12 Weeks

I remember hitting twelve weeks pregnant. It as a big deal: the end of the first trimester! It went by sooooooooooooooooo slow. Plainfully slow. Today our sweet baby girl is twelve weeks old. It has gone by soooooooooooooooo fast. So painfully fast. 

This week we have been enjoying singing OMG and watching Gia grin while mama dances like a fool. The past few days G has discovered a new octave to her voice, and she squeaks and "quacks" all the livelong day. Here she is today, sitting up like a big girl with her BFF, Belle. 

In other news, Gia slept in her crib last night :) She did great! Mama, on the other hand, woke up at 3:30 from a nightmare that someone broke into the house and when she tried to yell for Daddy to help nothing would come out of her mouth. It was scary. I finally got the courage to get up and check on my pumpkin, and there she was, sound asleep in her crib. Phew. 

Today is the last day of my maternity leave. I have been in denial and still don't want to think about Monday. Sigh. Here is how Gia feels about me going back to work:

Tummy Time has been a struggle around these parts for weeks now, as Gia wants no part of it. She is perfectly content laying on her back to sleep and play. Well, we discovered yesterday that she likes it...naked! She lasted over five minutes like this yesterday :)

Good Job baby girl! She'll be a crawler before we know it ;)

I never want to forget

As the days quickly pass and our little bean continues to sprout, the weeks past seem like a distant memory. There are little idiosyncrasies and nuances that I never want to forget. So I will write them here as a reminder :)

Gia Lenora, I will never forget...

• That first glimpse I caught of you, when they held you up for us to see. "Who IS that little Italian baby?", I thought to myself. And though I always thought I would cry at the first sight of you, I didn't; instead I giggled. I was giddy with excitement.
• Those first few nights in the hospital. I was SO tired but never wanted to put you down. You were mine. My baby. 
• Late night feedings the first two months. You rarely woke me up to let me know that you needed to eat by crying. Instead you grunted and groaned, stirred a little. I would lean over to see you in your bassinet, and your eyes were so big and round in the dark. We would lock eyes and I would scoop you up and stare into those baby blues. Obviously you can't talk yet, but this was mother-child communication at it's finest. I loved being able to give you exactly what you needed, and you told me with that look in your eyes that you knew I would. And it was the best feeling in the world. 
• Tubby Time! You love to take a bath now. You hated the sponge baths we gave you before your cord fell off, but after 4 weeks when it finally did and we could put you in your little whale tub you started to love it. Again, those sweet baby eyes get so big and round and you are in heaven :)
• At about 6 weeks you started smiling. Best. Feeling. Ever. Now you flash me a big bright one everytime you wake up. 
• When you discovered your hands. You would stare at the cross-eyed, and slowly bring them to your face. You eventually discovered that they can go into your mouth. Neat! That is where they permanantly reside these days. 
• Diaper changes. You HATED them until about 3 weeks ago. Now you fuss for just a moment sometimes when I lay you down, but then you remember that changing time=play time. After you have a clean booty we sing and play and have a jolly good time. Sometimes these 'diaper changes' last over 30 minutes :)
• Lately I have been sitting you on my lap while I play the piano. You enjoy Bach, and will gladly sit and listen for a good 2-3 pieces. 
• Dancing to Queen in the loft. 
• Your Belle doll. You smile everytime you see her. Every.Single.Time. 
• Your first giggles. You are still at the stage where it freaks you out when one escapes. First was at Jenny Gioia a week ago, then last week at Grandpa and Belle a few times, and yesterday on the bed when I was bouncing you. Can't wait for the full-on belly laughs :)
• Your crunches. It cracks me up to see you work those abs. 

I love you, Gia Lenora. You're super cool. 


Love, 
Mom

Grow, Baby Grow

Our baby girl is 10 weeks old today. TEN WEEKS! Time, please stand still. Pretty, pretty please. I go back to work in two weeks. I am in complete denial and refuse to think about it. The longest I have been away from Gia is a few hours. I will be gone about 7 hours when I go back to work. I realize it could be worse. Also, I go back April 30th-June 15th, and then have the summer off. But oh how I dread being away from my baby. I love her so much. She is perfection. Everything she does is amazing and wonderful and miraculous. Watching her change and grow and learn every day, hour, minute, second is such a gift. She is no longer a cute little blob. She is more and more away of her surroundings every day. I love watching her react to other people. Yes, it's awesome everytime she flashes me a smile, but seeing her smile at family and friends melts my heart every time. She is lover. 
Gia loves her playmat. Sometimes I get a little jealous of the lion and giraffe hanging from it, as she gives them the most loving googly eyes and coos at them with such gusto. She also lover her Belle doll, and will kick and squeal at the mere sight of the thing. 
Another one of Gia's favorite pasttimes is sucking on her hands. She started this about 2 weeks ago and it was a blast watching her discover her hands and stare at them, cross-eyed, as she brought them to her mouth. They are pretty delicious, as far as she is concerned. 
We had our Two Month Well Check last week, and Gia is 13 pounds, and about 24 1/2 inches long. Many of her pants now look like floods, and her 0-3 month sleepers no longer fit. 
So far she seems to take after Daddy in three major ways: She loves to sleep. Daddy still has to have a nap every day, and Gia takes several long naps a day, and sleeps straight through the night from 8-10 hours. She also loves to eat, just like Daddy! Every two hours she is looking for the boob, unless of course she decides to take an extra long nap. And my girl can cut the cheese like no one else. The other day she thought it would be funny to blow a ripe one in my face while I was changing her diaper. It stunk just as bad as Daddy's. Lucky me.
Here's my girl today, 10 weeks old:

  Here she is on Monday, representing Daddy's favorite team: