Laughs

The day before Piper turns 2 months, she laughed.

This morning, I was unswaddling her, and amongst her grins and coos, she actually laughed. I think it surprised her more than me, because her eyes got so wide! My eyes, on the other hand, got teary. I can't believe my precious girl is finally starting to laugh! We have been blessed with such a joyful little one, and I love the time I'm getting with her at home. 

When she turned 6 weeks, I really started noticing her smiles. I could do something silly, and usually get a reaction out of her! She has also started to learn who Neal is, and I love that. Yesterday, Neal gave her her first bottle. I thought I was going to be sad, but it was kinda nice.... : )

I've started her on a new sleep schedule, and we've been working on it for about a week and a half now. She eats every 4 hours (Step 1), we've cut out all night feedings (Step 2), and she has started sleeping in her room all night (Step 3.) Step 3 has been tough (the first 2 were a piece of cake!) Piper likes being swaddled and nestled, and her crib doesn't provide that for her. We found that letting her stay in her Rock'n'Play as well as keeping her swaddled (her previous routine in our bedroom) was all that she needed in order to sleep 12 hours undisturbed! I guess we'll figure out how to get her in her crib later...Step 4 is to get her on a nap schedule. I'm not so sure about this one, but I'll give it a try when we get the nighttime routine down. For those of you with babies or pregnant, or you really intense planners that neither have babies nor are pregnant, but like to plan ahead... Here is the link to the book we've used in order to get Piper on a sleep schedule. It seems very regimented, and I am NOT a regimented person, but you just have to tweak it to meet your specific needs. I insist on rocking Piper to sleep every once in a while, however the book recommends against it. I personally find this time to be very important, and treasure my rocking chair sessions with the little one.

One of my favorite songs to rock her to is Billy Joel's Lullabye. I grew up listening to him, and remember thinking how cool it would be to have a musician dad. All in all, my dad is pretty cool, and I'm probably not missing out on much : ) This song is beautiful, and I love singing this to my little angel as I rock her to sleep.

"Someday your child may cry, and if you sing this lullabye, then in your heart, there will always be a part of me."