Today, I tried out a game that I read on-line.  I laid Joy on my bed on her tummy so she could flip over.  She did that.  Then, because she can’t flip back-to-tummy, I did that part for her, putting her back on her tummy. Then, she flipped herself again.  The idea is that she gets to roll the length of a bed, or blanket, with a little help.  The strange thing was that she didn’t seem to care about rolling all that distance.  When it was her turn to do the flip, she would always flip in my direction, whether I was to her right or left.  My baby loves me! Awww.

I think Joy may have laughed for real today.  She frequently laughs in her sleep, but this time she was awake.  The only thing I’m uncertain about was whether it was on purpose, or whether it just sounded like a laugh but wasn’t really.  I’ll keep you posted about whether this repeats or not.

Joy has decided her own bedtime.  She likes going to bed between 9 and 9:30.  She definitely doesn’t get that from me!  I’m a huge night owl.  And, I certainly wasn’t trying to enforce any kind of bedtime on her.  Generally, she’s gone to bed when I do, which is around 11.  But, over the last week or two, she has started getting fussy around 9ish, and doesn’t stop fussing until she’s in bed, eating.  She won’t eat upstairs, or in a room with lights on.  She’s ready to sleep, and that’s that.  

One good thing about this is that it allows me “me” time.  After I’m done feeding her and she’s sound asleep, I turn on the baby monitor, and go upstairs to do things.  I’ve started painting again, which is great.  I have a huge to-do list that I’m behind on, and this extra time every night is allowing me to get started on it.  Yay for babies who like going to sleep early at night!

More firsts for Joy today:

First time seeing a lake

First time seeing dragonflies

First time sitting on grass

First time seeing fire spinning, or charcoal on fire

A friend of mine, Joy and I went for a walk in the woods today.  It was so fun to watch Joy watching the trees!  I hope to spend lots of time with her in nature.  It feels so good to watch her exploring the beautiful world outdoors!

So, I’d say so far that the hardest thing about being a Mom is figuring out the logistical details of taking care of Joy while at the same time also accomplishing anything else.  Getting things done around the house is tricky, and so is going out in public.  I don’t mind too much, but sometimes I do get frustrated at my impotence in non-baby parts of my life right now.  Good news is that today for nearly an hour, I was able to walk around with Joy in a sling (a huge accomplishment for my healing back), so that’ll help a lot.  I also think it’ll help to be developing a system.  I totally believe in my ability to figure this out.  The absolute most important thing is to take good care of Joy, which I am more than happy to do.  I am not willing to neglect her in any way just to make my life simpler.  I just gotta remember that I am awesome, and that, over time, I’ll figure out how to get a bit more balance!

Looks like Joy is going to have green eyes, or hazel.  In case you don’t know–all white babies usually have blue eyes at birth, and so did Joy.  But, now the insides of her eyes are turning green.  They are mostly green, with a few very tiny specks of brown, and the outside is a ring of dark blue.  Pretty!

Brian witnessed this, not me, but I guess today Joy flipped from her back onto her belly.  He was lying in bed next to her, so the slight slope of the bed towards him may or may not have helped her, but still, seems like a cool accomplishment to me!!!

Yesterday, Joy got her Social Security card.  She’s a citizen officially, now.  We’ve been trying to tell her that now it’s time to go out and get a job, but she just keeps grinning at us!  : )

Joy got weighed again today.  16.8!!!  She’s still moving up!  Healthy as ever, but BIG.  She’s the size of an average 4-month old baby.