Mackenzie is now Twenty Five weeks old. Looking back at our photos on our camera roll and we are amazed at how quickly a baby grows! I still watch her sleep, you can never get bored of it and when she smiles, your heart melts.
So far, here is her tally:
Nappy Changes: 44
Sleep: 92 hours
Feeds: 90
Leap 5 is definitely KICKING OUR BUTTS! Not only has she been extremely clingy, this week she discovered that she does not like it when you are not in her line of sight. It’s almost as if she is scared we won’t come back. She has also become very familiar with a handful of people and will refuse to be held by others. She is also testing us by throwing her toys and teethers off her high chair, grabbing anything and everything she comes in contact with and reaching for things that are out of reach. Although she still sleeps her 9-11 hours straight, Ramon and I are very sleep deprived as Kenzie has started to kick and whack us in her sleep. She sure was a wee kick boxer while in my tummy, she’s still a kick boxer now! As much as we would love to have her sleep in her crib at night, I also want her to have unbroken sleep and co-sleeping has helped with this. When we were pregnant, we were adamant to never co-sleep but as first time parents, we’re constantly learning and we learned that it’s so much easier to put Kenzie to sleep next to us than in a crib. We’ll definitely try again the Leap 5 is over.
Speaking of reaching for things out of her reach, she is constantly rolling to reach for things which makes it so much harder to put a nappy on her. As soon as her nappy comes off for a nappy change, she feels so free that she is rolling around everywhere! It’s so adorable! We’ve read that we should encourage it and we absolutely encourage her freedom for a few minutes. We place her in her crib to get used to it and she loves to play in there. She rolls around, sticks her arms and legs through the slats and she can hold herself up while standing for a few seconds. Let’s hope she’ll start sleeping in there too!
This week, we thought talking was far away but in a few days, she said “MAMA”! She has been practicing her consonants every day, especially at night times. She loves saying “Mama” and “Baba” and shouting her cute dinosaur screams and squeals. It amazes us how quickly things can change in a span of a few days! We have been trying to get her to say “Mommy” and “Daddy” but there hasn’t been any luck so far. We are getting close with “Mommy”! We’ve also noticed she babbles a lot more to get the attention of our cat, Bella and dog, Delius.
Kenzie not only likes being sung to this week, she also likes watching us dance. This means we’re up on our feet singing and dancing to nursery rhymes such as “Wheels on the bus”, “Hokey Pokey”, “Head, shoulders, knees and toes” and “If you’re happy and you know it”. She absolutely loves it.
Kenzie has started to laugh without being tickled! I didn’t know that day would come and we were worried we’d have a baby that was too serious (apparently they exist!). She loves to be chased and for some reason, she laughs uncontrollably when you say “Pooh-Pooh”. She smiles so much more these days and it’s contagious.
We have decided to no longer use the Rafferty’s Garden baby food pouches as Kenzie doesn’t seem to like any flavour. We may try again later but this week, we learned she loves fruits; watermelons and oranges (she isn’t a big fan of blackberries) and she loves peas! She still doesn’t eat more than 2 small spoonfuls at a time but she’s becoming more open to solids. She likes food she can hold and put in her mouth herself such as pieces of bread. She still only chews and spits and hasn’t learned to swallow properly but we found peas in her nappy so we know she has been swallowing some food.
This week we received awful news that my aunty (the one who helped me raise Kenzie) has been admitted to hospital in the Philippines. Kenzie has been accompanying me to church for prayer and to light a candle for her to get better. Everyday, I remind Kenzie about my aunty and how she is so loved by her. I know that she is too young to remember her but I’m really hoping they’ll get to see each other again. I haven’t had the chance to organise our passports and wasn’t able to make an emergency trip to the Philippines to see her. I know she would have wanted to see Kenzie again. She’s grown so much in the last couple of months since she was last here. Thank goodness for technology! We’ve been able to see her and Kenzie seems to remember her voice and she looks at the screen and smiles.
This week was definitely eventful and we can’t wait to see what week twenty six has in store for us. Let’s see if there is going to be an ease to Leap 5 next week!