11 weeks and growing a lot!

We're on week 11 and quickly nearing the 3 month mark! Julia, we feel, has changed quite a bit this week. She just seems "older" looking and a little more noticeably chubbier - and I love it! Along with looking older, she has also picked up some "older" talents this week. How do they just go to sleep and suddenly wake up the next day being able to do something new?

Some of Julia's new talents this week....

She has slowly been realizing that her fists make a pretty good "soothie" - especially considering she can't stand pacifiers (we've tried most every brand in various age/stages, and every single one makes her gag). So, this week she's been pretty content just sitting aside shoving one fist after the other into her mouth and chomping away. That used to signal to me that she was hungry, but now I think she's just chomping on them for fun!

"Let's see, which one do I want to put in there...?"

"Maybe I can just fit them both in!"

"Yum, yum, yum."

Here she is making that tough decision of which hand she'd like to chew on:

Because she now is so in love with getting her hands in her mouth, we're pretty sure she's starting to outgrow her desire to be swaddled when she sleeps. This is all fine and good, but it's sending me right back to feeling like I have a 1 week old in the house with the random and disruptive sleeping patterns it has caused. (It really is true when "they" say that just when you start to recognize that you've established a routine with your baby, it'll change - we're proof now!) It seems no matter how tight I swaddle her these days, Little Miss Houdini is bound to find a way to get those arms and hands up out of the swaddle.

This is how I found her napping one afternoon:

Eventually, I'll be glad that she has her hands to help sooth her, but right now, she has to be in a really dead sleep (with arms stretched completely up above her head) to not be disturbed by her inability to control them and prevent them from swatting her in the face all night long. So, for my sake (and hers), this is one time I'm going to hope that she grows a little quickly right now just so she can get ahold of those hand motions so we can all sleep peacefully again!

Something else that Julia had started to gain the concept of is being able to reach out and actually touch(/sometimes grab) things. I think she sees her play gym in a whole new light recently now that she realizes she can actually touch some of the things on there!

Along with reaching for her play gym toys, I think she's determined to reach up and grab the ceiling fan in her nursery. She has always had an obsession with the fans in our home, and it only continues to grow.

Here's a video of her trying to "catch" the fan:

She's also learning to kick her feet (and wow, does she like to kick!) - I think we'll give her excersaucer a try soon.

Here she is kicking her book around off her feet:

Tummy Time! Ask me last week about it, and I'd say: "she hates it, and therefore, so do I." But, she suddenly doesn't mind it and actually seems to kind of enjoy it! She doesn't hesitate to let me know when she's "done" with it though, by starting in with her little whines.

She's got strong dancer legs from Mommy! For the last couple of weeks she has started putting weight on her legs when we hold her up - and they just keep getting stronger and stronger. Her face is priceless when she "stands," too... she gets SO very proud of herself. We keep joking about how funny it would be if she were to take off walking at 2 months old - and to see a little baby walking around the house. I'm sure we have TONS of time ahead of us before we see that day... but in the experience I've had the last 2 months, it surely will feel like tomorrow when it does happen.

I tried getting a picture of her face when she stands, but she was tired here and wasn't as thrilled with it as I apparently was...

Along with "standing" - she is also on her way to mastering the ability to sit up. She still definitely needs our help - but she has gotten much better at holding herself up if we lean her against something.

She was really sitting like this on her own - with her arms all comfy on the pillow.

One of the, not so incredible, skills Julia is also learning is the "miracle" of Television. This week she has shown us that she is perfectly content to just sit back and stare at the "amazing" moving pictures in front of her. And, if the TV is on and she realizes it, it's quite difficult to pull her attention away from it - even when "dinner" is calling!

Here is a video of her watching a show...... the Jason & Molly Bachelor wedding, if you care to know..:

And, this is not so much a skill, but just something that's really cute. We've noticed that she likes listening to and seeing you whistle. This was my attempt to film her having fun singing with me (she wasn't really having it for the camera though...), and then I whistled at her and she smiles - so sweet!

So, that's our week in a nutshell!

Here are our couple of photo shoots from this week...

We got this outfit long before Julia was even in my belly, and therefore didn't even know we would have a girl, but it was just too cute to pass up - I'm really glad we got to put it to use!

Now, THIS is happy. :)

She's wearing her hat, gifted from Uncle Chris, here in these...

She's waiting patiently here (with the help of her hands) while I get her bath ready -

All clean!