Isn't this funny?  I'm glad she likes herself.  :))

So far, so good on the sleeping.  We may have turned a corner (yes, I just knocked on wood).  This morning at 4:00 was playtime though - guess she figured she'd slept enough.  We (again) had the conversation about night-night time.  Other than today, she's doing great and sleeping through the night, with the occasional trip into her room to put the pacifier in her mouth. 

It's so encouraging for me to read the blogs/facebook posts of other moms.  I never knew how much I'd appreciate the small things.  :)) 

Hope everyone is having a great week!

Little Miss Chatterbox

We have a talker on our hands, folks.  Well, for now it's just adorable babbles, but seriously, this girl LOVES the sound of her own voice.  heehee

Gosh I feel like Kimber changes daily.  I sat down to write this post and I can't believe how much she's changed since Jan. 10 - and that was only 13 days ago!  For instance, she's SUPER close to rolling over from her back to her tummy.  She has already rolled from her tummy to her back (non-parents bear with me, these are exciting things to a new mommy).  She has tried a few foods, and LOVES to eat.  Shocker.  Not really.  I have a suspicion about where she gets that from.  So far, she's had oatmeal, sweet potatoes, and squash.  I'm introducing all vegetables first, since fruits are so sweet and delish to babies and I'm sure she'll like them.  I want her to like veggies too.  We're still moving pretty slow on the food though.  I only bought a teeny bit and she gets some about every other day or so.  She is getting closer to being ready though.  She seems genuinely excited about the food (that's an understatement since she tries to guide my hand with the spoon to her mouth using her own busy hands).  So, obviously, she recognizes the spoon and what's in it.  I believe her only complaint would be that I don't get the spoon to her mouth fast enough!!! 

Clayton starts baseball season this Friday, so I'll be losing some time with my helper and we will both miss him.  But, I intend to spend plenty of time at the baseball field.  Kimber loves to be outside so I know she will enjoy it and she's a complete flirt, so I'm sure there are some people up there she can charm.  The spring is a hard time for Clayton and I - we are both SO busy this time of year.  I remember this time last year when I was pregnant wondering how the heck we thought we were going to manage the spring with a baby.  Now, we're about to find out.  Parenthood = baptism by fire.  Kimber has been going down for bed pretty early, so maybe I'll be able to schedule some "work from home" time after she's asleep.  Right now, we're so excited about the thought of sleep that it's a race to see who can brush teeth and get in bed the fastest.  And......not trying to count chickens before they hatch, BUT the last two nights, someone tiny who shall remain nameless has slept THROUGH the night.  I'm convinced it's a fluke, but the two nights of sleep were nice.  :))  I've found that if we catch her at just the right time, before the overtired state hits, she goes right down and sleeps longer.  I've started reading a book called "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child".  Can't tell you the author since I downloaded it on the iPad.  But, so far, it's pretty good.  Mind you, I'm still in the introduction because THAT'S how much time I have to read. :)  But, I wouldn't have it any other way.  This is such a fun age.  Kimber notices so much and is reaching for people and things and of course, putting ANYTHING and everything into her mouth - HANDWASHING is key......

I wish I could recall anything else going on in my life, but it's consumed with only one perfect, tiny, adorable thing.  :))  Here are some pics:

Girl loves to eat

The post-eating face. :))  We go straight to the bathtub

This is one of several videos I have of Kimber trying to roll over.  Every time she looks like she's going to, I grab my phone and turn on the video recorder, determined to capture the first time.  I'm sure that won't happen, but here's the best attempt we've seen. 

On another note, we do clothe our child.  But, she really likes to just chill in her diaper, so I indulge her every now and then - especially when she's eating because that's a mess anyway.  heehee

There, I added a picture to prove she does wear clothes. 

An anniversary and some shots

Probably not the anniversary or the shots you were thinking.  First, today is the one year anniversary of the day I found out I was pregnant, aka, the day that changed our lives FOREVER.  Well actually that could've been the day Kimber was conceived, but Jan 10 was the day we actually knew our lives would change. :))  It's strange thinking about how our lives actually have changed since that day.  What a difference a year makes!

Kimber had her 4 month well-baby visit today.  What a difference 2 months makes!!  haha  Instead of crying the whole time, she was her usual charming self, and charmed the doctor and all the nurses.  Her official stats are:  weight: 15 lbs, 6.5 oz (75%) and height: 25 inches (75%).  I won't lie, I'm surprised she's only in the 75th percentile for height.  Given her parents, you'd think she'd be off the charts.  Either way, she's perfectly adorable and I can't wait to see how she grows and changes.  Some deets from her appointment - first off, they said she can now have solid foods??????  I guess I had in my mind that was more at the 6 month mark or so.  But, to my shock, they gave me a list of fruits and veggies she can have.  Sheesh.  Isn't she still a newborn?  I have excitement mixed with panic at how fast this is all going.  I'm not going to start her just yet.  I think I'm going to wait at least a few weeks until she's better at eating cereal with a spoon.  Don't want to hold her back, but wow, I just wasn't ready for that.  Secondly - the doctor was going to do a "head control" test so he grabbed Kimber's hands to pull her up to a sitting position.  He started counting to 3 and on 2, she lifted her head up and set her feet down.  He was taken back to say the least.  I was of course very proud at my little 4 month old impressing the doctor.  haha.  She's obviously very physically advanced.  I say that with no bias at all. ;)  Then of course, my least favorite part, she got her 4 month shots.  I hate seeing her cry.  :((  All in all, we had a great visit and Kimber is handling her shots much better this time.  She less fussy.  Maybe a little reserved tonight, but otherwise, she's raring to go.   

Clayton is going to baseball coaching school this week so I'll have Kimber to myself for 2 nights.  I sure will miss his help.  He's one super star daddy, especially in the middle of the night.  We'll see what adventures the two of us can get into while he's gone.

Spooning

This week we decided to try feeding Kimber some cereal with a spoon.  At first she was definitely leary of the cereal, but I put a dab of apples with cinnamon baby food in it, and she liked it better.  She sort of leans her face into the spoon so it gets everywhere, but she's still learning, and it's super cute. 

Kimber is wanting and trying to hard to sit up, but she's not quite there as far as sitting on her own.  She'll get there.  :)  She's super social and so interactive, which means she's a busy girl, but we are loving every minute!!! 

Okay, she seriously said something!

As parents, we literally sit around and watch everything Kimber does.  She's so entertaining and it's so funny to see her practice new expressions, or suddenly discover her toes or her tongue, etc.  My favorite time, by far, is the mornings.  She's so smiley and vocal and very happy in the mornings, so we sit around and talk to her and just watch her every move.  We were sitting around New Year's Eve morning and watching Kimber laugh at Clayton making strange noises (babies will laugh at anything - it's precious).  I just happened to be videoing because her smiles were so cute.....and we swear she said something.  Check it out below.  :))

Yes, we know she can't really talk yet....just had to share. 

Kimber's First Christmas

Major delay in blogging due to the fact that the Christmas holidays are pretty much the ONLY time all year that Clayton and I are both off and have a nice long break.  It's a little glimpse of normalcy squeezed in between football and baseball season.  (Our lives are not defined by months, nor weeks, but seasons)  ANYWAY, we took time to relax and of course play with our favorite new toy, baby Kimber.  :))))

Santa brought Kimber a jumper thingie/activity center for Christmas this year, and she's enjoying it immensely!

We celebrated by attending 4 and hosting 1 of the 5 Christmas celebrations.  We really Christmas it up every year. 

The highlight, kind of, was Kimber's baby dedication at church on Christmas morning.  The Stewart family was dressed to the nines in burgundy (to match Kimber's perfect new Christmas dress).  Kimber was decked out in her dress, ivory lace tights, ivory patent shoes, and of course a "she-bang" bow to celebrate the season.  I don't have the pictures yet, so I'm trying to give you a visual.  When it was time for baby dedication, we went up to the front of the church with 2 other famililes.  Kimber was a real charmer.  I held her facing the audience so everyone could fully enjoy her cuteness, and she did not disappoint.  She looked around and flaunted those baby blues charmingly and everyone ooohed and ahhed.  Then, things took a small turn.  Just as the preacher was discussing the importance of dedicating baby and family to God's will and praying for all the babies and families, Kimber decided the time was right for one of the biggest fits I've ever seen her throw in her tiny 4 months of life.  She arched her back and threw herself forward, forcing me to lurch forward.  So, I put her up on my shoulder in an attempt to pacify her, but she wasn't having it.  I handed her pacifier to Clayton so that he could try to plug the hole from his angle, but she wouldn't take it.  It was at that point, completely mortified, that I had no clue what to do.  So, I frantically locked eyes with Clayton, both of us completely void of any idea  about how to fix the situation.  So, we waited until the prayer was over and I, assuming Kimber had wet her diaper (she cries as soon as she wets), grabbed the diaper bag and headed straight out the back door.  Once I got into the foyer, by this point wet with sweat myself from the physical struggle of detaining my little diva, I realized poor Kimber's cheeks were flushed too.  I don't know if it was from crying, but I assumed poor baby must've been hot.  Her dress did have a little petticoat underneath (hey, I told you we were dressed to the nines).  So, I stripped off her shoes and tights, changed her diaper, and re-dressed her...sans tights and shoes.  I could never get her calmed down enough to re-enter the service, especially since all 2 rows, yes that many, of our family were sitting close to the front.  So, I spent the entire Christmas service trying to rationalize with my precious 4 month old, and encouraging Christmas service latecomers in the lobby to go ahead and enter the service.  I think maybe Kimber was just uncomfortable in all her clothes, as was I, so I can't blame her.  New moms spend a LOT of time in sweats, so the dress, velvet jacket, and heeled boots kind of made me want to cry too.  In any case, it was somewhat a disaster.  Instead of the pictures containing all of our family with a smiling, perfectly dressed Kimber, they were all our family with sweaty, stressed mom and a precious sleeping baby with no tights, no shoes, no bow, and a pacifier in her mouth.  Kimber 1 Mommy 0.

All events aside, this year was much sweeter knowing what an awesome gift God blessed us with this year.  It was so much fun, and I can only imagine how much more fun Christmas will be each year as Kimber grows up.  :))  When I have pictures of baby dedication, I'll put them in here.