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 9 Weeks

This post is a little bit late but we've been out of town. Claire at 9 weeks has been building on all the skills she has acquired: head control, hand-eye coordination, cooing, etc. She has become more successful at getting her hand to her mouth and is even able to just suck on her thumb but it only lasts for a quick second and then her arm moves on her again. She is definitely talking more. I can sit and have a delightful conversation with her. She has even started making new noises and it is quite adorable.

We took Claire on her first really big road trip this weekend and she handled it like a champ. We went and visited Tim's family and we celebrated the birthdays of Katherine, 9, Thomas, 2, Atticus and Isaiah, 1. Claire adjusted to the new environment and increased noise well. She got up earlier than usual while we were there so I was worried about what would happen after we got home but she went right back into her routine. We were quite busy while there but Claire didn't fuss about it at all. She just went along with it. We had a great time. It was really nice to see everyone.

Check out the slideshow below for more about our visit. To view captions, click on the slideshow and then click on slideshow in the upper left-hand corner. You can also check out Becky's and Carrie's blogs for more.

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?!

Baby Bits

Claire in Action

Hanging out with Dad!
She is standing and jumping for longer periods now.

She wore herself out jumping around so then she settled down to snuggle with Daddy.
Isn't that the sweetest look?!

Floor time!

This weekend it has become easier for her to bring her hands to her mouth.
Those fingers must be tasty!

Dad is so much fun!

Tunnel time! We have an activity tunnel she has really started to enjoy this week.

The Many Faces of Claire

Babies are so sweet when they are sleeping!

A dramatic pose.

Big yawn!

A thousand mile stare.

A little drowsy.

Claire's Style

Some pics of Claire in some of her cute outfits. She is now able to wear a lot of the adorable outfits that everyone has bought her instead of just onesies.

How quickly they change!

Claire the day she came home from the hospital.

Claire seven weeks later.

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!