Jayne - 6 months

How did this happen? We have a 6 month old!

For some reason, 6 months just seems so...old (but still young, but not newborn...well you know what I mean)

Honestly, to say that I have changed since welcoming Jayne into our family would be an understatement. She's not only changed me, but has changed the whole world around me. I love her more and more everyday and I'm still not quite sure how I'm ever going to let her grow up and go...anywhere...without me. People tried to describe motherhood to me prior to birth but I don't think its something you can put into words. Because there aren't words to describe how much I love, admire, and just adore our Jayne.

Now on to the update...

Jayne's 6 month stats

• Miss Roly-poly here! She's rolling everywhere and anywhere these days. If we put a toy on the ground, she'll find a way roll her way to it, even if is not in her direct rolling line. Meaning, I have to be careful where I put her down because one second she's laying vertically with her feet toward the TV, and the next she's laying on the other side of the rug with her head toward the TV. She's movin'!
• Dances up a storm. I shared her dancing movie in her 5 month post and she's still got the groove. Especially when music comes on. She loves music.
• Loving her toes! They're in her mouth a lot. At least its a toy that's always around :)
• Eating cereal and rice crackers. She does ok at the beginning of cereal time but eventually we have to try hard to keep her occupied while eating, but last night she loved her cracker!
• Happy as can be. She's found out how to give us a "half" giggle. I just take that to mean "try harder mom" :) She does a little fake cough too and just grins afterward.
• Still grabbing everything, and she's quick! We're on guard all the time. When she sees something she wants, she gets excited, puts her arms out and kind of shakes them (like she's flexing all her arm/hand muscles). Its cute!
• Sitting pretty much on her own these days but topples over when she's reaching for something she wants, or her toes.
• Loves her bouncer and will grin away while bouncing happily. (see video here)

The other day I was having Koda chase a laser which I was pointing at the floor. When I first started, Jayne gave a tiny chuckle so I turned on the camera hoping she'd keep laughing, and boy did she...

Oh she is just so happy! And we are so happy to have her in our family.


Happy 6 months baby girl!

Great Grandma & Grandpa Grover

We're lucky to be close to some of our family here in Utah. Last week Jayne, my mom & I visited my grandparents (Jayne's great grandparents). It was sweet to see them interact with her. 

Good family times!

Bouncy Bouncy

I realize many (if not all) of my posts have become about Jayne...Jayne this n' Jayne that...but that's our life over here at the Bennallacks. And I wouldn't trade it for anything. Not one .single. thing! She's our little sunshine and keeps us happy over here. Her latest love is her bouncer. She happily bounces, one foot at a time, like she's out on a jog or something. Bounce on 2 feet? Nope, she'd rather jog instead. She gets an intense face (I'll need to get a better video of her face) and then just has at it. You'll see that she even mixes in her "dancing" sometimes to get the full workout. Her favorite song to work out to is clearly The William Tell Overture (which I am now humming all the day long). That one gets her blood a pumpin'!

So without further ado, bouncing, jogging, happy Jayne.

(humming the overture yet? You will be!)

Giggles

This girl is the best. Those cheeks and her giggle are the best combination. At 40 seconds she gets hearty and melts my heart :)

Jayne - 5 months

So she's put another month down in the books. 5 months today. Miss Jayne is so much fun, so cute, patient, interactive and did I mention cute!? I melt every time her sweet eyes meet mine and she gives me her little chubby cheeked grin.  

It is so fun to see her growing right before our eyes...but then I want to just stop time and spend every minute with my little buddy. We hang out every day together. Me and my girl. Jeez, she just melts my heart.

Jayne's 5 month stats

• Jayne can roll from her stomach to her back. She's almost got the back-to-stomach move down but not yet!
• She loves to "dance". She often is rocking herself back and forth while we hold her. People ask us if we're doing it, but its all her! We can get her to do it by saying "dancing, dancing, dancing". (in movie)
• Still sleeping like a champ. She loves her sleep so much and has become very efficient in telling us she wants to go to sleep. She'll continually rub her eyes and nuzzle into her blanket or mom's hair. She knows what she wants!
• She loves to snuggle her face right into her blanket while sleeping. We put her in bed, give her her binky and she immediately turns her head the the side and snuggles right in.
• Jayne loves to grab things...anything! She loves hands/fingers, mommy's hair, iPods, her blanket and well just about anything we're holding.
• She's a growing girl! This is bittersweet for mom and dad ;). She weighed 15.6 lbs last month at her appointment and was 25.25 in long. That keeps her in the 79% for weight and 83% for height. She's getting big!
• She is very vocal. She loves to squeal and giggle. She has a little chuckle that she'll often give us but when she really giggles it always results in hiccups. Haha. Poor girl got the hiccup gene from momma!

Here's a bit of her dancing...

Happy 5 months baby girl! We love you more than you'll ever know.

Jayne - 4 months

Our little munchkin is 4 months old today!

She's growing up so fast :( I'm happy to see her healthy and strong but I loved the newborn stage. She is very interactive now though and we have so much fun with her.

Jayne's 4 month stats

• She's sitting in her Bumbo chair like a pro. This girl has got some strong core and neck muscles. She loves to sit and watch mommy cook in the kitchen

• She loves to grab things, especially mommy's hands and her toys. She also has found hair...which sometimes is a trick to get out of her grip. When we show her her binky she grabs for it and brings it to her mouth. She knows her binky!
• Speaking of binky, she'll take the one and only newborn Soothie. Try a 3m+ Super Soothie? No thank you! :)
• She loves any type of screen and is often distracted by the TV

• Jayne is giggling! We love to make her laugh, even if we look ridiculous doing it. We're never quite sure what will make her giggle, but when she does, it melts our hearts! (hear her giggle in the video)
• She rolled over for the first time today! Phil and I were both lucky enough to be there for it and caught it on film. She's only done it twice but its a sign of things to come.
• She's become a lot more vocal these days, sometimes just making noise to let us know she's around. She makes a clicking noise when sucking her fingers and when she goes to suck anything she usually makes a breathy "haaaaaa" sound like she can't get it into her mouth quick enough. (hear her noise/sounds in the video)
• She loves watching people (and Koda) and is super alert. She'll follow them around the room with her eyes. Every time Koda is around she puts out her hands to touch him/have him lick them. She loves Koda!

And to finish off, here's a few last pictures and for the really invested, a video of her giggles, "new" voice, interacting with Koda and rolling over

Tummy Time!

(ps. we didn't put her into position to roll over-she was on her stomach and got there all on her own before the camera started rolling...gah, she's going to be rolling now!)

December 2013

January already eh? I'm not sure I'm ready to let go of the holiday season.Its so fun and exciting, especially with a new little kid around. I loved every single minute of it!

We started off December by putting up our Christmas decorations. Ok, who are we kidding? We put them up the day after Thanksgiving :) Jayne's swing was right next to the tree. She loved watching the lights while swinging.

 We've had some epic snow storms this year which has made Mr. B. really happy. (the past winters we have been in town for have been dismal) We've loved having snow outside-makes the holidays so cozy :) Koda loves the snow. He'd whine to be let outside so he could play.

It seemed like for a bit there, the snow just wasn't going to stop! We got a lot of snow over the span of a couple days.

Jayne has started to watch Koda everywhere he goes. We let him lick her hands and she really loves it. Koda even lets her grab his ears/face. He's really tolerant of his new friend!

This year I made our new favorite ornament to celebrate Jayne joining our family. Her hospital beanie is on the bottom with one of her hospital bands and the little bow she wore for her first week of life. I get sentimental just looking at this picture of it. I'm definitely a mom! :)

And of course December was filled with days spent with my little friend. I love my girl! 

 Then came Christmas. Jayne made her debut in our annual family nativity enactment as the star of the show, baby Jesus. We put her to sleep on the hay in her "manger" and she went right to sleep. :)

We opened our traditional Christmas pj's on Christmas Eve 

and then celebrated Christmas morning as a new little family. 

Merry first Christmas Jayne!