The adventures of Super P, Go Ellie Go, and Baby: Payton's 2nd Month Update

My New Years resolution was to update this blog more frequently and what have I done? Not updated it. New years resolution FAIL! Haha In my defense, the laptop’s motherboard got fried, it had to be mailed back to Dell and we just got it back this week. But really I doubt I would have found the time to update this blog anyway. I’ve been too busy reading everyone’s Facebook statuses. I just feel I have to know when someone has waited 30 minutes already for the bus or that someone else is having shrimp scampi for dinner. Okay, I do a little more with my time than just check Facebook. In fact, it’s taken me 3 hours just to write this one paragraph because Payton woke up and she needed to eat, have her clothes changed because she spit up on them, have her diaper changed, play with her toys, pet both dogs, read 3 books, and then have her pacifier stuck back into her mouth 20 times before falling asleep again. Being a mom is the best! :)

We had a good Christmas. First we went to Central Texas to LaLa and Grandpa’s (my parent’s) house. What is normally a 5 hour car trip ended up taking 7 hours because Payton screamed nearly the entire trip. We kept thinking, “Maybe she’s hungry, maybe she’s wet…..” so we’d stop and try to feed/change her. She would stop crying when we’d get her out of the car seat, so I guess she just wasn’t happy going for a car ride.

When we finally arrived at their house, Payton got to meet her Uncle Albert, Aunt Erin, Cousin Hank, Great-Aunt Betty, great-grandmother “Deer”, and friend Tori. We also got to visit with LaLa, Grandpa, Uncle Kyle, and Aunt Lindsay. Hope I didn’t leave anyone out! It was a fun visit. Payton and Hank were so cute together! Hank is only 2 weeks older than Payton and they basically looked to be the same size. We lay them next to each other in the crib and let them beat each other up. Mostly it was Payton who kept hitting her cousin in the face. Though Hank finally wised up and started grabbing her arm and putting it in his mouth. We all received lots of presents, ate tons of good food, and had a good time seeing everyone.

On Christmas Day we left Buchanan Dam and headed to Dallas. Thankfully this trip went much smoother. We only had to stop once to feed and change Payton and she slept the majority of the trip. In Dallas we celebrated Christmas with Payton’s Nana (Charles’ mom), her great-grandmother “Grandma”, and cousin T.J. We had a delicious traditional Cuban Christmas dinner of pork roast, yucca con mojo (a vegetable with an onion/garlic sauce), con gris (Cuban black beans and rice), and salad. Yum! Now I’m craving Cuban food! We had a really nice visit in Dallas and Payton was spoiled rotten by all the presents that she received. Luckily she’s too young to realize how spoiled she is! :) Payton also got to meet our good friend Lindy, who also brought a bunch of presents for her including a beautiful blanket that she crocheted.

After spending a couple of days in Dallas we left and drove to Waco. In Waco, Charles dropped Payton and I off with my parents who took us back to their house for the week. Charles had to work the following day so he went home. Payton and I enjoyed spending a few extra days visiting my parents, aunt, and grandmother. Mostly we just stayed at their house but one day my mom needed to run some errands in Georgetown so we took Payton to my dad’s office so that she could meet everyone there. Unfortunately she wasn’t in a very good mood and screamed like a banshee the entire time.

While at their house, LaLa and Grandpa taught Payton how to sit up with only her hands being held. This is now one of her favorite things to do. Her head is still a bit wobbly but she does have enough neck strength to support her head on her own for short periods of time.

On New Years Eve, LaLa and Grandpa drove Payton and I to College Station where Charles met to pick us up. Charles, Payton, and I rang in the new year asleep in our beds. 2010 was a year filled with waiting for our beautiful daughter to arrive and then celebrating her arrival. I can’t imagine a better year than that though I think 2011 should be a wonderful one as well!

During the first week of January, Payton started waking every 2-3 hours in the night. We decided that it might be, in part, that she was trying to break free of her swaddle and that maybe she had outgrown being swaddled. She now sleeps unswaddled in a sleep sack. I miss my little swaddled newborn, but I knew she would outgrow the swaddling sooner rather than later. This seemed to fix the problem of waking up every 2-3 hours during the night, though she still gets up for 1-2 feeds a night. Our new problem is trying to get her to sleep at night. She used to just fall right asleep in her crib. Now we’re dealing with a crying baby each night who sometimes keeps herself up and becomes overly tired which leads to screaming. We hope this phase will pass soon!

Also during the first week of January, Payton learned a couple of new tricks. The first trick she learned is to hold a rattle that we place in her hand and bring it to her mouth. She seems to be better at this using her left hand. The next trick she learned is to suck her thumb. I keep hoping this will take the place of the pacifier, since I am tired of having to continue to stick it in her mouth when it just likes to pop itself back out, but so far I haven’t been that lucky. She likes to suck her thumbs when she is awake but she generally won’t sleep unless her pacifier is in her mouth. So I continue to play the “she spits out the paci and I stick it back in” game.

This past week (the second week of January) Payton learned to reach out and start grabbing things herself. I left her lying on the floor in the living room with her toys while I went into the other room for a second. While in the other room I heard a banging sound. I ran back into the living room, having no idea what was going on! It turns out she had ripped a toy right off of her activity gym and was beating it against the rest of the plastic gym. I was very impressed!

When I would try to cover her up during naps, she’d grab the blanket and pull it up to her mouth. So I decided it might be time to introduce a blanky. I gave her the little pink blanket with a stuffed elephant rattle attached to it that her Nana gave her for Christmas and she loved it. She loves to grab the blanket and pull it and the elephant up to her mouth. She often falls asleep for her naps while hugging it. Also this week she has grabbed my sleeve, my hair, her rattle, and her plastic keys. All of which she tries to bring directly to her mouth.

Another trick she learned this week is to go from a sitting position to a standing position while holding our hands. Her legs turn to jello within seconds of standing but she is still so proud of herself.

Payton now loves to have books read to her. We put her in our bed, prop her head up with pillows, and lay down next to her for story time. She already owns many books and we have read them all several times by now. So far she doesn’t seem to have any favorites. She seems interested in them all.

Today Payton is officially 3 months old. Later today we are taking her to League City to Portrait Innovations to get three month pictures taken. I hope they turn out good. I have a feeling I am going to be a picky customer since I have already taken many good pictures of her and I would expect their pictures to turn out even better. Looking forward to it! Will share pictures once we get them done. :)

Pictures from weeks 9 & 10: