Talking, talking, talking

Jaycee has been all smiles and talking lately. She has been voicing her vocabulary on a daily basis, especially in the morning hours. She now uses many facial expressions to go along with her words to add emphasis to what she's saying. She has been a joy lately, growing fast and making new developments each day. How time flies. . . too fast, that's for sure. 

You must check out the photos of Jaycee wearing her ballerina shoes. Those were the first shoes that she ever had on. How cute! They didn't stay on for long though, Jaycee gets sweaty feet very easily and then she gets what we call "cheesy toes."

We have also decided that Jaycee prefers to be with boys/men when being watched and held. She could take or leave the ladies of her life, as long as there are men around, she would rather be held by him. Oh well, she will be needing ladies of her life more in the future since the men of her life won't let her do anything that involves friends or guy friends. Ladies, your time is coming soon. 

She is now officially in three month clothes only. We have had such cold and unusual weather that she has been wearing long-sleeved pajamas instead of her beautiful summer dresses that she has. We have virtually no long pants or long-sleeves because of the season being almost summer. Poor baby, having to wear pajamas all day long, no wonder she takes so many naps during the day. 

Animal lover!

Last week, Jaycee's major development was the discovery of her thumb. And not just any thumb, her left thumb. She learned last week that she can insert her thumb and sometimes index finger into her mouth for soothing purposes. She no longer has a use for her "didee" (aka pacifier), she prefers her hand. This kiddo is definitely a lefty!

Today's major discovery is that she can grab things, particularly our longer haired dog, Buster. She is an avid animal watcher while she is hanging out around the house everyday, and of course there is never a shortage of animals, but today she figured out that she can actually grab at the animals too! An amazing discovery for Jaycee, a sad day for the dogs, especially those with long hair. Buster will be needing a haircut sooner than originally planned. 

Jaycee seems to enjoy all animals as well, not just those in her own house. She met all the horses on the property tonight and thought that was funny, worthy of a few smiles, and something that needed the occasional narration as well. We are very happy to see that she enjoys the animals that she lives with. We think she actually enjoys watching the animals more than any humans she's met. At least the animals don't make her cry. We suppose her love of animals is justified with the parents she has. Good luck to her daddy in the future because this kid is getting everything that she wants, including any animals she thinks she needs to rescue!

Jaycee sleeping in her big bed

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day! Jaycee had a wonderful weekend with her mommy and daddy. She was happy as a clam and all smiles. Her lucky mommy even got to take a long nap with her. She looks like such a big toddler in the picture on the big bed. She is getting so long. A couple of weeks ago she finally started to get the baby rolls that everyone loves, but now she is really adding on the length. She is determined to hold herself up and will be sitting solo in no time. We better be careful because the next time we blink she will be crawling (or running) away. And fast.

Jaycee was great to her mommy on her first Mother's Day. She supplied her with coffee, a new coffee mug for work, and her favorite candy of the day. What a wonderful little daughter. We often wonder. . . What did we do without her before?

And check out our five generation picture of all women. Holy cow! And her Opa did such a good job of putting Jaycee to sleep. How cute!

The Wonderful World of Jaycee

Jaycee has been improving greatly in the area of holding her head up. She now constantly holds her head up when you hold her, and her newest thing is trying to hold her head up while she's on her tummy. She is definitely on her way to crawling. She moves her legs like crazy and tries to push herself forward. As soon as she can hold up her upper body with her hands and arms, she's leaving. We think she is going to be a fantastic sprinter when she crawls. She looks like she will crawl at top speed for just a few minutes, then rest, and start all over again. That's the process she uses when does her kicking exercises in her bouncer. Growing up is bitter sweet. We want her to grow strong, but the more she grows the less she is a little baby. She's going to be a big girl before we know it!

More fabulous developments

Jaycee is still sleeping wonderfully. She sleeps for at least eight hours each night, and last night she slept for 9 1/2 hours. She loves her sleep and so do we! Her days are usually filled with being wide awake for long periods of time. When she does take a nap, they are usually very short (only 30 minutes or less on average). She just has too much to learn from the world she lives in. 

Jaycee loves to smile in the morning. She is happiest when she wakes up from her peaceful night and finds her morning diaper change very funny. She started laughing on a regular basis this week and finds her daddy and pictures in her room especially funny.

 

Jaycee holds her head up for most of the day now (except for when she's eating) and enjoys looking around her house. She especially loves looking at ceiling fans, moving or not, she's not picky. We like to stand her up on her legs as well. She is getting very good and jumping up and down and moving like crazy when we hold her. 

We found a Baby Einstein DVD at Blockbuster last weekend and she loves it. The DVD is 30 minutes long and it contains colorful images and toys while Mozart music plays in the background. Jaycee watches her DVD every morning after her breakfast, followed by her usual watching of kiddy cartoons. She is fascinated by colors and movement. Oh, she also discovered herself in the mirror today. She has no idea that she is looking at herself, but she was more than happy to laugh and smile and talk to the baby on the other side of the mirror. We've heard that babies only like to look at beautiful things, so Jaycee must think she is very pretty.

Jaycee has also been practicing with moving her hands. She has always loved her hands, but recently she's been putting her fists in her mouth and slobbering all over them. Since she is so great at directing her hands toward her mouth, she found today that she can use her hands to put her clothing and blankets in her mouth as well (see the picture in the blue dress, it must taste delightful). When you pull her hands out of her mouth, she puts them right back. We now have to have a cloth on hand for wiping all her slobber. 

Even though she is going to be 11 weeks on Tuesday, she is still fitting into most of her newborn outfits. Her mommy is trying to keep her in them as long as she can. She is now wearing 3 month old nighties because her feet are so big and her body is so long. The 3 month old nighties are a little bit too big, but she'd rather wear outfits that are slightly too big than slightly too small to bed. 

The best sleeping baby! EVER!!!

Jaycee is officially the best nine week old baby in the world! She is nine weeks old today, and to celebrate, she decided to sleep for 8 hours straight! Yes, that's right, 8 hours. She went to sleep at 10:30 and didn't wake up until her daddy got her out of bed at 6:40 in the morning. We now say see you tomorrow when she goes to sleep. There is nothing better than putting your child down to sleep at night and not seeing her awake until the next morning after dawn. We can only hope that we will be so lucky again.

On another note, Jaycee had her two month check-up last week. She weighed in at 11 pounds 2 ounces, 21 3/4 inches long, with a head measurement of 14 3/4 inches around. She also got her first set of vaccinations (five shots in total with a mouth vaccine as well). Needless to say, that we a bit difficult, especially for her mommy (mommy got the joy of holding down her screaming baby while some lady stabbed her over and over with vile needles). We were told that she could have a mild fever and irritability, but of course, Jaycee had no issues at all. She slept through that night as well (an amazing seven hours that night) and we perfectly fine the next day. We don't have to go back to the pediatrician until June for her four month check-up.