3 Months!!!

Cecilia is 3 months today!!!
Wow has she grown in 3 months. She loves to stand and will even do so only holding onto my hands for balance. She holds her head up completely by herself almost all the time (except when she is very tired, but then I have trouble holding mine up when I'm tired enough). Gas seems to have ceased being discomforting for her. She has almost completely outgrown all of her 3 month or younger clothes - now I only keep out clothes that are 3-6 months or 6 months. She is also becoming much more talkative. She squeals and coos and yells and throws out vowel sounds and occassionally even connects some consonants to the vowels (we have heard "ami" as well as "hi"). This has made her a bit more challenging to manage during Church but we simply cannot tell her to be quiet (even if she did understand that much) when she would not discern it to be only during Church and we want to encourage her to talk. She is very anxious to stand by herself, sit by herself, and I get the feeling she would be walking by now if she could just will her legs to do it. She isn't as fond of trying to crawl. We do give her "tummy time" but she is determined always to see as much as she can and her view is much more limited to the floor when she is on her tummy. She is always very curious about everything and wants very much to see and touch (and lick) everything. I am hoping all this determined and relentless curiousity means she will not only be intelligent (of which I have no doubt) but will also be very anxious to learn. She has also adapted well to her rising at 5:30am schedule and her bedtime routine. The only challenge involving bedtime is getting her to bed early enough. I originaly aimed to have her bathed and going to sleep by 8. But she decided that was too late. The last few days if I do not bathe her and have her in bed between 7 and 7:30 she becomes so cranky she is crying at me the minute she gets out of the tub - and this from a girl who always loves her baths! But the waking and bedtime routine has really helped her overall sleeping. Now she naps up to 7 hours a day and last night she slept 6 straight hours! And this makes for a much happier Cecilia! Mommy's fingers have become some of her favorite sucking and gumming toys and the drool just keeps on coming.

Cecilia has now had her Polio, Hib, PCV and DTaP vaccines so she should be well protected when we all go to Disney World this summer. She certainly already has plenty of Winne the Pooh clothing to fit in well at WDW. We are very much looking forward to getting her picture with Mickey Mouse and Winnie the Pooh and maybe even Eeyore (my favorite Pooh character).

Cecilia also made her second trip to the mall this past week. She spent the entire time in her stroller and loved it as long as it kept moving. She always wants to be kept moving whether it is in the car, in her stroller or in your arms...gotta keep movin'! But after visiting Carters and American Greetings, Cecilia fell asleep sitting up, which was kindof nice because it meant I actually got to eat my Taco Bell without scarfing down my food or trying to hold her with one arm while doing it. I think she likes the movement for two reasons: first it is comforting and relaxing for her and second she gets to constantly see something different. She used to be quite satisfied if I simply walked in circles around the dining room table. Now if I go around the table too many times she gets grumpy until I change the scenery.

Hopefully James will add some pictures from the Baptism Dinner and of Cecilia sometime soon.