June 2011 - Alena 2 months

This was a much better month!

We kicked it off with Alena's Baptism. Her Godmother is my sister Marina and her Godfather is John's uncle (and his Godfather too) Uncle Joe. It was a wonderful ceremony and lunch followed. We are so lucky to have such a big and supportive family - 61 people were at the lunch, and all but 3 of those guests were at the Baptism. The priest was impressed too.

Unfortunately Alena got her first cold this month. It started last week and we had our worst night as a result. She was so congested that she couldn't breathe well. She must have had really bad post nasal drainage too, because she would try to cough to clear her throat but it would scare her and she would start to cry. I finally brought the carrier upstairs and she was able to sleep comfortably in it since her head was elevated, and she has been sleeping in in ever since - the cold is still lingering, but not as bad.

I was starting to wonder about her sleeping habits because she was still waking up once in the middle of the night (yes, I know I should see that as a blessing, but I was spoiled by Luci). I glanced at the post when Luci was 2 months, and I talked about how she started sleeping through the night. Right after I looked at that post, Alena blessed me with a 7-hour night, and has been doing the same ever since! She'll fall asleep anywhere between 10:30 and 11:30 and then wake up around 6 or 7am.

Alena is awake most of the day now. She'll take one good 3 hour nap during the day, with multiple little cat-naps in between. Her awake hours are mostly spent on her play mat, in the swing, or in my arms. She laughs and smiles all the time now, and it amazes me how much she resembles Luci at 2 months.

I have another thumb sucker on my hands. Alena is getting better at finding it now when she gets fussy. I am certainly not discouraging it because thumb sucking was such a savior with Luci.

Luci still loves her little sister - giving her kisses and loving her up (and I wonder how Alena got a cold). She is obsessed with puzzles these days - and not baby puzzles - she insists on doing puzzles that are anywhere between 24 and 64 pieces. She finds the faces and body parts of the various characters, pieces them together, and then can finish the puzzle with little help. It amazes me.

I try to take Luci swimming, but I have to go with reinforcements. So being dependent on other people going with me has made our trips to the pool very infrequent. We have a small blow-up pool that I put out on our deck and Luci can enjoy swimming while Alena and I enjoy the fresh air in the shade. It's all about being creative at this point.

We FINALLY got our swing set too. We totally consumed the day of John, my dad, my uncle, and my father-in-law, but it is complete and Luci loves it. It's nice to have an escape right in my own backyard.

I return to work in 3 weeks. I am not dreading it nearly as much as I did with Luci. Probably because I am not going back full-time. Plus I look forward to having a schedule and a routine. I plan on signing Luci up for a dance class, and we will continue to attend our church's play group. So we will remain busy and active.

Here are pictures of the Baptism (thanks to my brother-in-law) and here are pictures from the rest of the month.