Nice Quick One

I would say that Sayda is officially cruising! Its not often, and its not a lot, but she will hang onto the couch and take a few slow steps over now!

She's also been waving for AT LEAST a few weeks, and I just forgot to mention it.

Her naps have been consistent throughout each day! She takes a morning nap, and a longer afternoon nap! She's awake all evening, and has ALWAYS slept all night. She doesn't nap AS much as the other two kids did her age, but I still wont complain!

I think she's starting to do little things like dance to music a tiny bit, and it looks like sometimes she's trying to clap her hands! She's also starting to get to the stage of bruises! With all her crawling & standing, she's getting lots of little bonks left & right! Yesterday, she went from sitting to starting her crawl so quickly, that she wiped out… so I'm sure once she gets an even better hang of all this movement, she'll be unstoppable, hahaha!!!

So Mobile!

Um, not posting in 2 months, when a baby is only 8 months old, is a very bad thing! And the thing is, I only write down the things she does onto a list, without dating them (lesson learned, will fix this for met time), but so I only have estimations for WHEN each of these things took place!!! Ugh!… but here it goes…

She got her first tooth right around Diella's birthday, I believe, when she was about 6 months old. Then she got her second one only about 2 weeks after that!!! AND THEN A THIRD one about a week later! Neither of the other two kids got their first tooth until 8 months old! So now Sayda is 8 months old with 3 teeth, and hasn't gotten any since that third one. But, wow!

It was at about 7 and a half months that Sayda began to crawl! It of course started off with her getting up onto her hands & knees, and eventually she would do that, and then as she began to go forward, she'd flop to her belly. Then soon after that was when she could go from laying down, to sitting up all by herself! And then in no time was she going from sitting, to hands & knees, and then crawling! NOW, she's a little over 8 months old, and she's been pulling herself to standing for over 2 weeks now! She does it very often, and quite quickly! So she is VERY mobile! Crawls fast now, pulls herself up now, and you can see it in her eyes, she really wants to walk! The other day she was standing at the couch, with the couch to her back! ready to take off… and of course she dropped to her hands & knees… but it wont be long now!

Sayda's official first word was Dada! And yes, she says it when she sees Dada! Yay! ok, so she also sometimes says it when she sees me too, but still, haha! She basically says Mama too, but its when she's eating food, LOL! She doesn't say it TO me really, just when she's eating, haha! She also had this short little phase where she says, "doodoodoo" its SOOOO cute! I have a video of it that I will try to post! Her little lips get all puckered, in an "o" shape… and it seems she does it most when she's watching someone eat, haha!

So, speaking of eating, Sayda went to baby food at 5 months, instead of 6, like the other two kids. I just don't think nursing was enough for her, she wanted more. So by now, she's had all of the fruits, all of the vegetables, and has had some bread as well, and of course lots of rice cereal. She LOOOOVES food!!!! She just gets so excited when its time to eat! And you can just see her light up when she's snacking, and how satisfied she is after she's eaten, hehehe!

She still sleeps wonderfully at night! About 11 hours or so! Her naps during the day, at this point, are as follows: she takes about a one hour nap in the morning, after she's been awake for over two hours. And then when Diella goes down at 2 o'clock, so does Sayda, for the longer nap, 2-3 hours! She's doing great!

Sayda must love music, because if she's crying in the car, then jake will put on the Veggie Tales songs and she usually gets quiet right away! Also, she smiles SO big when mommy sings to her!!!

She has discovered the fact that she can scream. She doesn't do this when she's crying or upset, but just as means of communication. sigh* its humorous, but its SOOO loud!!!! She does it a lot when she and Diella are playing together!

Its a rare occasion, at this age, that the kids to something thats truly amusing, but a few weeks ago, in the car, she cracked me up! We were driving down to Virginia, so we were currently eating in the car. Diella and Ethan were sharing their ham. Sayda sits in between them. As Ethan went to pass a piece of ham to Diella, Sayda then, faster than you can say, "please pass the ham," reached up her little hand and snagged that thing away like it was her job! I think we ALL laughed at that!

She is growing both physically, and within her personality as well, so fast! Cant wait to see who this little angel becomes!

Sittin Up!

So it looks as though Sayda may be even more of a Mama's girl, than Ethan is a Mama's boy! Uh oh!!! The past few weeks, whether my mom is watching the kids on a Thursday night, or if I have to run out for any errands in the evening, and she is with daddy…. it seems that once the evening hours hit, Sayda JUST Wants Mommy!!!… poor Jake & Ahna! We're trying to figure out all the little things that make her the most happy & the most calm, to hold her over until mommy gets home… but wow, she just BEGS for me till she sees me! In fact, once last week, I had a FULL day… teaching class, and then a wedding afterwards… she didn't see me for about, hmm, 8 hours! And when she finally did, she SHRILLED!!

I've been trying to remember and teach mom & Jake some of the things that help out when she's fussy. One of them we call the 'magic trick.' Put her on our bed, lights out, a Baby Einstein on, and if she's fussy, lay your hand on her belly for a minute. She's settles down almost instantly! This also works when she's very tired… puts her to sleep every time, (after she's watched half the video at least). I'm hoping its just a phase though.

She also does NOT like to be PUT to sleep, but only to FALL asleep. If you lay her down in your arms, she gets Angry!!! She doesn't want to feel like you're trying to help her go to sleep, she'd rather just fall asleep sitting up… and its happened many, MANY times!

Sayda's been on rice cereal for almost a month now I think! She has been blowing raspberries for a few weeks too… one of the ways she likes to talk to us. Well, indeed she has combined the two. Blowing raspberries while being fed her rice cereal. And man, I gotta say, I just LOVE getting splattered in the face each day! lol!

She has been rolling over for a few weeks now! She goes both ways- front to back, and back to front. And also over each shoulder, not just one direction, yay! Of course now we have to be extra careful if she's on a couch or bed, cuz she is really becoming mobile! Now, when she plays on her belly, she'll even turn herself (like either direction, still on her belly, to face a different way)… so that she can reach toys, or watch the big kids, etc.

I'm even gonna count today as though she's officially sitting up! She's been so close lately, and today she sat for probably almost a minute!!! Yay Sayda!!!!

Adorable!

Sayda is 5 months now! She's interacting so much, and smiling, and laughing, and playing with toys, and so many fun things!

She's very close to being able to sit up! She'll stay there for a few seconds, and then slowly fall over, but she's getting really close!

She's also ALMOST rolling over. She did it once when my mom was watching her, but it was one of those, 'she was on her belly when I walked out of the room, and on her back when I returned' kinda things. And then yesterday she rolled over on her own for the first time that I saw! But she doesn't do it consistently. Its funny, cuz I know she's ABLE, she just doesn't do it. Really close on this one though too! Both ways, So close!

She's SO drooly! Haha! And she blows raspberries a lot too! It's adorable!

She's still got a big bald spot at the back of her head, hehe, its cute, I always kiss it!

And she was starting to act hungry before she was due to eat next, so before 3 hours. Well, I was NOT going to feed her more often than every 3, so I decided I may as well start on food, to get her more full! The first day or two, I only did a little bit, to get her used to it… and of course she wasn't great at eating off a spoon yet. But even by the third day she LOVED it! She can hardly wait for the next bite! She holds her little mouth open, like a baby bird, haha! And she'll scarf a whole little bowl full of rice cereal like its nothing! hehehe. But I can also hardly get her to nurse for EIGHT minutes! I used to have to push her to go 12 or even 10! Now she goes barely longer than 5! But the solid food seems to be working. Its all good!

Oh, and she does "crunches" better than I do, hehe. From laying position, she tries to sit up & its pretty amazing! (top picture)

It seems as though this is only my THIRD blog about Sayda since she's been born, and she's nearly 4 months old! I always promised myself I'd never slack with keeping track of things with each kid, so I swear I will do them more often!

Well now that she's 4 months old, she's been using her legs SO well for almost a month now! She needs me to help with balance of course, but she fully supports herself standing!

Sayda likes to sometimes grab onto things to fall asleep, like the edge of the blanket, or my shirt, or even her binky at times. Once she began to burry her face into my shoulder on her way to sleep, and her hand was reaching out to grab something, and it found my bottom lip. She grasped right on, and of course I didn't wanna let her down, lol! One of those moments I wished there was a camera nearby! Another time she was laying next to me on the couch, falling asleep, and somehow she found my arm, and grabbed that with both hands & fell asleep… but this time I DID take a pic with my phone!

She also still has her arms up by her head a lot, just as she did in the womb! Even when she's awake sometimes, little fists up on either side of her head, its adorable.

She's got a little light patch in her hair, right on the top of her head. Its cute!!! She was born with dark hair, just like the other two kids, and I'm sure hers will lighten up as theirs did, but for now, she's got one chunk thats significantly lighter than the rest, and I kind hope it stays, its unique!!! Oh and also, on both of her feet, her second toe is shorter than her middle one! I think Jake's are kinda like that. She's got her daddy's feet, haha!

Ever since the beginning, Sayda has only taken to one specific kind of binky. The other two kids were really only ever given one kind, and always liked it, so maybe we just got lucky. But we had to try a few different shapes till we found one that Sayda would take. She didn't love the binky at first like the other two did… we really had to strongly encourage it for her. She loves it now tho! But only the one kind. Funny!

It was so fun to watch her when she first started to reach out for things on purpose. Like when she was placed in her chair and would touch pig, cow, and lamb! She's starting to play with things! Its exiting! hehehee

She's also starting to rub her eyes when she's tired. Love that! Its a good indication, rather than just crying & we have to Guess whats wrong!

She's SUCH a finger eater! She found those fingers & we've gotta constantly pull em away from her mouth! This makes her very drooly too. We're almost to the point where she needs to wear a bib all the time, little slobberer!

She's VERY smiley, like Ethan was! And its this big, wide-mouthed smile too! SO cute!

Sayda is also becoming quite talkative! She has the most adorable voice too! I remember she's been like this for a while now! probably even almost 2 months, I think?

Jake said the other day, and I love how he worded it, "I think she's gonna be a super advanced robot, jus like Diella was." … its a line from Transformers, and I must say, I agree! She just seems as though she'll learn fast and be advanced for her age. Cant wait to see her continue to develop!

I've been SO blessed with 3 angel babies! And if I or anyone thought that my first two were good sleepers, well then along came Sayda!! She started sleeping 7 hours at night at 7 weeks old! She has since gradually added on a hour, after every few weeks or so, and is now sleeping about 11 hours at night! My big kids hardly do that now!!! She still also takes about 3 naps during the day, a few short ones, and one longer one. She is an incredible baby!!!

Sayda is 6 weeks old! How have I not written anything in that long?

Well, I've made my judgements about what I think my kids will grow up to be. Diella's I called before she even was born, a dancer (even tho now we think maybe dancer AND also CEO of some place, ha!), and Ethan I'm still thinking maybe chef, and also an intelligent one, reading books. But ANYway… Sayda!… she got her nickname in the womb, like the other kids did as well (Diella was fetus, and Ethan was tadpole), Sayda's was "Butt-kicker." So from then on I made my guess that this one would be a football player, whether male or female, haha! So really, I think she'll be some kind of athlete. And then when we found out how long she is, it confirmed it for me! Athlete it is!

I love how much you learn about a baby, so fast! Even within the first 2-3 days, you can start to tell what they do like, what they don't like, how they prefer to eat, and lay. Its awesome!

Sayda had some trouble nursing on the left side for a few weeks. It was frustrating for both of us, but she finally got it. Strange how it was only on one side, not both.

She LOVES to be on her belly! Neither of my other two kids did. It seems she takes the best naps when she's on her belly. And she needs to go on her belly after each feeding, (when she's gassy), she calms right down!

So the minute she was born, both mom & Jake said she looks identical to Diella as a baby. I thought, yea similar, but not identical. She DOES have a very different nose from Diella, but when we look at pix of D as a baby… yea, they're almost identical. Most faces Sayda makes look just like D. But she has occasions where she just looks all her own!

So she wasn't thrilled about taking a binky at first. Definitely doesn't like it as much as the other two kids did. She takes it happily now, but for quite a while we had to really encourage her to.

She is SUCH a gassy girl! She's always got either toots, burps, or hiccups. Poor chica. We had some problems with it too… not crying, or affecting her eating or anything, but just so gassy that she'd be very wiggly and a bit grunty, after every feeding. I tried to see if it was the amount of milk I was drinking (cuz i was NOT eating chocolate or broccoli), and we think that may have been the issue, but its hard to tell. She also needs her diaper changed a million times a day. I mean, I can count on one hand how many time I've changed her and there WASNT poop. Goodness, lady! But she really is doing better now!

The first few days Sayda would get the shivers. I had to always keep her in layers. Actually I still do. I mean, it IS winter, but none of my other kids ever got so chilly (ok, they weren't born in winter, I get it, hehe), but she just Loves having a blanket on all the time. It comforts her, just the weight of it I think.

She doesn't really fit in newborn size, at least nothing with feet. She'll fit into NB onesies, but not jammies. Maybe she got the tall Heinrich women gene!

She's also got cute, long toes! But almost no eyelashes…. I know thats normal for a newborn, but both other kids had/have Killer lashes! … but she DOES have great skin! Both big kids, as babies, got that zitty chin from nursing, and other small imperfections on their faces, but not Sayda! She's got clear, beautiful skin!

The first week or so, Sayda would get up twice at night to eat, and go right back to sleep, which was fine! Now its usually only once each night, and she's been sleeping about 5 hours at a time at night! The other night she did 6! During the day, she would be fine without eating for about every 3 and half hours, which is great! The past few days though, she gets hungry just Before 3 hours, Booo. But still, she's eating and sleeping very well! She's even filled out a lot! Getting those chubby cheeks and double chin, like all our babies do!

A few people have asked how Sayda got her name. Well, actually I was watching What Not To Wear, and there was a shot where they were in NYC, shopping, and there was a store called SAADA, and I thought I liked that for a girl's name, ran it by Jake, he liked it too, and walla! We have a girl's name!

Ok, so Sayda does this one thing that Diella used to do as a baby (and I think maybe Ethan too?). Even if she's just woken from a nap, whenever we are in a loud public place (the store, at church, etc.), she closes her eyes…. and whether she's actually sleeping, or still awake, closes herself off from all the commotion. D did the same thing. It's like "Woah, WHAT is all this? I'm outta here."

And two days ago, Jan 17th, Sayda showed us her first REAL smile! She was looking RIGHT at my face when she did it! And she did once last night to Papa at his house! And then once again today! YAY! Its like Ethan's smile as a baby, wide-mouthed, jaw open! SOOOO Adorable!