16 Weeks

Having fun on her gym

Tummy time on the lawn in Eastern Oregon, waiting for a parade to start!

Hanging out at the zoo

BEAUTIFUL church dress from Aunt Elenore

Well, I was so good about blogging every week and then.....no excuse. I need to keep this updated. I don't think that many people read my blog, but I do want to have a record to look back on about Kalaya's life!

We have been busy during the month of August and Kalaya is growing so fast! We look at her now and cannot believe how LONG she is! She is wearing 3-6 and 6 month clothes now. I almost hated to put away all her three month clothes, she had so many outfits! She only got to wear some of them one time! She has plenty of clothes for this size and the next. It's when she gets to around a year that I may actually get to do some clothes shopping! (although grandparents and other relatives seem to be helping out with that just fine!)

Kalaya is a happy, smiling baby! She has gotten more independent in so many areas. She likes to play on her baby gym, in her swing or bouncy seat for extended periods of time. This has been especially helpful when Mommy wants to cook dinner! She has started letting others hold her, but prefers women to men. However, when she's fed and happy, she is letting most relatives hold her. She is such a talker! She babbles constantly, whether at someone else's face or at her toys, especially on her mobiles. She reaches for toys and holds them in her hands. She has started exploring toys with her mouth. She does great during tummy time and reaches out for toys on the ground in front of her. She LOVES being read to, especially if you lay down in bed with her and hold the book above her. She looks at the pictures and babbles as you read. She is sleeping really well most nights, usually only waking once or trice to nurse. Co-sleeping is so convenient and amazing, it has helped with our sleep patterns SO much. She never cries at night, so she's learned to sleep longer and longer. I asked Nelson recently when he thinks we should start trying to get her to sleep in her own bed and he answered, "I don't know, by the time she's in first grade?" This is why I am so in love with my husband.

Kalaya loves bath time and is putting herself to sleep on a daily basis. She is napping better during the day as well. She holds her head up so well and is so alert. She watches people and objects so well and tracks so well with her eyes. She especially love to lay on blankets outside and watch leaves moving on trees. She has started to self-soothe really well by either sucking on her fingers or rubbing her hand on her hair. We are pretty sure she is getting a tooth too! (my brother and I both had teeth by 4 months) We are looking forward to her 4 month appointment to find out how much she weighs and how long she is! She has laughed a few times and it is adorable! We can't get her to do it on command, but we're trying to get a video! She continues to be exclusively nursed, and we'll continue to do so until 6 months. I know other mothers can't wait to introduce solids, but I'm sad we only have about 2 more months to go with only nursing. I love it!

We've done some fun things! We took a trip to the zoo with Sarah and Elena and she really enjoyed looking at the animals and napping in her sling. We finally found a way to go to the movies; we went to a drive-in! It was perfect, we went to Harry Potter (hooray!) after bedtime and she pretty much just slept or nursed the whole time. It was great! Plus, we could control the volume, as opposed to taking her to a theater, as some had recommended. Her great-uncle came to visit from Vermont and she got to go on another trip to the beach with him. She even got to go to the Tillamook factory.

Kalaya and I took our first overnight trip away from home. We went to Eastern Oregon for Grandpa's high school reunion with Grandpa and Oma. It was a 4 hour drive each way. We left Friday and came back Sunday. We stayed in a hotel together. The drives went pretty well. She either slept or played with toys. She gets distracted by toys now in the car seat, rather than just screaming, unless she is really tired or hungry. Thank goodness for learning to nurse in the car seat, it came in VERY helpful. She got to meet a lot of Grandpa's friends from growing up and got to see her great-Aunt Patti as well. It was her first time away from Daddy, but I think he felt it was all worth it, because when she saw him when she got back she let out a HUGE squeal of happiness, so cute!

Unfortunately, Nelson was rear-ended on Sunday afternoon and we are waiting to hear what the body shop has to say about the car. We're not sure what we're going to do if the car is totaled. It's just so frustrating, because even though it was not Nelson's fault, we may have to get a new car. Either we'll buy a nice used car or put a down payment on a new car, either way we'll have a car payment, which we really aren't ready for right now. It's so irritating, because we haven't had a car payment in the past and now we will, even though it's not Nelson's fault. Grrrr...

Here are 2 (unsuccessful) attempts to catch her laughing. Still cute!!