Baby Bear loves porridge

This has been a busy time for Baby Bear. She's learned to sit up much better and she doesn't even use her hands to hold herself up anymore. She cut a second tooth last week and she turned into a terrible sleeper. (birth mom says that one of her babies was born with teeth!) She woke up multiple times a night and was really tricky to put back to sleep when she did wake up. Now that the tooth is in we've had it a little easier. She slept through the night two times in a row which is a first for her! And last night when she did wake up at 4 am she went right back to sleep after her bottle.

Baby Bear also started solid foods this week! She loves them! So far she's had rice cereal and carrots. She is really excited whenever we are eating or drinking anything. She opens her little mouth, shakes her little arms in excitement, and gets this look in her eye that says "What is THAT?! And can I have it please?"

Probably the biggest news is that we get to keep Baby at least until the end of April, maybe longer. I wasn't expecting to get to have her any longer than three months so I was pleasantly surprised. We've grown really attached to her. My heart is really happy for myself, but I also really want Baby to be building a stronger bond with her birth mom. If she goes back in three months that will be right around the time of stranger anxiety and I hate to think about how that will impact how she is cared for and her mom bonding with her. I'm sad that birth mom is missing out on all her firsts. On the up side this gives Baby plenty of time to learn how to sleep through the night, which will hopefully make it less stressful for mom. And it gives me plenty of time to love her and hug her and fill her little heart with love.

What is Mika up to these days? Mostly just trying to stay warm...

Mika has been really good lately! She hasn't torn up anything! And she only ran away with Babies toy one time. She did have one accident in the middle of the night where she ran downstairs peed on the rug and then ran back up and licked my face until I let her back under the covers. But overall she has been a very good girl lately!

Happy 5 months Baby Bear!

My goodness how time flies! I can't believe little Baby Bear is 5 months old already. It has gone so fast. She is growing up and learning new skills every day. She can roll over from back to tummy, she props herself up with her arms all the time while on her tummy, and she can sit on her own for around 10 seconds unsupported and for a little longer using her arms to support herself. She likes to pivot around on her little tummy to reach toys.

She LOVES to touch Mika. Mika is such a good sport. Mika loves the baby and licks her hands which is her way of saying "please pet me".  When baby is on tummy time she gets really frustrated when she can see Mika but she is out of her reach! She pivots to face her but then can't get herself any closer and whines and kicks. She's also starting to talk a lot more again. We went through a quiet period where she didn't seem too interested in making a whole lot of noise, but she has recently re-discovered her voice! She goes in and out of phases where she wakes up and just talks to herself. For the past week she has been waking up cooing and talking. It's the best.

She gets better and better at sleeping every week. This past week she slept in until 9:30 one day (that was over 12 hours of sleep in one night!). Usually in the morning she wakes up and makes some noises but I pretend not to hear her and she usually goes back to sleep for another hour or two. Naps are never a struggle anymore. I lay her down and she's off to sleep. It's still hit or miss putting her down for the night.  Sometimes she goes to sleep without so much as a peep and other nights she cries and cries. Babies.

She is such a little sweet potato. She loves to snuggle and be held. She loves to look at us talk and touch our faces. She is almost as enthralled by looking at us in mirrors as she is with watching Mika. She loves being read too and smiled at and loves to be sung to. Her new favorites are wheels on the bus and yankee doodle. Playing airplane is almost always good for half a laugh from her.

She has a court date at the end of this month which will decide when she will go back to live with her mom. The soonest she would go would be the end of February and the latest she will go would be the end of April.

4 months!

I figured I better post about Baby Bear at 4 months before she turns 5 months. Four has been a good month.  She is sleeping much better. She is currently waking up only 2-0 times a night. For 2 months she had been waking up screaming 45 minutes after we put her down for the night. At first it was really hard to resettle her back down for bed and if she had a really hard time getting resettled she would wake up again another 45 minutes after that. Gradually it was easier and easier to resettle her. Then all I needed to do was whisper "shhh". Then when we went to Minnesota for Christmas she stopped waking up at the 45 minute mark completely! Merry Christmas to me!

She also started growing more hair and a tooth while in MN. She is starting to laugh in reaction to things we do, but it takes quite a bit of effort.