Recent Developments

Well it was a weekend of many tissues around our house - the bug that Ainsley shared with Mommy and Daddy was in full effect.  We did get out to get Daddy's birthday present and make a trip to Babies R Us.  We also made it out to the joint birthday dinner for Daddy and Pop.  Friday night (before the bug really hit) Ainsley took in her first baseball game with the Richmond Flying Squirrels.  She was an AWESOME baby, totally chill the entire time.  Otherwise, it was a weekend of laying low and feeling icky. 

Ainsley is really starting to think about rolling over.  She's got the push with the feet thing down, but she still can't get past about a 45 degree angle - darn shoulders.  She's much closer in her swaddler when everything is tied down to her sides - she almost can get up onto her side.  What she is excellent at it scooting around on her back.  Gone are the days of finding her in the same spot we laid her down in to sleep.  She will scoot scoot scoot in circles and up and down her crib.  This meant that last night we had to remove the bumpers from her crib.  Yes, remove the bumpers.  Research actually shows that they do more harm than good and are a huge suffocation hazard.  Now she just needs to learn not to bonk her head.  Good thing we did as I found her this morning sleeping pretty much staring out of the crib.  The days of a non-mobile infant are gone.

Ainsley is really working on her sitting and standing muscles too.  She LOVES to be held in a standing up position.  Despite the good workout that gives Mommy and Daddy's muscles, we've decided it may be more beneficial to get her something to stand in and practice - so we got her an activity bouncer.  She's probably a little small for it still, but she can start using it for short periods of time (kinda like the Bumbo) until she gets the hang of it.

Everyday she gets more attentive to the world around her.  She has really started reaching for toys and grabbing them.  At night, when Daddy reads her a book she stares at the pages.  It's so much fun to watch her brain working, I just wish I had some clue what was going on in there and what she was thinking.  I think daycare really helps with this as she has to self-entertain at points in the day.  Not that they ignore her, but provide her with items to look at and ponder.  One thing we do know - she recognizes Mommy and Daddy and gives us BIG smiles when we pick her up from daycare.

At this point Mommy has been back to work for just over a month.  It has gone so fast.  We are still working on figuring out the morning routine, but we are getting better at it.  The hard part is for Mommy to find time to get ready and feed Ainsley.  We've been doing a "dream feeding" first thing in the morning and then Ainsley goes back to her crib until after I'm ready and we do a second feeding.  This has helped with her being fussy and hungry first thing at daycare, gives us more time together (and less with the pump!), and seems to work out well.  I'm sure in a week it won't work anymore, but it's worth a try.