Tongue

So, Lainey has been sticking out her tongue a lot. It's pretty funny. She looks pretty silly, but it makes us laugh. Also, Daddy taught her the "peek-a-boo" game tonight. She was giggling at him. It was cute. For the last two weeks or so, she has been spitting up more often, and Mommy is a little bit worried about it. She thinks that it may be due to a lot of dairy in her diet, and so she's decided to cut back on that (a really hard thing to do for her... all she eats is cereal and cheese). Daddy's pretty sure it's just a "spit-up phase," but Daddy never really worries about anything. That's mommy's job. :)

She's starting to laugh!

Lainey has started to laugh a little bit. She started just a few days ago. She is only giving us a little bit of a laugh at random times, but it's always when we are tickling her. We have tried to catch it on video, but it's been hard to catch. She seems to run out of giggles when the camera comes out. We will keep trying to catch her. It's so cute it just melts your heart!

We got Skype!

We just got Skype and it's so fun! Call us if you have it! Our ID is laineyhudgins.

Lainey's Check-Up

Lainey had her two month appointment on Thursday. She weighs 10 pounds 6 ounces and is 23 inches long. Dr. Pham said that she's on the thinner side of the spectrum, but still quite healthy and gaining weight appropriately. She's also on the longer side. I think being tall and thin isn't so bad! :) She had her first shot... diptheria, tetanus, and pertussis combo (DTaP). Usually the doctor recommends giving two month olds a lot of other shots, but John and I are not comfortable pumping little ones with so much medicine. We are spacing Lainey's vaccines out, and skipping some of the ones that are either low risk for her right now (Hep B) or not life threatening (Rotavirus). I do not think there is a correlation between autism and vaccines (with scientific studies to explain why), but I do think that too many vaccines can be dangerous (not so scientific... mostly an anecdotal and common sense conclusion). If anyone is curious about which vaccines we are giving when and why, feel free to email or call me. I would be happy to explain.

Lainey gets cuter everyday if that's possible. She is smiling all the time and just a joy to be around. John has one more trip to take back home. He's leading worship for his Dad's church on Sunday night. When he gets back, I think the Daily Lainey will be updated more regularly. We finally feel mostly rested and have the house put back in order. More updates soon. For now it's time to hit the sack because Lainey's been asleep for over an hour... so I should be too!

Vacation from our Holidays.

We are finally home after what seems like a long time away. It has been great to be with our families, and we would definitely do it again, but it's still a long time to be without any routine and without our normal lives. Lainey is a rock star. She hits the road like a champion. Hardly a peep from Surprise to Mission Viejo to Albuquerque to Mission Viejo to Dallas and back. We even did an 18 hour stretch from Dallas to Surprise. She's been so easy, and we are so blessed. It was great for her to get to see everyone - especially John's mom's family in Dallas. We hadn't been to Dallas to see them in a long time. Amanda finally met Joel - John's cousin - and his wife Fawn, which was nice since he was the last of John's family members that she hadn't met. Lainey was, of course, adored by all.

Lainey is growing up so fast. She is giving us smiles all the time and chattering away in her own language. She had a long conversation with Mema (John's grandma) in Dallas and it was very sweet to watch. We captured part of it on video and will hopefully get it up on the website soon. It was taken on Janiece's camera, so we'll have to get it from her first. Lainey has a doctor's appointment on the 8th and will get her first shots. We have decided to separate her shots out instead of giving them all at once. We feel like that is a lot of challenge to a baby's immune system all at once. It's a hard decision to make and one that's very controversial at the moment, but we feel most of the vaccines are beneficial. (We are skipping a couple of them.) We estimate she's about 10.5 pounds now, but we will see her official weight on the 8th.

Unfortunately, it seems Lainey has caught a mild cold or maybe has some irritation from the change in environments. She wakes up with a stuffy nose which is a scary thing for a person who only breathes through her nose. She is not a fan of having her nose suctioned either. But she's soon happy again once she settles down and seems to be able to breathe much better during the day.

Well, we are off to finish unpacking, go get some groceries, and then relax this afternoon. Maybe we'll get some laundry done too. Happy New Year everyone!

Wrapping up the Trip to CA

Today is our last day in California for a while. It's been a good trip out here. We've been here for almost 3 weeks, and it has been really good to be home for a while. We've had our ups and downs while here. John's grandfather went to heaven on December 6th at 2:00 am. It has been really hard on his family, but in many ways we can see God's design through it all. He called Grandad home in His timing.

We've really enjoyed showing Lainey off :). She has been a joy for everyone in our families, and she has been really, really good. She travels well :). Hopefully it stays that way, because we're definitely a travelling family! Just this month, we have over 4000 miles of driving planned. We're headed back to Surprise later today (400 miles). Then we're going out to Albuquerque for Grandad's funeral this weekend (400 miles). Then we're headed back to Surprise for a few days (400 miles). Then back out here on the 19th for Christmas (400 miles). Then, right after Christmas, we're driving out to Dallas to be with John's mom's family (1500 miles). Finally, we'll get home to Surprise from Dallas sometime early in January (1100 miles). So, 4200 miles (about 70 hours worth of driving) in the next 3 weeks with a newborn. Yikes. Gotta love the holidays! :) Still, it will be good to be with everyone. We haven't seen that side of John's family in about 3 years, and we really miss them.

Time to get packed!

Lainey's doctor appointment

Lainey had her two week check up today. She is doing great! She's 21 1/2 inches long and 7 lbs. 8 oz. She's growing into her feet! It looks like our care plan from Lori, the lactation consultant is working well! She's gained 10 oz. since Wednesday. The doctor says that she looks great and is doing everything a baby her age should be doing. From here on, she will be growing fast - between 1 and 2 ounces every day. She's working hard at it today, pretty much spending all of her time between sleeping and eating. She is a good little sleeper. She sleeps like a rock - nearly impossible to wake up if she doesn't want to (just like her mommy). I think it was all Daddy's band practice while she was in the womb that is to blame for that.

Lately, we have been really blessed by the members of our church, who have been coming by to bring us dinners this week. It's awesome to know that there are people here who care about us and are sharing in our joy. Many of these same people prayed along side us for years as we were trying to have a baby. So, if you're one of those people, and you're reading this, thank you so much.