I have a great book called “The Wonder Weeks” that describes several big developmental growth weeks in babies’ lives. One of the big ones is Week 19, and Andrea just went through it – it was really obvious. She’s really figuring things out.

Wednesday night Andrea all of a sudden slept 6 hours straight. She hasn’t slept like that in almost 2 months. Since then, she’s been sleeping for a 5-6 hour stretch during the night. It’s been wonderful. Then Saturday she woke up from a nap and I reached my arms out to her (like I do every time) before picking her up, and she reached back to me for the first time! She was clearly mimicking me. And she’s done it every time Paul or I have gone to pick her up since then.

After he nap on Saturday afternoon, I brought her downstairs and I while I was changing her, I let her play on the floor a little while naked. She started squirming around and within a few minutes had rolled over from her back to her tummy for the first time! It’s like she woke up from her nap smarter. 🙂 She rolled over onto her tummy twice more on Saturday, but she doesn’t like to be on her tummy so it makes her kind of mad. I’m sure she’ll be rolling all around in no time!

Andrea went to the pool for the first time on Aug. 1st. We went in the evening, so we didn’t have to worry about the sun. She really loved it. She kicked and splashed and had a good time. And she slept GREAT that night. We’ll definitely be going back to the pool before the season is over. And we’re going to look for some swim “classes” at an indoor pool during the winter.

I haven’t updated in a while, partially because I’ve been exhausted recently – Andrea decided for a few weeks that she would wake up every 2-3 hours all night long. I think we’re back to a more reasonable schedule though, where she sleeps for one 5-6 hour stretch, then wakes every 2-3 hours after that. Much better. 🙂

I got a great book called “The Wonder Weeks” that describes babies’ developmental milestones, and 12 weeks is a common period for rapid brain development. Just as the book said, she had a cranky, restless couple of weeks, and now she has all kinds of new skills! She grabs her feet, blows bubbles, makes a lot of new sounds, and bats at toys. She is also rolling over from her tummy to her back pretty consistently, although I haven’t managed to catch it on the video camera yet. She also enjoys staring at herself endlessly in the mirror. I bought a mirror for her crib and she loves it.

So, sorry the past few weeks have been quiet. Hopefully I can get back to updating more frequently. And we’ll get some more pictures posted soon!

Andrea turned 2 months old today. Unfortunately, that means we started the day off with her first round of vaccines. We declined the Hepatitis B vaccine for now (infants don’t usually get STDs), but that still left 4 shots and and oral vaccine for rotovirus. It was awful – she cried so hard – broke Mommy’s heart.

We also found out just how much Andrea has grown since her 3 week appointment. She went from 9 pounds 1/2 ounce to 11 pounds 5 ounces. She also went from 22 inches to 24 inches – that’s the 95 percentile! She’s gonna be a tall girl. The doctor was also impressed with how well she is holding her head up. Our baby is really growing up.  🙂

Andrea had another big first this week – she slept overnight in her crib for the first time. She had taken a nap in her crib a couple of times before, but she has been sleeping in her cradle next to Mom & Dad’s bed at nights. Tuesday night Andrea fell asleep around 11:00, and Mom put her in her crib. She slept like a champ and didn’t wake up until 5am! Mom fed her and she was asleep again by 5:45 and slept until 9:30. Apparently she liked her crib, because this is the best she’s ever slept overnight. Mom is thrilled!