The Novack Family: Natural Personality

*So apparently I can write a post from an iPad, but I can't upload pictures or space out paragraphs... boo!* Round 2...

Our little girl is beginning to show her personality. We are adapting to her various cries and characteristics. It's fun to get to know someone's true and raw emotions!

So far Blakelyn has five types of cries: distress (change me/ feed me), pitiful (what do you mean I can't keep nursing after 30 minutes even though I fell asleep and unlatched), tired (no I'm not tired, yes I am, no I'm not...), just plain fussiness (I don't like the evenings/ I'm bored/ I need a change of scenery/ I'm only going to be content if you walk me around while I'm strapped into the carseat, etc.) and what we think are growing pains (the kind that are the worst).

I never get to see her cry, just hear her, doesn't she look so cute!

Blakelyn is happier in the mornings and afternoons than she is in the evenings and nights. I have learned to enjoy her in the mornings and run errands later in the day, since she calms down when we are out and about. If I don't have errands to run, we go for a walk as our outing. Although getting out and about is great for Blakelyn (and my sanity),, she does not like getting into her car seat (especially the first few minutes). She will fuss and wail for a good 10 minutes before she finally decides that she does indeed enjoy it (if only she could remember for the next time). Unfortunately Blakelyn doesn't like the evenings and begins to fuss around the time to start cooking dinner... Guess we will be doing crockpot dinners for a while.

Cooing and smiling when we interact with her are beginning to occur more on demand, not just randomly. She does still like to laugh at random things for whatever reason. Her favorite spot in the house is her changing table. We get the most laughs and coos while she is laying there. If I had to guess her favorite color, I would say it is green because the walls in her nursery can calm her down almost instantly and she will stare and laugh at the walls for hours (well seconds and minutes). When Bryan and I wear the color green, she tends to become fascinated staring at our shirts.

Staring at the wall:

Blakelyn has a variety of sounds and faces that she makes. We had her sleep in our room a few times before we decided that she is a loud sleeper and put her in her own room. I guess you could say that Blakelyn talks in her sleep. She will coo, laugh, cry, fuss, and grunt. As she begins to wake up, she will begin grunting and alternate between grunting and crying. We have learned that unless the cry is whaling, not to bother her. When she naps during the day, you can see and hear her coo, smile, laugh, and cry... I suppose she has some crazy dreams! Blakelyn also grunts when she is passing something through her system... She works hard for those poops!

A video of her cooing (sorry it's sideways):

"I give in to the sleepiness:"

Hungry skinny girl preparing to eat:

As my mother-in-law has said, "I could watch Blakelyn's facial expressions all day long." I agree! Blakelyn makes all kinds of funny faces. She has Bryan's furrowed brow that she makes the most, especially when she is "studying" something. Our next door neighbor commented that Blakelyn looked angry when she first met her... I corrected her and said "nope that's just her face." Blakelyn has the ability to use her eyebrows to enhanced her facial expressions... I do believe she gets that from me and will be able to really exaggerate that as her muscle tone improves.

Speaking of muscle tone... this is how we find her in the mornings: