Jennings Family: Addison - Two Months Old

There is a precious baby girl lying in my lap as I type this. She looks like she wants to sleep, but she won't stay sleeping for more than five minutes. Her heavy little eyelids flash open and her sleepy little drunken grin spreads across her tiny rosy face. She smells like Johnson's calming bedtime baby lotion - that heavenly blend of baby lotion scent and the lightest lavender scent. It's a smell I could curl up inside of and drift off to sleep. Her tiny little body is warm in my lap as I'm watching the snow fall heavily outside the window. Her eyelashes look long and dark as they flutter open and closed, trying to stay awake, but needing to fall asleep. She is the very definition of sweetness, of an angel, as she sleeps... soft, warm, sweet, tender, fragile, perfect.

She is two months old already. How much she has changed in those two months. I can barely remember her as a little critter, only sleeping, eating, and crying. I almost can't imagine her any different than she is right at this moment. This peaceful moment. She is now sound asleep and her limbs are like a rag doll's. Her head is resting on my left forearm and it teeters a little on my arm each time my left fingers move to type. She is growing and learning each day. It seems undetectable to most people, but I notice little changes. In just the past two weeks she has had many firsts. I noticed the day she 'found' her hand and tried getting it to her mouth. She watched it intently, carefully adjusting her movements as she noticed the reactions they caused. I noticed her first smiles and how she smiles when we greet her in her bed in the morning. She responds to our voices and our smiles for her. She responds when Gavin gets close to her... when she is upset and he lays down beside her or rests his cheek on her head, her breathing changes, she instantly calms. I noticed when she started holding conversations with us - really exchanging sounds. This started this week. If we coo at her, she gets all excited and she repeats it. She imitates many of the sounds we make, but most of her sounds are like a little stretched out gurgle. Gggglhə́ə́ə́ə́ə́ə́lhchl... gǵlhə́ə́ə́ə́... They're really the sweetest sounds.

She had a cold for about a week, but is feeling better these days. Feeling crummy is so tough on kids, especially on the little babies. As with Gavin when he was a baby and had a cold, we turned to the infant swing for relief and it saved the day (or rather the night!). We put her (slightly upright) in the swing in the bathroom and ran the shower on hot to steam up the room and help clear out her sinuses. Then we would have Gavin take a bath with Johnson's Soothing Vapor Baby Bath (since he was stuffed up too) and the aromatherapy from his bath blended with the moisture from the hot steamy shower running would clear us all right out! Then we put her to bed in the swing to allow her head to keep draining. It works wonderfully. We also rely on Little Noses saline drops/spray for both kids when they have crusties that just won't come out.

Despite her cold, she is a relatively healthy baby! We had both Addison and Gavin in for their well-child visits last week. It was Addison's two-month visit and Gavin's four-year visit.

At 2 months old, Addison...
wieghs 10 lb 5 oz (25%)
is 23 inches long (76%)
and her head circumference is 39 cm (74%)

I do realize you most likely don't care how much she weighs or how long she is, but someday I will want to know and I'll be glad I have it recorded here. :)

Addison doesn't love tummy time, but will lay on her tummy for short periods of time before she gets really mad. Her head is really strong and for the most part we really don't have to support her head when holding her anymore. My favorite part about her age right now is the way she smiles with her eyes. Sometimes her mouth isn't smiling, but you can just see the smile in her eyes. It is magical and I love it. I could stare into those beautiful little eyes all day long.

Just noticed the picture above makes it look like she has two little bottom teeth, but I assure you, those are not teeth! I'm pretty sure it's spit bubbles in her mouth!

Had to include a few naked pictures, because I just love every part of her! Each little finger and toe! Even her little outie belly button, which we believe will turn right-side-in on its own in a year or so.

Here is where she is discovering her hand and figuring out just how to get it into her mouth! Her little eyes can't quite stay focused at such close range and kept crossing. Poor little thing! She's so beautiful and I just love watching her explore this big world in her tiny little way.

The farm quilt in the pictures below was made for Addison by my friend Coleen. We are so lucky to have such talented and generous family and friends! Both of our kids have some really beautiful handmade treasures!