Back in the Day

This was Gwen's first "real" smile when she was about 4 weeks (?).

Already a daddy's girl :)

Ahem...

Gwen will be 12 weeks old tomorrow, and officially exiting the "weeks old" stage and into "months". A part of me is so excited to wake up each morning to find her that much more grown and reaching those little milestones that culminate in her developing personality and physical growth. But another part of me thinks that time is flying way too fast. Like, WAY too fast.

For instance, last week she discovered what I think the experts call "finding their voice". Literally overnight, something snapped--in a good way, of course-- and the next day she was squawking like a parrot, with all variations of coos and hoots in between. You'd think we lived in an atrium!

Her recognition of things, especially people, has developed a lot, too. I used to play a CD recording of rain in her room to provide some bedtime noise, but a couple of weeks ago I switched it to a recording of Aaron reading the gospel of Luke. So now whenever I'm nursing Gwen and Aaron enters the room and talks, she just stops and tilts her head to listen to her daddy's familiar voice (which is 95% cute and 5% annoying-- you'd think she could just multi-task by listening and nursing at the same time...but I digress).

She also loves to flash her million dollar smile that just makes the world a better place. She'll be a great salesperson, just like her daddy!

Gwen is also starting to "sit up", albeit she's heavily propped by pillows, but her head doesn't sink into her chest like she did when she was "little".

I've begun to start carrying her on my hip!

She's going longer between feedings.

And last but certainly not least, Gwen has been sleeping 7-8 hours continuously through the night the past few nights (she must've heard me threatening to wean her off of her binky). And there was much rejoicing.

YAY!

Haiku

The baby sleeps deep
Peace fills the air like sunshine
I bask in its glow