There's nothing quite like a baby's first chuckle. Brennan did hers about half and hour ago while nursing in her sleep. Why is it babies can do all kinds of things ahead of schedule in their sleep. She smiled a lot the first week of life.....in her sleep. Granted it wasn't full out laughter, but I heard a good two chuckles total. Wonder what she was dreaming about?
She is smiling more and more every day. Jeff was very good at getting her to smile at first, but lately I've been getting more and more reactions from her and she is starting to talk to me a lot which I completely adore. Her voice, much like Kadyn's is so subdued. It melts my heart when you can tell she is really trying to tell me something. She does coo more than Kadyn did at this age (which completely baffles me considering how Kadyn can't keep her mouth shut these days).
She seems to be a very patient baby. When she wants something she will let out a couple yelps and then I come to her aid. It's very rare to hear Brennan full on cry. The only times it's really happened have been when she's cold after getting out of her bath and when she has gotten hurt accidently. I feel soooo lucky to have such a good baby. She, no doubt, is such a wonderful addition to our family and I love her more and more everyday.
In other news, Kadyn is getting better with her behavior. I think we have finally settled into some normalcy. We are mostly in our old routine with the addition of taking care of Brennan. I had a new's year resolution to exercise more patience with Kadyn and I am happy to admit I have succeeded. I think part of the problem might have been all those hormones raging through my body before. It seems much easier to keep my cool these days. It must be paying off, because Kadyn is certainly responding better to a calm mama!
She continues to amaze me with her memory skills. Just today she got out a book that I've read to her maybe 5-6 times and recounted at least half the words on each page. The books I read to her now take quite a bit more time to read because she is now able to sit through books that have more words on a page than what I used to read to her. We are working on numbers 11-20 now because she has gotten bored with 1-10. We are also working on lower case letters; she has upper case down pat. She can say her whole alphabet and tell me which sounds each letter gets. She is able to recognize her name on paper and spell it outloud. She can draw a few letters. She can also spell Jeff's name and recognize the words Mama and Dada on paper. I no doubt have a very bright almost preschooler on my hands which I adore and worry about all at the same time.
Jeff is busy plugging away at work. They are still planning on opening a new branch in Branson which he will be sent to when the time comes. They are hoping to have him down there sometime in April. We are anxious to see what this will mean for us. It could mean a move down the road, if it works out, to a little town called Ozark just 15 minutes outside of Branson. We really don't care to ever live in Branson itself. We love our church home in Springfield and love Springfield, so Ozark seemed like a good compromise for us, and the schools in Ozark are supposedly really good. Both of us agree that we want to give the Branson job some time before we make any real decisions, just to make sure it will work out.
And for me, well if you've been keeping up with this blog, you should know what is new with me. I managed to get through day one of my diet pretty successfully and stumbled on a really cool website called nutrimirror.com that has been actually making the diet thing a little more easy and motivating. I have halted with my sewing for a bit until I get some more supplies and also I want to wait a little to see how big Brennan gets before I make her dress for easter. I'm afraid as fast as she's growing, she won't fit in it come Easter time. I enjoy sewing so much, I just wish I had all the money I wanted to really go all out with some of the things I want to make. Maybe someday.