Bella is "growing like a weed," as they say here in the South. She is still small for her age (I just put away the last of her newborn size clothes last week), but she is already outgrowing the length of her 0-3 mo. clothes with footies in them! She can hold her head up on her own for a long time without support now, and she is starting to kick up a storm with her legs. She's discovered that she can kick and flail her arms around in the bathtub and she has lots of fun making a big mess with all her splashing! I've been working on getting her to smile, and many times she will smile back at me. This weekend she laughed for a long time while I was playing peek-a-boo with her. It was so amazing... I love seeing the happiness in her face. Bella's favorite baby talk words are "guy," "kuy," "guh," "ah," and "ka." She's finally gotten really good at tracking moving people and objects and she LOVES to watch Stephen (I tell myself it's because of all the contrast in his face with the beard and mustache, NOT because Daddy is her favorite...). I think she is a little bit behind developmentally because she was born so early, but she's getting there. The pediatrician said it could take her about 6 months to catch up with the other babies her age, but that's OK, she'll get there.
Bella had lots of firsts this month, including her first Fourth of July
First Music Festival, Athfest, in downtown Athens. This is the closest I would let Bella get to the stage and speakers! It was so nice to see lots of other young families with strollers there.
She loved hearing the music, and seems to enjoy music more and more every day. (Notice the fluorescent ear plugs!)
Nighttime is still a struggle. I think that is mostly our fault for making it hard for Bella to get into a daily napping/eating routine since we have been so busy between getting ready to move, taking road trips, and taking her on errands. I think she would be a lot better off if she stayed home more. A month ago, our challenge was to get her used to sleeping in her bed instead of ours. Now she sleeps really well in her pack and play since we started swaddling her and turning a fan on near her for white noise, but there are still nights when she wakes up at 12:00 a.m., 2:00, 4:00, 6:00... She is actually waking up more often now than she did a month ago. She has slept for 5, 6, and 7 hour stretches before at night, but that is very rare. Stephen and I are racking our brains trying to figure out how to get her on the right track. She seems to understand that nighttime is for sleeping-- she has a bedtime routine, and when she wakes up at night it's not because she wants to stay awake or play, she just eats and goes right back to sleep. I think she is getting used to eating too much at night instead of in the day, and she is also getting too used to nursing to get back to sleep, which turns into a vicious nighttime eating cycle... so that's what we're working on.
The most beautiful sight in the world... my angel asleep in my arms.
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