the car seat. She generally does not like riding in the car. This is baffling to other parents. I always hear how everyone else's children fall asleep in the car.
• She is still wearing size 1 in diapers. Our favorite diapers are the Pampers Swaddlers.
• You can see from these pictures that Canaan spends a lot of time with one or both of her hands in her mouth.

Matthew is so great with Canaan. He is a great stay-at-home dad. He is continuing to look for a job, but nothing has come around yet. We have decided that until he can find a full-time engineering job, it is worth it to us for him to stay home with Canaan rather than working full-time in retail. He would not be able to earn enough to make it worth putting Canaan in daycare. Some folks don't understand that decision, but we think it is really important for Canaan to be at home with a parent rather than in daycare if we can swing that.

15 Weeks & Labor Day Weekend

Canaan met some more friends over the weekend. Wade and Michelle are the first couple friends that Matthew and I made after we got married. We have known them about 6 years and love them dearly. We had a fantastic weekend with them! We enjoyed hanging around the house, eating, seeing a local attraction, and fellowshipping with them. We have missed them and really loved spending time with them over the weekend. Canaan was fascinated by Michelle, and anytime we were in the car she was watching Michelle (as evidenced in the photo below).

• Canaan is starting to touch her toys and hold them in her hands. She tries to put them in her mouth but is not very successful with that part yet.
• When I get home in the evenings, I find myself asking Matthew this question a lot, "Has she been doing this?" He works with her a lot during the day to teach her things. She's a good learner up to this point.
• Canaan used to take any pacifier. Now she generally turns them away and will suck on her thumb if she desires to suck on something. She also will put 1 to 4 fingers in her mouth to chew or suck on.
• She still has quite the sensitive tummy. I am still on the elimination diet, but there are days that she has some tummy issues.
• Canaan plays with her tongue a lot. She could spend hours (a bit of an exaggeration) just sticking her tongue out and then putting it back in her mouth. We have no idea what she's doing.
• I mentioned this earlier, but she laughed for the first time last week. We haven't gotten her to do it again yet. She has come close though.
• Canaan enjoys the toys hanging over her bouncy seat and play gym. She is more interested in them than she has been.
• She now fits comfortably in 3 to 6 month footed pajamas.
• She sleeps in the "surrender" position with her hands up by her head.

She laughed!!

We heard Canaan's first laugh last night.

After bath time, she was on her changing table while I rubbed her down with lotion. She was only wearing a diaper and I gave her a zerbert on her belly. I have done this before and made her cry...I guess she was too young to appreciate it.

After I gave her the zerbert, she made a fun noise. So I called Matthew in and told I thought I was making her laugh. The next time I did it, she really laughed. It was PRECIOUS!

Matthew went to get the video camera, but of course, the battery was dead. That's what happens when you haven't charged it since before Canaan was born.

We have both been looking forward to hearing her laugh. I am sure there will be many firsts that one of us will miss. I am so thankful that we were both there to hear the first one.

I have been reflecting about being a mother. Here is what I have to say after 3 months.

Things I've already forgotten...

most of what happened at the hospital before, during, and after Canaan's birth - It's so silly to think now about how much energy I wasted being nervous about all that.

how tiny Canaan was and how she felt in my arms at first

what it was like to wake up with her several times during the night and early in the morning

how nervous I was about being on our own with Canaan - bathing her (which I waited a whole week to do), being solely responsible for her, having to figure out what she needed/wanted, taking her out by myself

all the confusion around her name - People kept calling her the wrong name (mostly Canon), and Matthew and I got confused ourselves after hearing what everyone else was saying. I would be feeding her in the middle of the night in the dark and repeat her name over and over in my head and out loud so that I would remember it. It was a strange experience.

And some things I've learned...

Matthew and I are completely capable of taking care of this blessing. And we LOVE doing it!

Babies are not babies for long.

No matter how much pink she has on, some people will always ask if Canaan is a boy (and most people assume she's a boy after hearing her name).

It is a luxury to have family within driving distance. It is great for Canaan to get to see them often and also wonderful to have help close by.

Sleep deprivation makes for a moody and ungracious Mindy. I can, however, get by on less sleep than I once thought. I can't believe now that I used to go to bed around 9 pm.

While I was not looking forward to the elimination diet, it is much easier than I thought when the reason for following the diet is Canaan.

One of my favorite sights is Canaan smiling.

One of my favorite smells is Canaan...especially after a bath.

One of my favorite feelings is Canaan's hand on my skin while I'm nursing her.

One of my favorite sounds is Canaan making noises with her mouth.

Being a mom is the BEST! It is much harder than I anticipated, but it is incredibly worth it.

I can do household chores much quicker than I used to do them. I use the time after Canaan goes to bed to get things done. Sometimes I'm amazed at what I can accomplish before I go to bed.

It is exciting to experience all the changes going on in Canaan, but it is also sad how quickly the changes are happening.

I want to be SUPERMOM. Even though I know that is unattainable, it is a challenge to let that go each day.

It is practically impossible to keep from telling everyone around me how cute and precious and wonderful is my Baby Girl.

14 Weeks

Last Monday I took Canaan to Boulder to meet my co-workers since I had to be there for two meetings that day. Generally Canaan sleeps until she wakes up, but this day I had to wake her up a little before 6 am. After she had eaten, had a diaper change, and was dressed, we hit the road for a 2 hour and 15 minute drive. She did really well but was fussy probably the last hour or so of the drive. I thought she might have a wet diaper or maybe she was hungry. As soon as I parked the car and opened her door, she just looked at me and smiled. Evidently, she was just tired of being in her car seat. She gave a lot of smiles at the office. I had to leave during the first meeting (which was attended by the whole office - probably 100 people) to feed her. The second meeting was attended only by my team of 12 people. All was pretty quiet during this meeting until Canaan tooted pretty loudly. I met with my supervisor while I was there. I was holding Canaan facing away from me with one of my hands between her legs. All of a sudden urine started rolling down my arm, my pants, and onto the table, chair, and carpet in my supervisor's office. Oops! I cleaned it with all-purpose cleaner - all that I could find in the office. I was only able to stay at the office with her for half the day (an HR policy) which worked out fine for me because with the 4 plus hours of driving it was a long day anyway. Canaan did not take a good nap even with all the time in the car seat. She went to bed at 6:30 pm and didn't wake up until 7 am Tuesday.

• I have started putting Canaan to bed in a sleep sack rather than her Swaddle Me. She is continuing to sleep through the night. She generally goes to bed around 8:45 pm and will wake up sometime between 6 and 7 am. She likes to sleep with her hands up by her head. I need to get a picture, but I don't want to wake her up once she's down for the night. (Incidentally, I thought I would inform you that "the experts" define sleeping through the night as sleeping from midnight to 5 am.)
• I LOVE how she wrinkles her forehead and her eyes get big when you're talking to her.
• Sometimes when Canaan is crying, she snorts.
• She has learned to anticipate when Matthew is going to move toward her face making little kissing noises. She will close or squint her eyes and sometimes wrinkle her nose.
• Her eyes are still blue.
• I don't think I've mentioned this on the blog before, but Canaan was born with an umbilical hernia. We were told it should heal on its own by the time she is 3 years old. I think it is actually already healed or close to being healed. We are so thankful! It looked quite painful.
• She still generally enjoys being on her changing table.
• She had a good weekend with Grandma and Grandpa and is already looking forward to their next visit.

Kooza

My parents came into town over the weekend and babysat while Matthew and I went to see our 6th Cirque du Soleil show. We were away from home almost 9 hours. We had a nice date with the show and then dinner at a restaurant we have talked about trying since we moved to Colorado. I worried more than I should have about leaving Canaan for so long…not because I was worried about her care but because I didn’t want the grandparents to have to deal with a fussy baby for 8 or 9 hours. Thankfully, she was only fussy toward the end of the evening.

Neither of us really understood the story of Kooza. The others we’ve seen definitely have been more cohesive with the story being evident. I looked at the website today to find out what the show was about. I definitely didn’t get this from watching. Allegria is the best show we’ve seen. It was also the first show we saw. I’m not sure if that is why it was the best or not. We still really enjoyed the show. The performers can definitely do some incredible (and sometimes gross) things with their bodies. We have a lot of questions about these shows…how much do the performers train, what does the chef prepare for meals, what kind of insurance do they have, what happens when they can no longer perform, how often do they sustain injuries, etc?

This is a better photo of my new hair cut. I think Matthew likes it even though he thought I should keep my hair long. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that I have been losing hair like crazy. Matthew thought I should go to the doctor. But I started reading online, and found that around 3 months after giving birth, you lose a lot of hair. Apparently the hormones during pregnancy cause you to lose less hair than normal. After giving birth, you lose all the hair you didn’t lose during pregnancy. I thought about taking a picture, but it was pretty disgusting.