Two Months

Dear Annelise,

Another month of my life has flown by and you are now two months old.  I know that I said it last month, but now I really can't remember what life was like before you were here.  It seems like you've always been apart of me.  You have absolutely exploded in your interaction this month.  I can almost always make you give me a huge, gummy smile.  And your smiles?  They just melt my heart.  All of the challenges that you give me are completely washed away when I look at your smiling face.  I've also learned little things that I can do that will always guarantee a smile.  My favorite time to make you smile is when I've put you on the changing table.  It's always fun to play with you then.

Dad gave you a bottle for the first time right after you turned one month old.  You were a little unsure about it at first, but once you realized that you could get milk from it, you didn't seem to mind the bottle at all.  You definitely still prefer to nurse though, and that's okay with me.  Other people have really enjoyed being able to feed you too.  I like that other people, especially Dad, can bond with you while feeding you.  Recently, you've started putting your hands on the bottle like you understand how to hold it.

I celebrated my first Mother's Day with you this month.  You have no idea how happy that you make me and how honored I am to be your mom.  It makes me feel so good when people dote on you.

You have really started cooing and "talking" to us this month.  I will mimic the sounds that you make and we'll have "conversations".  We do this a lot when you're on the changing table.  I keep waiting for a laugh, but I know that will probably be another month or two.

We have been taking you to the chiropractor to get adjusted.  Some days you really enjoy it, and some days you don't like it all.  I can't decide if it's helping you or not.

You continue to amaze me with your head control.  You love to be held upright on my shoulder and look around and I barely have to hold your head.  You don't like tummy time very much, but will tolerate it for a few minutes.  We're really going to have to work on getting you to like it better because you have to learn the skills that are required, like rolling over and crawling.  You really like to stand up on your feet while I hold your body.  Sometimes I'll hold you up by your hands, but you usually just try to shove my fingers in your mouth.

Speaking of that, you really like to bite on my finger.  You even make a little mean face when you bite down.  Sometimes you get so into it that you shove my finger too far into your mouth and you gag.  You also drool a lot.  I was convinced that you were in the beginning stages of teething, but your doctor quickly put me in my place with that and said that it was way too soon.  Honestly?  I was glad to hear that.  I don't want you sprouting teeth yet!

At your two month doctor's appointment, you weighed 11 pounds 2 ounces and was 21 1/2 inches long.  You received three shots and an oral vaccine.  You didn't mind the oral one too much.  The shots were a different story.  You were already fussing when I laid you down, and you really screamed when the nurse gave you the shots.  Thankfully, she did them really quick and it was over before I knew it.  It broke my heart to see the tears in your eyes.  I hate to see you hurting.  I scooped you up to comfort you and you calmed right down, but you were pretty out of it for the rest of the day.

You love to challenge me with your sleep.  Some days you go right to sleep without any problems, but other days, you fight going to sleep so hard.  It really breaks my heart.  I really hope that you get better, but I know that we'll always have our challenges.  We're going to start working on transitioning you to sleeping in your crib during nap time.  I'm already not looking forward to it!

My girl, you are such a joy to me.  It makes me so happy to watch you grow and learn new things every day.  I can't wait to see what this next month is going to bring us!

Love you forever,
Mommy