OK, so my brilliant daughter continues to amaze me. As if the whole grabbing thing wasn’t enough, she’s upped the ante.

She has mastered the hand-mouth maneuver. Yes, she will grab something and now pull it into her drooly mouth. It’s amazing to watch. See, grab, eat. On top of this, she loves her tongue and will lie around with the tip hanging out of her mouth. Kevin and I both have to same reaction to this. We just have to reach over and grab it.

We’ve decided, however, that she is definately right handed. Sure, she’ll use the left but her favorite hand is totally the right.

In just one week her movements have gone from random flailing baby to purposeful grabbing girl. I’m afraid I’ll wake up tomorrow and she’ll be sitting at my computer typing away. She’s just growing too fast. I’m still enthralled with the grabbing. I’m not ready for another development yet!

Since she is officially 3 months old we took the obligatory Pooh shot. There are a bunch on Ofoto but this is my favorite.

Leina has found her hands.

Not that she ever lost them, mind you. Rather, she has recently discovered that she can control those chubby little fists. Now, she bats at anything infront of her and toys have become something more than just pretty things to look at. They’ve become something to touch.

She’s still learning how to use these things called fingers. Right now, her approach is rather primative – wild swings and random batting. She hasn’t learned how to grab or pull yet. Right now, just being able to touch fascinates her.

And me.

I love to watch her. She concentrates so hard on her toy. You can just see the determination on her little chubby face. She wills her hands to move and they jerk and dance in front of her. Then, suddenly, she’ll make contact and she’ll go still. Her little fingers rubbing the material, her eyes wide, her whole body savoring this new experience. And as soon as she gets it, her hands fly away, out of control again. But does she give up? Oh no, not my Ms. Leina Jane. She recoups, focuses, and soon enough, her chubby fist is right back on target and she’s regained contact. It’s utterly amazing to watch. We’re both mesmerized by her newfound talent.

She is also sleeping on her own. That’s right, we’ve retired the bassonett and my baby girl is sleeping in her own room. Getting her to sleep is still a major scream fest but once down, she’s very good. Kevin, the dog and I have all reclaimed our places upstairs but I have to confess I miss her. Sure, I have the baby monitor but it’s not the same. I miss her little rustling sounds, her fist sucking and random cooing. I find now that I like her early morning nursing. I enjoy seeing her and holding her for a little while at night while she nurses. Just the two of us while the whole house sleeps.

Ah, my sweet girl, how fast you are growing!

Happy Halloween!

For Leina’s first Great Pumpkin day, she’s going to go as a germ.

Yup, that’s right, my poor baby girl caught my cold. She has a big old runny nose, watery eyes, and little baby cough right now. Actually, I don’t think she minds the cold so much. I think I’m more of a bother.

Everytime she sneezes, I rush over, and vaccum out her nose with one of those blue bulb thingys. The first couple times I attacked her, she thought it was kind of funny. Now, she sees me coming and goes on the defense. She begins to wildly swing her head back and forth trying to avoid the bulb. I follow her head, forth and back, until our motions sync up and then….. in goes the bulb and out come the boogs. Leina, of course, lets our a little cry of protest but she can’t escape me so she just sits there, shooting me dirty looks, as I wipe away the offending boogers.

I must say, in the last two days, I’ve become quite adept at the plug and wipe technique. I can see, however, how this could get much tougher later on when, oh, say…. she can run away from me. Hopefully by then she’ll be able to blow her nose on her own and that horrid blue bulb can be packed away for good.

Opps, gotta run, I just heard a sneeze!

Here you go, a little sneak peak at the newest memeber of the Terry clan…. Samuel Keali’i Walls .

Well, I suppose technically he’s a Walls, or a Terry/Walls. Either way, he’s one cute little noodle!

He’s here, he’s here! Samuel Walls was born this morning down in San Diego surrounded by smoke and fire.

Unfortunately, we decided to use my dad as the main contact and all he can remember is that Samuel is over 7 lbs and looks like a worm. Men. Grrr. So I can’t give you any more details until my mom gets them but he’s here!

With Daniel, the big adventure was a car accident just days before his birth. With Samuel, it’s the fires that are raging all around their home. They’ve already been evacuated once and their doctor was blocked from his office due to freeway closures. But, as with Daniel, all the details have worked out and Samuel has arrived happy and healthy. Leina has herself another cousin. Yipee!

Seems like only a few weeks ago I was bring home my own bundle of joy. (oh, wait, it was just a few weeks ago!) So this morning, Leina and I said a little prayer while we changed diapers. We prayed that Samuel enter this work joyfully and healthly. We prayed for Suzy’s speedy recovery and extra strength for Dan. We prayed for Daniel as he adjusts to life with a sibling. (I know my life was never the same after Suzy appeared.) And finally, we just said a great big Thank You for giving our family another member to love and adore.

Oh happy day, he’s here!

Babies are so amazing adaptable.

I’m still suffering through this miserable cold and am coughing/sneezing up great globs of disgusting stuff. I’m going through Kleenex like it’s nobody’s business.

Now, the first time I sneezed holding Leina, she about jumped out of her skin. Her big blue eyes opened wide and she looked up at me as if to say “what in the blazes was that noise mom?” She had a pretty similar reaction to my coughing too. Now, after a few days, sneezing, coughing, the blowing of my nose has no effect on her.

Well, that’s not totally true. I think she secretly likes it because she has developed a love affair with Kleenex. She loves to watch the Kleenex as I cough or blow. It seemes to fascinate her to no end. So instead to dangling a baby toy in front of her, I’ve found that she can be easily entertained by watching me hack, sniffle, mangle a Puffs with lotion.

Crazy kid. Ah well, at least she finds this whole sick thing amusing.