Smiling for the Camera

Kacie LOVES the flash. The problem is that she always smiles right AFTER I take a picture. However, I think she may be starting to understand this camera thing...and last night she was smiling constantly for the camera.

On another note, we are still working on the sleeping thing (as I am sure we will do for a long time) but we may be making progress! Kacie, in general, is a good sleeper. She also likes and needs to sleep or else she gets cranky (as most babies do?). Usually after between 45minutes and an hour of awake time, she starts to get fussy and wants to sleep. I am recognizing those cues and have been able to settle her down just enough to put her into her crib while she is still awake and have her fall asleep. She has been doing a pretty good job of putting herself to sleep. Anyway, Sunday night, when we got home from Tahoe (Kacie did not sleep extremely well up there!), she had a tough time getting to sleep. She was overtired and as the night grew on, it grew increasingly more difficult for the sleep to stick. I kept putting her down while she was settled down and did let her cry a few times. I would continue to go in after several minutes, console her, and then leave again. It would have been easier to just shove the boob into her mouth and "pacify" her but I don't want to get into that habit (although it works pretty well!) Anyway, she finally fell asleep at 11pm and slept until 7am except to eat at 3:30am (for about 5minutes). Anyway, yesterday she took naps almost perfectly and was pretty well rested at bedtime. I also didn't try to console her back to sleep at 7:30pm when she woke up from a 45minute nap like I had been trying to do but instead let her play a little bit. Well, we did have a soccer game and although I am not on the team, we were short girls and I decided to go and play a bit (my 3rd game since giving birth). GrandMary was there to watch Kacie on the sidelines. So we bundled her up, put her in her carseat and then at the park, we attached her carseat to the jogging stroller and she slept on the sideline. She did wake up and look around for a while but eventually fell asleep about 9:30pm, I believe. When we got home and after I showered and got ready for bed, I was considering doing a "dream-feeding" as the last time she had eaten was 7:30pm but she did not seem to be waking up to eat as she had before. So I decided just to put her in bed and see how long she would sleep. WELL, she didn't wake up until 5am this morning!! I heard her stirring about 3:30am (her somewhat usual time) but when I peeked in, her eyes were still closed so I didn't pick her up. I fed her at 5am (she ate well) and then fell asleep again until 6:30am...and fell back asleep until about 7:35am (in my arms in my bed) after I consoled her. When she woke up, she was in the happiest of spirits. We did some yoga and some tummy time and played until her next nap, which came at 9am. And she is sleeping again, now, in her crib. What a sweet baby!