On June 22nd, Lena turned 3 months old, and now she is 15 weeks! She is getting so big and continues to be more and more fun the older she gets. She is able to do so many things now.
She still enjoys her swing and shows a more alert and interactive behavior on her play mat. She moves her arms around and hits the objects that are hanging. With her legs, she kicks the pole and makes all the objects swings and move. She's really moving her arms a lot and has started using her hands to reach for things, grasp objects, and puts her hands together. A new activity she enjoys is the jumperoo. She likes to watch the lights, listens to the music, and bounces and moves her legs and feet. I don't think she's figured out the true motion of bouncing in it yet, but she is active in her own way for now. We are trying to get her to do more "tummy time" to strengthen her neck and muscles, and to encourage her to roll over and get ready to crawl. She doesn't like it too much, but we still do it for small increments at a time. She is very strong and can lift her head and neck so well, and she really kicks and moves her legs. Because she's holding her head and neck up so well now, we've started having her sit up in her Bumbo seat. It's a soft foamy chair that helps babies sit up with a little support in the back. She likes watching us eat and do other things around the house while she sits in it. I guess she feels big sitting up.
Last week, Cory set up a few foamy mats that fit together like puzzle pieces on the ground. He laid her at one end with a small pillow under her chest. Then she pushed with her feet against his hands and scooted all the way to the other end. I guess it's good practice for crawling, but now we have to work on her upper body strength and coordination for rolling and crawling.
We still like going for occasional walks, but it's a little harder to find the best time with it being so hot. I think we've found that 7:30 in the evening is perfect. It's much cooler then, and when we get back it's about time for bath and bed. We've taken her to the pool a few times and she enjoys that too.
She is really smiling a whole lot, and we think we've even heard her laugh once or twice. She continues to coo and "talk" a lot, and it sounds so sweet.
Lena loves looking at herself in the mirror. She smiles and coos to herself and whoever is holding her all the time. One of her favorite places to look at herself is in our guest bathroom mirror. We stand her up on the counter and she marches, dances, walks, makes facial expressions, and moves her arms. It is hilarious to watch, and we have as much fun as she does.
We think Lena has started teething. We started noticing last week that she was drooling so much and always had her fingers right in the front of her mouth. Then she had a few rough nights of not sleeping well and we figured out she must be teething. Now I'm noticing diapers being a little more runny than usual, which is another sign of teething. So maybe in a month or two she'll have her first tooth.
She doesn't enjoy riding in her car seat as much as she used to. We're not sure if it is a comfort thing or if she just doesn't like being back there all by herself. It would be nice if she could at least see Cory and me in the front seat, but that won't be happening for several years. Unfortunately, a few times she's gotten so upset and was crying so hard that she threw up all over herself and her car seat. We've looked into a few ideas to help, but we're just hoping it is a phase she will grow out of.
We entered Lena in the Leader News "American Baby Contest". We of course thought she was the cutest one, but she didn't win. There were a lot of cute babies though, and it was fun showing her off.
 |
| Having fun in the Jumperoo |
 |
| Lena's photo for the "American Baby Contest" |
 |
| Such a fashionista! |
 |
| Cute outfit from Heather |
 |
| 3 months old! |
 |
| So relaxed... she fell asleep at Aunt Beth's pool |
 |
| Too cool :) |
 |
| Breakfast in the Bumbo |
 |
| Lena Lena Ballerina |
