12 Weeks!

12 Whole weeks with our Laynee Blair!

What a wonderful 12 weeks it has for us.

Our family of 5 is doing just fine

(most of the time, at least)

Our angel girl is growing like a weed -

I don't even think of her as a newborn anymore.

She is in full blown infant mode these days.

An exciting milestone was met.

The mother of all milestones - 

until potty training happens,

and I figure I bet tackle that with Kensington first.

(ugh. coming all too soon - but I digress.)

12 hour nights. I mean sleeping 12 beautiful hours.

For 6 nights in a row little girl has not made a peep.

She doesn't go all night without eating,

I dreamfeed her at  10 or 10:30 each evening,

but she has never awakened during this feed. Sleeps straight through

and eats like a champ. Its actually her best feed-

which might present itself a problem in the near future.

For now, we go with it.

She also wakes up HAPPY. My favorite.

To walk into her room to cooing instead of crying.

She is also starting to bat at toys. I still question if its fully intentional -

but I feel like if its not, it will be soon.

She smiles at me almost the entire time we have together 

in between her naps. Little laughs come through, too. 

Sweet sounds that I hope I never forget.

She has found her cute hands. She inspects them,

brings them to her mouth a lot,

and brings them together a lot now. 

On a side note: isn't clipping a baby's fingernails terrifying?

I really hate doing it. Thankfully -

no mishaps yet.

She is supposed to take 4 naps a day.

Easy schedule: 3 naps 2-2.5 hours

and a 4th catnap, for about 45 minutes (one solid sleep cycle)

The first two naps of the day happen with ease. No crying, and 

right at 45 minutes of being awake.

The 3rd nap usually takes a lot of work on my part

and sometimes the 4th nap doesn't even happen

(don't worry, I haven't lost hope and you know Im not going to give up)

She likes tummy time a little bit more now.

I did let her sit in the swing and play under a baby gym since

my last post about her. She is more able now

to handle stimulation.

So remember one time when I mentioned I thought she might be 

mildly colic?

Ludicrous.

She is no where near colic, and apparently, 

I blog off emotion sometimes.

It had been an off day - and Ive really never thought 

that way again.

In all reality, she is a textbook baby

and with a little lovin' and tranin' she is an angel.

I am adjusting to life slowly - but surely.

During the week, I manage, and enjoy my days with the 3 girls.

If Tyler is scheduled to work during the week - he works during the day.

If he is scheduled to work on the weekends, its a night shift.

(He is only off 1 weekend per month, though)

Those are my toughest times. I can't always count on Laynee

to fall into line easily with her nap at this time

and she requires quite a bit of attention.

The big girls also have a routine we need to get done with - 

so I am VERY busy during this time,

and have broken down a time or two (or 3)

I won't lie when I say I live for Tyler's days off - 

because he is fully engaged and takes on the same 

amount of parenting that I do when he is home.

Yes, I know. He is pretty perfect,

and,

No. You can't have him.

I am going to spend the next month working with an expert sleep trainer.

She is going to help me perfect the skills I already put into practice daily.

My goal in working with her is that I become more confident about reading  my kids cues.

Anslee and Laynee are quieter by nature,

so picking up on their cues is a little tougher for me.

Trust me. Kensington could make a deaf person aware of her needing a nap.

Laynee goes to the doctor for a well check

(yep- we are a month late on that.

*please see having 3 kids under 3* to reference 

why this happens)

I am excited to see her stats.

Can't believe we have had the pleasure of having Laynee for 12 weeks.
We really are waving goodbye to her newborn days!

Here is a photo of all 3 of the girls at roughly 12 weeks old.

(Anslee, Kensington, then Laynee)