How Does She Do It?

I'll just start off by saying that this week is going SOOOOOO much better than last week, as far as taking care of Baby V solo goes.  She and I finally fell into a routine by last Friday (and I figured out that she just wanted to eat more than I was feeding her...amongst other things).  Needless to say, she is eating more and sleeping more and I have been less stressed.  The frantic phone calls to the hubby at Airborne School are long gone and have been replaced with good news!  Not only that, with the diminished fussiness, we've been afforded more time to play and have fun.  And she's a blast!

At 3+ weeks old and enjoying her swing...finally

In any case, a lot of the reading material that I've perused online and from the pediatrician talk a lot about finding ways to develop the baby's muscle strength and coordination.  I'm proud to say that Baby V hasn't needed our help with this from the start.  The day after she was born, she was already holding her head up from the stomach down position.  And she continues to do it now, although she's at about a half push-up position with her head perched up high.  She already tries to stand on her feet when I place her on them and she does a little bit of crawling already.  She's amazing.

In any case...some more evidence that this girl is strong:

For the past three nights, I've gone into her room in the wee hours of the morning to wake her to feed.  Normally, when I put her in her crib, I swaddle her in a receiving blanket, then place her in her "Sassy Perfect Position" sleep pad, like so:

And then go in to find her like this:

(Note: These pictures are reenactments. Seriously, Baby V and I took them this afternoon)

So, somehow she wiggles her way out of her swaddle blanket (which I normally have bundled up pretty snug--not like in the picture) and then rolls off the pad completely and onto the mattress.  One time, I found her up against the bumper pads, kicking her feet, and oops...she had peed all over herself.  It's a little scary that she has the strength to maneuver herself this way, but I am impressed by how active she is.  She definitely gets this from her daddy.

Speaking of daddy...he's in tower week of Airborne School.  He'll actually have a chance (if he's lucky) to practice jumping off the 250-foot tower and has been practicing his parachute landing falls from a swing-load apparatus (as I believe it's called.  I can't remember).  Here, he's basically hooked up to a swing that is about 8-10 feet off the ground and then gets dropped.  It sounds crazy, but it's a lot of fun.  And can you believe that the school is actually giving them the Labor Day weekend off?  Seriously, what is the world coming to?  The Army has definitely gone soft :)  But who cares...he'll be home in just over a week!

Anyway, Happy Tuesday everyone!