Samantha at 23 Weeks Old

There are so many things for me to write about this week!  Many developments and firsts, so bear with me as I describe them.  The first thing she started doing on a regular basis this week is rolling over onto her tummy, especially during naptime, and sleeping that way.  We always lay her down on her back to start, but she must prefer to sleep on her tummy (like her daddy), so more often than not, she is flipped over when she wakes up.  We actually had to change the bumper pads from the padded, decorative ones, to these mesh, breathable bumpers so that if she were to roll over into the side of the crib she can still breathe.  Samantha still hasn't learned how to roll back once she has gotten on her tummy.  Here are some cute pictures I snapped after she had just woken up from a nap on her tummy.

Samantha has also started to suck her thumb a lot more.  Every once in a while we can get her to take a pacifier, but it is not really for sucking, just for chomping down on.  Here are some pictures of our little girl sucking her thumb, wrapped up in a towel after her bath.  She continues to love baths and now has mastered the art of kicking her feet into the water and splashing everyone and everything around her (including Mommy and Daddy)!

The other new development is that Samantha is sitting up!  She has been working on it for awhile, and she still isn't completely sturdy, but she can definitely do it for several minutes without support.  I think she will really enjoy seeing the world from this perspective!

I don't have any pictures of this, but Samantha has seems to already understand that dropping objects, like her toys, is a fun game to play.  She really enjoys playing in her exer-saucer and can very easily turn herself all the way around to play with the various toys.  The other night when she was playing in it, I gave her her rattle to play with also, and Samantha kept pushing the rattle off the side of the exer-saucer, I would put it back, and then she would continue to push it off.  This is the first time of many, I'm sure, that we will play this game.  It was cute because our little girl is starting to learn cause and effect.


Here are some cute pictures of Daddy with his little girl whom he adores.

Here is Samantha all bundled up and ready for a walk with Mommy and Roscoe.

This past week Samantha developed a stuffy nose and then on Friday it progressed into a cough that got much worse on Saturday.  She had a rough time sleeping on Friday night because of it, so we took her into the doctor just to check and make sure her cough wasn't in her chest and that she didn't have an infection of any kind.  She was fine, but we felt so bad every time she did her sad, pathetic little cough.


On Sunday, Samantha achieved another new development, she finally rolled over to her right!  Here is a picture of Samantha on her floor gym after she had rolled over to her right.

Across the last couple of months we have had bouts of good and bad experiences with sleep.  When Samantha was younger, she had a hard time going down for naps and being left by herself.  Well, that has obviously improved over time and now Samantha is pretty good at being laid down for naps while she is still awake and falling asleep on her own.  Sometimes she will cry for a few minutes and then fall right asleep.  It is a real blessing for us to have a baby that sleeps better and feels rested throughout the day so that she can be herself in her interactions with others and not get overtired in the evenings.


The next big development of this week was...drumroll please...Samantha now has her two lower front teeth!  She has been drooling and rubbing her gums for quite a while now, and as I posted last week, we thought a tooth might be coming anytime, and we just noticed that they broke through on Monday.  It's interesting that they both decided to come through at the same time.  She wasn't too cooperative when we were trying to get a picture because she didn't want us sticking our fingers in her mouth and pushing her tongue out of the way, but this is the best one we got!

The last week has been up and down with sleeping at night, Samantha was waking up more frequently, sometime even two times during the night.  There were also a couple nights where she seemed unsettled, and we had a hard time getting her to fall back asleep, sometimes taking turns staying up with her.  Now, that we look back on the week, with all the new developments she has made and the teeth breaking through, no wonder she has had a hard time sleeping and has been a little more fussy during the day.  Her little mind and body have been busy growing and learning new things.  However, now that her teeth have come through she is getting back into her normal sleeping pattern and has slept through the night again a couple of times.


My most cherished time of the day is when I get to nurse and cuddle Samantha to sleep at night.  I love being a mom.  When else will my daughter cry for me to be with her at night or cuddle up into my chest for comfort when she is upset?  Even though sometimes I get frustrated when she awakens during the night, when she does sleep through the night I miss her in the morning.  These times I get to spend with my little lady are times that I will yearn for in the future.  At night, as I rock my baby off to sleep, I hold her close, cherish these moments, and I will soak up as many as I can.  I love being Samantha's mom, and I thank God for entrusting me with her care.