I am now almost four months into this parenting thing and to say its been a trip is an understatement. I have learned so much about myself, my husband and my daughter. It is still unbelievable that I get to say that...my daughter. Sometimes it still feels surreal that after all the long months of waiting...waiting to get pregnant...waiting for her to get here...she is here. She is beautiful. She is amazing. I am thrilled to be a momma of a sweet baby girl. I always thought that I would be a mom of boys. Not sure why, just always had a *feeling*. And now that we have our sweet baby Jayne I can't think of anything other than pink. God knew what he was doing giving me a little girl.
I hope I don't jinx myself, but as Jayne nears the four month mark, she has gracefully fallen into a predictable pattern of sorts. Although her naps during the day may be unpredictable as far as how long they may be...she tends to get tired around the same time each day. She gets up between 7-730am...takes her first nap around 830-9am for at least an hour...takes a second nap around 1230-1pm for another hour if I'm lucky...and takes a final snooze around 4pm for about 30 minutes. She then goes to bed at 7pm...falls asleep with little help or "crutches" and stays asleep all night. Trust me, we know how blessed we are for her nighttime sleep! It cracks me up how she will wake in the morning and play/coo quietly in her crib until I come get her...but when she wakes up from a nap during the day she cries immediately. She wants out NOW! But I love that as soon as she sees our faces pear over the crib rail she breaks out her adorable smile for us.

I am really praying she will do well in the car this weekend. Jared's aunt and I leave Friday morning for Ohio...my dad is meeting us about halfway to trade off (I'm not yet comfortable driving long distances by myself with Jayne in case she is really fussy. I don't want to be a distracted driver!). We are taking a bunch of stuff to leave at my parents house so that we don't have to drag it all back up for Christmas. Plus between Justin & Sarah and us I'm sure they will have more grandkids in the future (just maybe not the *near* future!!!). We are so excited to spend next week on the Ohio river with Jared's mom. The weather should be cool & crisp and we're just looking forward to a relaxing weekend...with hopefully NO rain!!! That would hamper our visit with the babe for sure!

- T -