When You're Smiling...

Lorelei is starting to smile more and more, also when she is awake. She has been smiling but that was mainly when she was somewhere on her way to dreamland.... Now she is smiling at things, like her favorite rattle, but also at us. That is just so wonderful to see.

Recently I have caught myself singing, whisling and humming that classic "When You're Smiling" over and over again. I don't know if she is smiling because of that or if I am singing it because she is smiling. Either way, both Tobias and Lorelei seem to like the song. It makes Lorelei smile :-). And Tobias likes to dance to it...

Like I said she has been smiling for a while, but smiling, like yawning or sneezing and other super-cute facial expressions, is so hard to catch on camera. So, it took a wile before I caught her. Well, as you can see in this picture... I succeeded!

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Lots of Attention!

We had a family reunion this past weekend. It was a reunion of my mom's side of the family. My mom is one of seven and therefore there was quite a large group of people. The total would have been about 48, but unfortunately some were not able to make it... We ended up having 39 people to the party! A lot of those people were children. Lorelei was not the youngest, because my cousin Liesbeth had a baby boy, Micha, on december 3rd! So, there were two babies. Then there was Tobias, then there was Jurgen (Liesbeth's oldest boy, exactly one year older than Tobias). The rest was about 7 and up.

Everytime we are around children with Lorelei I am surprised by how interested they are in Lorelei (or other babies for that matter). Apparently there is something about babies..... This time was not any different in that respect. As you can see in this picture Lorelei had lots and lots of attention. And this is not just a lucky shot.... these children were sitting around Lorelei like this for maybe an hour or more! And as you can see, Lorelei enjoyed it thoroughly. She was held, passed around, cuddled, kissed and so on and she didn't cry or anything....

Lovely picture, right?


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Getting Stronger

Lorelei is growing and getting stronger fast. One of the reasons is of course the fact that we are feeding her more. We are also sometimes supplementing her bottle with a little bit of rice cereal. But most of all I guess it is just the fact that she is now almost 4 months old! Unbelievable but true!

We have been putting her on her belly every once in a while but most of the times she would just stick her nose in whatever surface she was lying on. Well, those days are over. She has gained so much strength that she is now able to lift up her head. As you can see in this picture she has to use pretty much every muscle in her body, but it works!

Another thing is that she is able to be awake more during the day. Sometimes she is just lying in her play-pen for 30-45 minutes at a time looking at her toys, smiling and sometimes even laughing, and, every once in a while, grabbing something. She is also talking, or maybe a more accurate description would be "making some noises". In her play-pen she does this by herself, but if we talk to her, she sometimes responds to us (well, that's what we like to believe anyway :-)).

It was kind of difficult to take, timing-wise, but I love this picture!


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Playing with Stuff

Lorelei is doing well! She is growing really fast, eating more and more and sleeping through the night (pretty much). Also, when she is awake she is more alert, just looking around, smiling and sometimes even laughing a little, talking a little (well, you know, making noises) and, as you can see in this picture, playing a little. Ok, I have to admit this is a slightly manipulated scene (:-)) but she is grabbing stuff by herself, this rattle being pretty much her favorite at this point.

Like I said she is eating more and more. We have now upped the amount each time to 120 ml (instead of 90 ml) which is a big step towards one less feeding and thus getting into a rythm in which she can sleep through the night. She is already doing that most of the time now. This morning we had to wake her up at 8 am! We gave her the last bottle at 11:30 pm last night! So, we also get some sleep these days :-).

This week I have taken a few days off to enjoy my family. I am looking forward to that!


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Bathing

Bathing with Tobias has always been one of my favorite things (among many others :-))... I just recently realized that we haven't been bathing as much as we used to because last year Tobias had some sort of fungal rash and the doctor told us to limit the baths to about 3 a week. Up until that point we took a bath pretty much every day! Well, he is over his rashes but we haven't gotten back into the daily bathing routine...

These days we take a bath every other day, but now, it is double the fun! And sooooo unbelievably adorable, as you can see in this picture. It is not only that Tobias is holding Lorelei while we're in the bath, but he also helps washing her. His favorite thing is washing her hair. He is so incredibly gentle when he does that. He just rubs her head with his fingertips and the palm of his hand. He then rinses her hair by taking water into cupped hands and letting it flow on her head, all the while being very careful not to get any in her eyes. It is sweet!!! Oh yeah, and he has the patience to wait with playing with his bath toys until Lorelei is finished and out of the bath.....

Like I said, bathing is twice the fun now and perhaps that will be the incentive to get back into a daily bathing routine.... :-)


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Oblivious, but There

As you can see in this picture, Lorelei was also present on Tobias' birthday. Well, physically anyway :-), in this picture the rest of her is far gone, off to dream land... There were even some presents for her on Tobias' birthday. With everything that has been going on we haven't had a whole lot of people over yet to come and see her. Sunday a week ago we had some friends over to come admire her, but that is about it. So, some people saw her for the first time when they were at Tobias' birthday party.

On Tobias' birthday itself she was not eating so well. She had a hard time finishing her bottles and that, although to some may be something completely normal, to us is rather worrisome, since that was also the case when the RS episode started. In the afternoon (afther the party) Lisa went out and got a different kind of formula (the brand they have at the hospital). After that it got better. The next day she finished pretty much all her bottles. All in all she is doing quite well. She was weighed just yesterday and was now a little under 4 kilos. So, she is growing, finishing her bottles, down to 6 feedings a day, and..... last night she slept for almost 7 hours! So far so good I would say, and very comfortable for us :-).


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Isn't She Lovely?

I don't think I have to tell you how much I love my little girl.... right? Isn't she lovely?!

Now that it is the four of us at home in a more or less regular pattern I feel like I finally have a chance to really get to know my daughter. That may sound strange but with all the hospital visits, the holidays, our visitors, the new year and all that going on it just felt like I was being lived, out of touch, out of control, off balance, off track. Something like that anyway.... Now that I have gone back to work, our house is back to normal, I feel like everything is back on track. Also, Lorelei went to the pediatrician last week and she had gained a lot of weight, there were no more strange sounds in her lungs, and everything else seems OK too. In other words she seems to be doing great.

I already kind of knew that but it feels good to have that confirmed by the pediatrician. She weighed 3660 grams last week which means she gained over 600 grams in less than two weeks!!! That, of course, is because she is drinking so well. When she is awake she is very alert. She sleeps well. In other words, she is finally behaving like a normal baby. That is just great!

I am still recovering though, as I guess all of us are. I catch myself checking her temperature whenever I get her out of bed. Lisa talks about weird thoughts and dreams and Tobias still needs lots of attention. Also, I am totally 100% exhausted at times... This whole week I haven't gone to bed much later than 21:00...

I guess, if you really think about it, it was quite an ordeal we have been through......


For news on Lorelei's brother Tobias visit: Tobias Quinn