BIG update, go get your reading glasses...

It feels like SO much has happened since I last posted Sunday (I think it was Sunday but am too lazy to go back and look right now). I really should be doing such things as showering, wrapping presents, making/finishing packing lists...but I am getting really bogged down with cool things to post about so here goes! I'll try to keep them semi-brief for your sanity but also b/c who knows when the little bear is going to wake up from her nap...

Ode to the Shower Curtain - On Tuesday I was able to take the longest shower ever b/c Morgan was ENTRANCED with the sparse dark pink/purple flowers she watched on the shower curtain while in her bouncy chair. She could have cared less about the animals bouncing in front of her (she loves her friends) or me when I peeked out to see how she was doing. I even heard her "talk" to them a few times. Thank you, oh great shower curtain. :) (Or maybe the fact that light on dark - or vice versa - is her favorite right now).

Morgan...has found her fists!! And in a reliable manner! This first happened Tuesday and has quickly become her favorite thing to do especially to calm herself (ahh...angels singing). It used to be that she'd get a quick "taste" of her hand and then her poor little uncoordinated body would send her hand flying away from her mouth, usually to come back just as quickly and whack herself in the face. (I shouldn't laugh...but it's sort of funny sometimes.) The other night I was excited to go back to bed after a feeding and tell Adam that our little Houdini baby had managed to get her LEFT (he wants her to bat lefthanded) hand had somehow gotten out of her very snug swaddle and she was sucking on it when I went to get her. So excited for her! She's been working on this one for a while. :)

Head control - Morgan has significantly improved her head control. That's not to say there arent' still the few head butts we get in now and then, but she loves to be held over your shoulder while looking around at whatever's behind you. We're working on her looking in the mirror while doing that so she can get to know herself a little bit. :) It's amazing how strong she's gotten in the past week or so in this area. Also, her leg and arm muscles are getting stronger and faster. Sometimes when I lay her down to be changed, I just let her go for a bit b/c she kicks so hard she could probably swim two laps in the pool if I plunked her in the water. Speaking of, I need to find out about baby swimming lessons for this summer...

Morgan had a cold and I would say is on the tail end of it. Adam has a worse cold and it *just* over the hump of it. So now it's my turn. I hope I have it somewhere in between b/c Adam's was brutal and unlike Morgan (who requires suction), I can blow my own nose which isn't a big deal. :) Fingers crossed!!

Morgan continues her quest to "talk" more and catch up to the amount of talking her mommy does. She's definitely got a ways to go there. ;-) She takes little conversational turns sometimes where we'll say something and she'll go "ahh!" or do some cute little noise back and forth up to 4x (that's her PR (personal record), anyway). Once in a great while she'll make the /m/ sound to me while she's eating and I'm talking to her. That just cracks me right up. Silly baby.

Sleeping - So for 3 glorious nights, Morgan got up ONCE each night. I am convinced it had everything to do with her cold as the past 2 nights she's been up her normal midnight hour, 4am hour, and then again sometime around 6am. Thankfully this morning I was able to replace her nuk, rock her carseat (which she's sleeping in for her congestion), and she went back to sleep for about 45 minutes. For some reason that 30 minutes of sleep I then got was enough to put me on the good side. :) Sidenote - I know it's bad and we won't keep it up, but a huge part of me wants to keep Morgan sleeping in her carseat b/c she falls back to sleep after nursing SO much faster. As in 2-4 minutes and I'm back in bed. Sigh. Once Adam's cold is over and she's sleeping flat in her crib (instead of in her carseat in her crib), he can help out with that again. :)

This weekend after Adam's class on Saturday, we are heading back to WI from the 19th until the 26/27th. We haven't pinned down a final date of departure yet. I'm really getting excited for it and everytime the stupid Kay Jewelers commercial comes on where the mom is rocking the baby to sleep and it's 2am (you know the one) and the dad says "It's her first Christmas" or we're all a family for Christmas, I (almost) cry. I look at her and am just so happy we have her. I can't believe how different Christmas will be this year in such a rewarding way. She's truly our shining little star and our lives now revolve around her the way good parents do it. This morning she was SO cute as she was between sides while nursing when Adam was heading out to work...but stopped long enough to give him a few coos and goos, a couple of BIG smiles, and just so much baby love. She's generally pretty happy lately, however, she almost never shows this when we go to others' houses to socialize. I hope that changes over this coming Christmas week, but we shall see.

I know there's so much more but I have to go do a million other things so that next time she naps, I get to as well. ;-) I rarely do this but see the need when I've got a cold coming on like this or if I miss out on too much sleep b/c then I'm no good for her in the coming hours/days. I will post pictures soon too...hopefully. Otherwise there might be a lapse until we get back from Christmas. :) If I don't get back to this by then (which I doubt, we have down time built into the week for Morgan and with so many eager people to hold her, I'm guessing I'll have some free hands here and there), have a MERRY CHRISTMAS and be safe. Much love to all!!