3 month update

Lydia turned 12 weeks on Tuesday, July 26 (or "3 months" today - still not sure about all the ways to calculate age at this stage). Nevertheless, there have been lots of developments.

She is certainly more alert, making many more intentional sounds, paying attention to many more movements we make, and sustaining eye contact for several seconds often ending in a smile. We have extended conversations about all sorts of things - I can tell her about my day, and she responds quite appropriately (aaaahhhhh, smile). She has also learned to sit up (albeit assisted) ...

... but she still likes her back much more than any other position as long as she doesn't need to burp (tummy time is still slow going).

She is getting a bit more used to her swing, sleeping in it most days for her "naps" ...

... and she really likes her "kitty-kitty" (a pacifier attached to a stuffed animal that keeps the pacifier in place). She especially likes when I play helicopter with it (she follows it around and starts to open her mouth and stick out her tongue as it gets closer).

Her normal routine (if we can call it one), is nursing about every 3 hours, sometimes shorter at home and longer if we are out and about and she's sleeping in her car seat. If I (Ashley) am diligent about getting up after nursing her, she'll stay awake for an hour or so after eating. At night, she is still nursing every few hours or hour and seems to sleep longer through the night if she has had an especially fussy bedtime before. The longer she screams, the longer she seems to sleep that night. You win some, you lose some I guess. She generally goes into her deep sleep sometime between 8:30 and 10:30 and is up again sometime between 2:30 and 5:00 to nurse and then go back to sleep. She no longer screams when she wakes during the night, so its a good thing I'm a light sleeper. Since she's only 11 or so pounds, I still feel like she needs these feedings, and since dream feeding isn't working, we're still going off her schedule.

She still regulary gets the hiccups, but is no longer a screaming monster. Now she just watches everything and everyone around her like she's studying up on the world. Here are her 3 month shots ...