Milestones

Emily is almost 16 weeks old now, and I cannot believe the incredible number of milestones that we have already encountered!  

She gave us her first smile at 5 weeks old.. her first smile!!  Just what is it in her tiny little bod that makes her do that?  It is truly fascinating that this little being, becoming more un-blob-like by the day, knows how to smile!  And now she has started giggling!  A teeny, tiny, real little person baby giggle... wow, it's like nothing I have ever heard before, it is a tinkle of baby laughter, mainly at Chris playing the fool :) 

Baby smiles!

We moved her from her bassinet into her cot in her own room at 11 weeks and she has slept so well in her cot since, it has worked really well.  She just looks so teeny tiny in the cot, so cute!  And at 13 weeks, 3 days and 15 hours (not that I am counting!), she slept through the night. Like the whole night.  No wake ups.  At all.  OMG!

First time sleeping in my cot

And now we are in the process of 'unwrapping' her so she can get used to sleeping with her arms out of the wrap/swaddle.  Because babies startle easily during their first 3-4months and this can cause them to wake up (think: you are falling asleep and begin to dream that you are falling down the stairs etc, and you startle), it's recommended that they are wrapped up so that they don't startle themselves awake, so we have used a Love to Dream swaddle since about 10 weeks old.  They are amazing!  I will definitely use this from day one if we have another baby!  Check them out here 

Honestly, besides choosing Emily's name, this part of the baby business has totally stressed me out!  Like literally waking at night thinking, ok how do we do this; what do we use; will she still sleep (because she is a pretty good sleeper)?!  And of course when do you start to do this?  It does need to be done before she can roll so she is free to push herself up if she gets onto her tummy and is not wrapped with her arms inside a wrap... but seriously what a thing!  

I have asked everyone from my coffee group, to the neighbours, to the staff in Baby Factory as well as my Plunket nurse on how to do it, and then what do they sleep in!  It is amazing all the different products there are out there, but you just have to go with your gut and do what's right for you.  So we bought some 50/50 Love to Dream swaddles and are slowly letting Emily get used to having her arms out, one at a time during her day sleeps.  So far, so good except for her game of 'to sleep or not sleep' yesterday!  When she chose mainly NOT... so I caved and put the little wings back onto my angel and she dozed a little.  Every day is different! 

One arm out, yay, freedom!

But the most amazing milestone we have encountered was receiving our gorgeous Features Forever baby casting we had done when Emily was 5 weeks old.  A stunning reminder of those angelic hands and feet, which were once so teeny tiny.  

Why is she growing so fast?