Claire at 11 Weeks

Claire is 12 weeks old today!

As Claire starts a new month, I read the corresponding chapter in What To Expect: The First Year. This helps me to know what new skills to look for and to understand some of her new developments. I thought I would share with you all the chapter for the third month which she is nearing the end of.

What she should be able to (90% of babies accomplish this by month's end)

• on stomach, lift head 45 degrees - Claire can do this very well and I think she lifts it even higher than this. I'm not sure how high 45 degrees is but Claire can pretty much lift her head all the way up.
  

What she will probably be able to (75% of babies accomplish this by month's end)

• laugh out loud - Claire giggled for the first time Sunday morning. She's been making noises that sound like she might be trying to laugh for several weeks but we got a fantastic giggle out of her on Saturday when Tim was changing her clothes. We haven't been able to get her to do it since but I hope she'll start doing it more so we can capture it on video.
• on stomach, lift head up 90 degrees - I would say she's doing this.
• squeal in delight - Absolutely! She loves the ceiling fan!
• bring both hands together - Yep!
• smile spontaneously - She's been doing this since she started smiling.
• follow an object held about 6 inches above her face and moved 180 degrees - This skill is hit or miss. She can do it but she has to be in the right frame of mind.

What she may possibly be able to do (50% of babies accomplish this by month's end)

• hold head steady when upright - Yep!
• on stomach, raise chest, supported by arms - When she wants to!
• roll over (one way) - Since three weeks!
• grasp a rattle held to backs or tips of fingers - She'll do this when we place it in her hand which is what I think they are talking about. In fact, I did this with her last week with a plastic rattle and she promptly hit herself in the head with it. I've got to get something softer!
• pay attention to an object as small as a raisin - This one is hard to determine. I think she is doing this.
  

What she may even be able to do (25% of babies accomplish this by month's end)

• bear some weight on legs when held upright - She's been doing this since she was three or four weeks old. She's got strong legs!
• reach for an object - Not yet!
• keep head level with body when pulled to sitting - Not quite. When she's sitting, she keeps her head steady but when I pull her up, her head still hangs back.
• turn in the direction of a voice - Yep!
• say "ah-goo" or similar vowel-consonant combination - Yep! She's been doing this for several weeks and she's getting louder. This one is so much fun!
• razz (make a wet razzing sound) - Not yet!

As you can see, she is doing really well. She amazes Tim and me every day with what she can do. We love listening to her talk and watching her study her world. She loves to sit with her dad at the computer and listen to music. She loves it when he gives her a bath. She loves laying on the floor and staring at her ceiling fan. This week she discovered the silky side of the blanket she was laying on and kept putting it in her mouth. It was the funniest thing to watch. She started getting tired and she would make this yelling fussy noise and then she would turn to her side where the silky part was and rub it in her mouth and act all happy. She would roll to the other side and yell again. It was adorable! I now try to help her find that side of the blanket when I lay her on the floor because she loves rubbing it in her mouth. She enjoys talking with us. We try to imitate her sounds back to her and introduce new sounds to her. You can see her brain working when we do this and you can tell she's trying really hard to repeat back what noises we've made.

Here are some more pictures from this past week. I've already posted some in previous entries.

Tired after a long day!

Chewing on her blanket.

Working on the computer with dad.

This is a series of photos I took last night with her sitting in my lap. She has started looking directly in the camera.

Claire at 8 Weeks

The biggest development this week is that Claire is continuing to sleep through the night. I am stunned and amazed that we reached this milestone with no effort on our part. She is such a great baby. Not only does she sleep through the night but she also goes to sleep on her own. I nurse her, change her diaper, rock her a little (this is mostly for me), and lay her down. I'll hear her on the monitor for a little while but she doesn't fuss or cry. Her only real sleep issue is that she will not nap in her crib. I can not figure this one out but I've read that a lot of babies do this. The only places she'll nap is in someone's arms, in her swing, and in the car. Yes, we'll be taking the swing with us when we visit our families.

Claire has also developed a routine for herself that is working well for me. Here is a quick breakdown of her day (the times are estimates, give or take 30 minutes):

5:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
5:30 Back to sleep
9:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
9:30 Play time! I'll play with her in my lap for a little while to give her food a chance to stay down. I'll then put her in her tunnel to play for about 15-30 minutes while I eat breakfast. When she grows tired of that I may put her on her blanket or she may just be ready for a nap.
10:30 Nap time
12:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
12:30 Play time! We usually do the same things we did in the morning
1:30 Nap time
3:00 Wake up to eat and get a fresh diaper
3:30 Play time! I might take her outside on the deck at this point to get some fresh air.
4:00 Daddy's home! She may play with him for a little bit but by this point her fussy time starts so she'll probably nap or fuss.
6:00 Dinner time. Her evenings are a little erratic. She tends to be a bit fussy and she catnaps a lot.
9:00 Bedtime feeding. She gets fed, gets a fresh diaper, and is dressed in her pjs. Once she's done eating, I put her to bed. If she's not quite ready, I'll keep her up but she's usually in bed by 10:30.

This weekend saw her first road trip. We went up to Rome, GA to visit our alma mater, Berry College. We also got to visit with my college friend, Vivienne. That was a real treat. I enjoyed the visit. Vivienne is expecting her first baby, a boy, in December. She looked fantastic and silly me, I didn't even get a picture. Tim and I enjoyed walking around the campus and reminiscing. We're hoping to go back for Mountain Day so we can see everything we didn't get to see during this trip and hopefully, we'll get to see more of our classmates. Claire slept most of the time. She traveled very well in the morning but she did not like the trip home. We got going around the time when she is usually fussy at home so that was poor planning on our part. She also spent a lot of time in her carrier during the day which I think just made her mad by the end of the day. After I got home and fed her, she was a very happy baby. She stayed up and played with Tim until 10:30. I went to bed at 9:30. I was exhausted.

As far as her development goes, this week saw her, once again, gaining greater head control. Now that she can move so much more freely, she has become quite a squirmy baby. She loves standing in your lap and bouncing around. I started pulling her up by her hands from a laying position to a sitting position and she really loves that and will initiate the action on her own so you better be ready to play along. She also loves it when we make silly noises. We've noticed that when we make the raspberry sound where she can see our toungues sticking out she sticks her tongue out too. It is really cute. Her other favorite activities are staring at ceiling fans (moving or still), staring at lamps, and staring at mirrors. Who needs toys!

Here are pictures from our week:

This one is for Grandma Thomas. Aren't those pjs adorable!
I am now dressing her in her regular pjs since she is sleeping through the night.

Look at how high she can lift that head!

Looking sweet!

First visit to a restaurant.

Berry College. Tim's dormitory is in the background.

The spot where Tim gave me my engagement ring.


Aren't sleep smiles beautiful?!

Yet Another Milestone

CLAIRE SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!!!!!

I laid her down at 9:30 and she didn't call me until 5:30. She was then only up for twenty minutes and went back to sleep until 8:30. Woo hoo! The other great part was that when I laid her down at 9:30 she was still awake so she went to sleep all on her own. I am one lucky mama!

Have a great Monday!

Claire at 7 Weeks

Our little girl has become so much more active and independent this week. Before, when we would put her down so that we could fix breakfast or go to the bathroom, she would cry and fuss. Now, we can put her down in her swing or play tunnel to free ourselves to do other things. As many of you know, this is huge! She is also sleeping very well. She will go five hours from her bedtime feeding to the next feeding and last night, she went five hours from her middle of the night feeding to her first morning feeding. I did have a hard time getting her back to sleep after her middle of the night feeding but then she did something new. I laid her down in her crib when she drifted off only to have her wake right back up. She was bright eyed and giggly. I stood there for a little while watching her because she was so gosh darn cute but it was 2:00 am and I was rather tired so I laid down on the bed that we have in her room and fell asleep for about ten minutes. I went over to her crib and she was still awake and happy so I turned off the light and went to bed. In the past, she would have started crying but not last night. I didn't hear a word out of her until 6:00 am. Also, this week her head control has improved greatly and her hand-eye coordination is improving as well. She is now bringing her fingers to her mouth without much effort. She is also making the most wonderful cooing noises! We have had a fun week!

This week also saw a mommy-daughter first. We finally ventured out on our own. We went and met Tim for lunch at his work on Thursday. It went very well. So far, she has done very well in her carseat and traveling around town. We may take a short trip to our alma mater, Berry College, soon as a trial run for upcoming longer trips.

I took a lot of pictures this week which I have posted below. Enjoy!

Well Worth It!

If you've read my previous posts from this week, you know it has been an interesting one and sometimes an exhausting one. It was all well worth it when this morning our baby girl started smiling at her dad and I. Here's the proof (mind you, I'm holding the baby with one hand while trying to snap the picture with the other but you get the idea - she's smiling!)


We've also noticed that she's starting to use her left hand. She has been spotted swatting at her mobile in her pack n' play and bringing it to her mouth to chew on. What a week!

Growth Spurt - 5 Weeks

I finally realized what's been going on with Claire this week, another growth spurt. This explains the long sleep the other night (something about a hormone needed to help with the growth) and all the fussiness. I thought something was up when she wanted to nurse every 2 hours Wednesday night before going to bed for the night. Then last night she wanted to nurse every hour before finally going to bed at 11:30. I read that babies also go through developmental spurts and I've noticed that too this week. She sat with me on the floor yesterday afternoon for half an hour just looking around the room. She would spend a few minutes looking around in one position and then she would either arch her back or twist in order to get me to move her so she could look in another direction. She did this again this morning but for only about fifteen minutes. I felt so privileged to be able to witness the development of this tiny person's brain. You could almost feel the connections being made as she was looking around. So sweet!

I've got Claire actually napping right now so I've been able to upload our pictures from the past couple of weeks. Here's what our girl looks like:

Claire at Three Weeks

Grandma Thomas came to visit for the weekend.

Blissful sleep!

Tummy time!

Claire at 4 Weeks

My parents were here for the evening so that Mom could catch a flight in the morning.

Falling asleep looking for Mommy. Doesn't that just melt your heart?!

Claire at 5 Weeks

I attempted to get a picture of Claire scanning the room.
It was difficult to do with her squirming.

Claire squirms a lot in her sleep and this week she's been ending up on her side.

She wore Mommy out this week!

A New Development

I started noticing yesterday that Claire really prefers for me to put her down when she is sleepy. I was holding her yesterday afternoon and I knew she was tired but she just wouldn't settle down so I decided to put her down on the floor where she could stretch out and she immediately calmed down and eventually fell asleep. I decided to try this last night to see if she could soothe herself to sleep and she did it, all night! I'm hoping she'll keep this up. I'm also hoping that maybe she'll get quieter while she's going to sleep because she grunts a lot until she is in a deep sleep. This makes it hard for me to fall back to sleep because I'm worried that she's going to wake up at any minute and start crying. Never the less, this is a huge improvement and I'm very proud of my little girl. It seems like she does something new everyday.

It truly is amazing how quickly babies grow and change. We had to get out the next size diapers for her yesterday after changing her outfit three times in 15 minutes. Her newborn onesies don't fit over these very well, either. They were starting to get a bit tight any way but they are so cute and I hate to see them go. We weighed Claire over the weekend and she is now about ten and a half pounds so all of this is just a sign that our sweet girl is healthy and well.

Claire at 5 Weeks

I haven't posted anything recently because there isn't much to report and I've been a bit busy. Claire is doing very well. She continues to roll over when we place her on her tummy. She actually did it today while resting on my chest! It's a good thing I had a hand on her! Her days have been a bit unpredictable recently as she isn't napping very well. The idea of sleeping when the baby sleeps doesn't work in this situation. During those times I try to eat, rehydrate, put on clean clothes, brush my teeth, etc. She's a very active baby and she'll wear you out while you are holding her. She likes for you to change positions frequently and she likes to push off of you with her legs. She is very strong and is lifting her head higher and for a longer period of time. She'll have good head control soon. She still isn't seeping well between her 9 pm and 12 am feedings so I'm not getting a whole lot of sleep. Tim helped out this weekend by doing her 3am feeding and he tries to help me get her to sleep after her 9pm feeding. I'm a lucky lady to have such an involved husband! I did get a social smile out of her last week so that was really special. The past couple of days she has really started enjoying playing on the floor and I've noticed more smiles from her during those times.

Claire is stirring again! I better go!

Proof: Rolling over video

Certain people (like my father) have voiced their doubt when told that Claire can roll over from her front to her back. Now I have conclusive video evidence of her achievement. I would like to direct your attention to Parent's Exhibit A.

Click HERE to see video of Claire rolling over

I rest my case.

On the charge of "being too cute for words", we find the accused, Claire Suzanne, to be guilty on multiple counts. She is hereby sentenced to be hugged and kissed without mercy for the rest of her natural life.

Photo update and more

Claire continues to grow and amaze us every day. This week she has demonstrated the ability to roll over from her stomach to her back. The first time was at about 3 PM on Friday July 24th, but she has done it twice more since then. I put her down for some tummy time and after a while she got so agitated and worked up that she lifted her head up high, arched her back, kicked out her leg and over she went. Since then Claire has rolled over every time we do tummy time, and I will try to get video of her next roll. Very exciting, and fortunately both Leia and I were there to see the very first time. Grandma Thomas is here this weekend and has also witnessed this great feat of baby strength.

I have finally sorted through the mountain of pictures that we have from the first three weeks and have created a web album with captions on the photos.

http://picasaweb.google.com/timothywthomas/ClaireFirst3Weeks#

This album has pictures from 4 different cameras: ours, the Tucker grandparent's, the Thomas grandparent's and my sister Carrie. Claire is certainly a very well documented baby.

Having my mom here this weekend has been a great help. We have been eating some great food, enjoying each others company and of course spending lots of time with baby Claire. Claire has been sleeping pretty well at night and that means we are all feeling better. I'm going to borrow Rick's video camera again this week, and hopefully I will have some video clips online soon. No promises though, it took me forever just to organize and comment 80 photos, so who knows how long it will take to edit the video...

Claire at 3 Weeks

Our little girl is growing up! This week she has found her voice. She is more vocal and cries a bit louder. She's a good baby, though, and doesn't cry too much but she does definitely have her fussy times. She is also more alert and loves to hold her head up and look around. She is very strong and we have just started tummy time with her. In fact, she managed to roll over earlier! She is focusing on objects more and reacting to loud noises like the telephone. She started experiencing her three week growth spurt Wednesday afternoon. Stating in the late afternoon she wants to eat every hour to two hours as opposed to her usual three hour intervals. This has made our evenings even more unpredictable. We have also both become better at nursing. We had a rocky start but I started eliminating the pumping last week and we have now hit our stride.

Well, Grandma Thomas should be here soon so I better run. I have so much more I want to share. Hopefully, I'll have time soon to bring everyone up to date.