Count your blessings instead of sheep....

It's been nearly a month since I've updated on here! It's been a very very busy month in the Mautino household. We've had LOTS of guests visit us, well, visit Lily because really who wants to travel all the way here to visit us old things? We've definitely been holding court for the Princess. First she was visited by her Pama and Dave for about a week, and then her great-aunt and great-uncle Hooey and Mike came and stayed with us. In the meantime Lily's been growing exponentially and developing quite the personality... one may say it's a bit "dramatic." Just like her Mama :-P. The girl goes from Happy to Hysterical in .2 seconds. It's pretty entertaining. However, as sudden as those shifts are it's equally easy to shift her back to Happy. She cries for two reasons... hungry and tired. *whew* now that we've got that down she's easy peasy. We've also been attending an infant massage class. I can say with confidence Lily's the best behaved baby in that class... but maybe I shouldn't brag about that. I suppose that could be seen a mean. She's not sleeping through the night, but I think she's working on it. She's now just waking up around 2 or 3 and she nurses for maybe 5 minutes. Then she's out again, and stays that way until it's time for Daddy to get up for work. She's still sleeping in our room, and she'll stay there until she stops nursing at night and has better control of her head. I don't want to be traipsing down and up the stairs in the dead of night to get to her room. I'm sure two nights of that and I'd have some grave injury. In the meantime she's developing the skill of sleeping through anything. Dogs barking, Cayce and I talking, lights on, midnight toilet flushing, and on and on. So we've got this night time sleeping thing down... as for the daytime napping... not so much.

I'm about to admit what a horrible mother I am, and for, what I'm sure is to be the first of numerous times, say as a mother you can listen to all the professionals and all the advice, but the bottom line is you have to do what is best for you and your family. During the day Lily will NOT nap for an extended amount of time unless she is in my arms. However, Cayce can be holding her, put her in her crib, she'll stay asleep, but alas Cayce's at work during the week and can't perform that miracle daily. Due to this little hiccup getting showered and house work accomplished during the day has been limited to about 45 mins to an hour a day. It IS amazing, however, how much I can accomplish in that short amount of time. I purchased a Maya wrap, and that helped a little bit, but Lily's still a bit small for me to use it completely hands free. So this week I learned something valuable, something that will change my life. When I met with my midwife I discussed my dilemma with her, and she told me I just needed to lay her in her crib and pat her back or butt for a couple minutes until she falls back to sleep. Well *gasp* I am NOT going to put MY baby asleep on her tummy! That's dangerous! The AAP is shoving "back to sleep" down our throats, how dare she tell me to do that! So in one ear out the other her recommendation goes. However, this week we traveled to Jacksonville and stayed with a friend. She's a mother of 3 and after talking with her about Lily's napping preference she mentioned by the time her third child came along she slept on her tummy. So I tried it. While talking to Jennifer I had Lily about asleep and gingerly placed her tummy down on the couch next to me, and there she stayed, asleep, for about an hour. I got up walked around, talked to Jen in the kitchen, went upstairs to talk to Cayce, and also sat in a chair across from her. All the while she slept peacefully all on her own. It was a miracle. It wasn't a fluke either, the next day I tried it again, and she slept peacefully all on her own again. So lesson learned. When I really need to accomplish something during the day, Lily will nap tummy down in her crib. I don't mind holding Lily. She'll only be this small once, and eventually she's not going to want to have anything to do with me so I'm enjoying it while it lasts, but at the same time Mom's gotta do more than sit in the recliner all day.

On the development front this home is filled with Lily's smiles, giggles, and coos. She can be quite talkative and LOVES talking to herself in the mirror. She did very well on her first road trip. On the 3.5 hour drive to Jax she cried for about 15 minutes total, all because she was a hungry girl. On the drive back she slept the WHOLE way. Bliss. Lily's not a fan of her infant carrier. I can't wait to move her to a convertible seat. While there she slept normally and was her normal non-fussy self. It gives me some confidence about our trip home in July.

Okay, now to what everyone really wants, Picture Time.

1st Mother's Day

Baby-kini from Mimi (probably the only time in her life she'll wear one without being self-conscious)

I couldn't get her to smile AT the camera... but she would smile at the mirror I held to the side. I don't blame her; I can't help but smile when I look at her!

SMILE!!! 8 weeks!

*Disclaimer*

I'm trying to type this with Lily cradled on my lap. She's being a little needy tonight, and Cayce's upstairs asleep since he has a 2:00 AM wake-up for a 9 mile Crucible hike with the recruits tonight/tomorrow, blck!

Lily is one month old today!! I still look at her everyday thinking to myself what a blessing we have received. I still cannot believe she is really here. *sigh* She is a miracle.

So much has happened in this first month! Lily's developing on target, and she's really putting on the ounces. She's nearing nine pounds! Her smelly umbilical stump finally fell off... and Cayce made the mistake of throwing it in the trash. Guess who had the privilege of digging it *out* of the trash so I could put it in a ziploc bag for her baby book... not ME! hehhehe Cayce was less than thrilled, thought I was crazy and, that thing smelled sooooo badly! Her eyes are still blue, and her hair is getting thicker. We're definitely starting to understand her cries, and she rarely cries for the fun of crying. We can't wait to see what this coming month brings!!

Lily slept through the obligatory Easter Bunny picture.

We enjoyed our first Easter together as a family. Cayce had to work that Sunday. That's why he's in uniform.

We celebrated Cayce's 27th Birthday with a surprise lunch at his office.

Traveled to Charleston and Cypress Gardens. Played with the butterflies, and enjoyed her first canoe ride... contrary to what the pictures look like! (the weather was HOT and she wasn't in the sun for very long. It was actually quite shady there)