Sleeping, Playing, Learning, Absorbing

It's difficult for Aliyah to fall asleep at times. She wants to be held but seems uncomfortable in my arms. She wants her arms and legs to be free but being swaddled helps her fall asleep. When she's sleepy she makes this cute little noise, "iya iya," pronounced like the word for verse in the Quran. I've found that letting her flail her arms and legs for a while helps to tire her out. Then I can wrap her up and give her the pacifier. A few grunts, iyas, and cries, and she's off to dreamland. When it's time to wake up, if I get to her before she cries to be rescued, she'll give me a big sweet smile.

Yesterday I put her on the floor at Zarmina's house and she really had a workout. First she moved around like the hands of a clock from 6 to 10 o'clock. Then she 'crawled' backwards, pushing her legs against my hands and sliding across the floor. She also had some more rolling action, rolling on her side and back again to face the ceiling. She really is a champion! Her daddy wasn't there to see it but I recorded her crawling with Ama Yelda and played it back for him when he got home. He's so proud of his cutie pie!

She's so comfortable with her superlegs and being on her back. However, when I put her on her stomach, she uses her mighty neck muscles to overstimulate herself. She doesn't know what to do with her hands and then lifts her head so high up like she's going to get up and walk. Once we get this tummy time down pat, she'll be crawling in no time insha'Allah!

Oh those little hands of hers. She loves to watch them lately as she moves them around and grasps them together. She likes to grab onto any part of me she can; my shirt, my hair, my skin...especially when I'm feeding her. She doesn't seem interested in anything else yet. I tried to get her to play with a little stuffed bear rattler and a plastic rattle but she isn't interested. In time, in time =)

There are these bears on the mobile of her swing that she's mesmerized by...and the same bears on the mobile of her play yard at Grandma & Grandpa's house. She must think her bear friends follow her around town =) The same chair/couch combo that hypnotized both Ahmad and Camilla is now the object of Aliyah's intrigue. The intricate design in the wood is too much for a baby to handle!

Baby's sleeping...must eat!

My Little Snuggly Roller

OMG! She just rolled over four times today! Oh my baby! I love her =) She's going to be running soon masha'Allah.

I miss her squeaks. Draven called her squeakums because of the cute little noises she used to make. She almost never used to cry but now she cries a lot. I think maybe I'm spoiling her. I can't stop picking her up! I want to be near her always.

The doctor has me doing a night-time routine with her where she goes to bed at a general time each night and I'm not allowed to feed her until morning. It was a rough first few nights...eight minutes of me just in the room not allowed to do anything but let her know I'm there...then I can touch her and soothe her but no feeding allowed. I try to give her more at her last feeding to get her through until morning. She's been sleeping through the night since the third night of crying but I think it's made her more whiney.

Last night we were out and that messed up her sleep schedule. She woke up when we got home at around 11 pm and wanted to play. Then she wanted to eat at around 1 am and let the whole world know it. I left the room and came back in a couple of minutes later to administer the technique. She was lying on our bed instead of her crib so I was able to lie next to her. I persisted to stare helplessly at the clock until the time was up...1:13 was at least 5 minutes long. When 1:14 finally arrived, she was so happy to get my attention! I hovered over her, kissing her cute little red face, wiping her tears away. She grabbed on to my arms and my face and my hair, hugging me in her own sweet little way. Then I lied next to her with my arm wrapped around her tiny waist. She turned her head and pressed her forehead into mine. It was as if touching me was not enough and she was trying to meld our foreheads together. She let out a little sigh of relief and fell asleep with her face buried in mine...Mommy the human pacifer =)

A Champion Is Born...

This blog is intended to be the diary of my baby's firsts. She's already come so far and I don't want to forget how beautiful she was in her first days, months...years.

So here's what I remember so far:

She was born on March 22, 2007. Labor was easy but a grueling 14 hours long. Amin was so nervous. Especially when he saw that I was in pain. I think my calmness calmed him =) I was more bored than anything...until they gave me the pitocin...that's when I asked for an epidural and squeezed my Amin's hand every five minutes. I pushed for about 45 minutes...then out came the love of my life. I had to wait for what felt like an eternity while they cleaned her up and my husband had all the fun; reciting the athan in her ear, talking to her and taking her picture.

They placed her in my arms and my life changed forever. I love my daughter so much! She's so beautiful and amazing! She's so advanced for her age in so many ways masha'Allah. Saaida and Liyana call her an alien because since she's been born she's acted months older than she is. She never looked like a red winkled baby but instead her features were so defined and cute. She was so wide-eyed and alert from birth on. All the nurses and doctors in the hospital commented on how alert she was. She's been lifting her head as long as I can remember but I don't think babies are supposed to do that until 4 to 6 months. She smiled for the first time when she was only two weeks old! No one believed me but I know it wasn't gas!

Now she's about 2 1/2 months old and she's kicking and talking (well she says aaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh, ooooooooohhhhhhhh, and aagggaaaaaa) =) She's been drooling and sucking a lot lately and is very moody. I think she's teething or is in the precursor stage at least because sucking and biting on my shoulder and thumb has been her only relief for the past couple of days. At 2 months she started flailing her arms while nursing (that's also when she started "talking") so I have to dodge the blows.

Amin loves her so much. He told me before she was born that he would not hold her or do anything for a couple of years...he was so nervous about hurting her. I in first few days and weeks he only held her when he felt he had no choice and looked so scared doing it, poor thing. He would comfort her and rock her to sleep in the beginning but that's all he felt comfortable with. But now he holds her and burps her and talks to her and loves her =) He's a great father!

Let's see...she loves the tv but I try to block her gaze 'cause the doctor says it's not good for her to watch it. Her right eye has been leaking since birth and she hates it when I clean her eye boogers. I feed her vitamins once a day and I try to save it for when she has the hiccups because drinking seems to help them go away...she hates the hiccups! She gets scared sometimes when people sneeze...it startles her and makes her cry. She loves bathtime and the bathtime song I sing to her. She likes to kick her feet and make the water splash around. I wrap her in a warm fuzzy pink blanket...she always has such a nice nap after a warm bath.

She grew sooo much the first month. She went from 7 lbs 3 oz to around 10 lbs! That's the 75th percentile for growth masha'Allah...and they thought she would come out like a withered prune (I had a rough pregnancy...vomitting and nausea made me lose my appetite). Well we showed them, Aliyah! She went to get her vaccination shots two weeks ago...oh what a horrible feeling it was to see that look of shock and then pain on her face as they gave her the shots. But she only cried for a few seconds. She's such a good girl. Amin says she's a champion and that she's from halfway down the mountain (he's from the mountains 'cause he's Afghan but she's only half Afghan) ha ha.

She loves Mommy! She's a friendly baby and talks to everyone and smiles at everyone but there's definitely a special spot in her heart for her mommy =) She loves to eat me...she's doing it now in between typing spurts. I call her slobber monster.

Well that's about it for now. If I can think of anything else, I'll include it in my next post.