Baby Steps, Leaps and Bounds

I feel very blessed that I am currently able to spend each day home with Alchemy thanks to Grant's hard work to support our family. It's good for her to have the continuous care from me, and I honestly couldn't imagine it any other way because I couldn't bear to part with her if I had to take her to a daycare.

One bonus of spending so much time with her is being able to note the tiny ways she is developing daily. So much has changed in the last 12 weeks, and although she would seem much the same to most folks only bigger, it is so much more than that to me.

This week she has decided after almost three months of nursing just fine using nipple shields that she will no longer have it. Just the tiniest touch of one to her lips sends her screaming until I take it off and offer her the nipple sans shield, which she responds to sometimes too eagerly. I may not have nipples by this time next week, but I am glad to see she still has a strong desire to nurse (& more naturally) since we have had to supplement so much by bottle.

Her mobile used to be her favorite thing in the whole wide world. She would lay for long periods of time, happily smiling coyly and cooing at what Grant and I came to refer to as "her boyfriend"- the image of a deer dangling in the center of her mobile. They day I switched it to a car instead she threw a huge fit until I switched it back- then went back to smiling and cooing. Too funny! Now however, I have noticed in the past few days that she no longer seems to care about the mobile at all and has hardly looked at it even though it is often dangling 8 inches above her head. Her new favorite thing to stare at- me, especially if I am sitting next to her. While I am very happy to be one of her new favorite things, this also poses a tiny problem- if I am not staring at her, she will fuss until I do. :)  (Very much like right now- she is in the swing 3 inches from my leg, but if I turn 45 degrees away from her to type, she fusses, but when I look at her, all smiles. Little booger!) I am hoping she redevelops a love for her mobile again somewhere along the way, but I am unsure of whether a kid will come back to something they seem to have developmentally gotten bored with. Only time will tell I suppose.

On to diaper changes- don't worry, it's not gross I promise. My little breech baby, having been folded up for 10 months in my womb absolutely loves to fold herself in half. She is happiest when she is naked and all folded up again with her toes touching her nose or forehead. This actually makes diaper changes sometimes super easy because she gets her little legs out of the way for me. It used to be that they would just flop around all folded, but today I noticed that she has now learned to hold her toes or ankles with her hands and is actually grasping and holding her legs up! So cool!! I am hoping very soon now she will start trying to grasp and hold more things, like her toys. I am noticing she tries to hold her bottle when we feed her and will grasp our fingers as often as she can.

Her bendy ways back when she loved kicking her mobile

When I sit her upright, she is able to hold her head up straight and look around the room- turning her head very well from left to right, although still a bit bobbly. I am looking forward to her strengthening it just a bit more so we can use her Bumbo chair and she can sit up more during the day.

Trying out her Bumbo chair, soon she can sit up in it!

Next Monday on December 12th, she will be 3 months old. I can't believe we have made it three months already, it seems like just yesterday she was born. She is getting big quickly and while I am very excited to think about the upcoming months of development where she will learn to hold her head up more on her tummy, or start to crawl etc.. I am still a tad bit sad to know that soon she won't be my teeny tiny nugget anymore.