Samantha at 43 Weeks

Samantha continues to pull up on everything.  She is getting stronger and stronger and has much more control in lowering herself back down the floor.  If she drops something, she can easily reach down with one hand and pick it up, then stand back up again without losing balance.  Samantha also likes to try and climb up on things now.  She has figured out how to lift up one leg to give herself a boost.

Since Samantha is really enjoying moving around more in the bathtub, we decided to get a spout cover so that she wouldn't hit her head on the metal as she crawls around like a crazy girl in the tub!  Here are some pictures of bathtime, one of her favorite times of day lately.

One of Samantha's favorite things to do is to open and shut things.  As you can see in the picture above, the duck's head opens and shuts so you can put bubble bath in it, and she kept opening and shutting it's head.  She also likes to push doors closed, to open and shut the doors on our entertainment center, and any toys that have doors to open and shut.


This week was the start of spring break for us, so I got to spend Monday and Tuesday at home with Samantha while Ben went to school to get some work done.  One day, while I was putting clothes away in our bedroom, Samantha crawled over to Roscoes' kennel, which has always caught her interest.  Well, she figured out how to crawl into his kennel and proceeded to close the door and play around inside.  Don't worry!  We don't keep our baby in a dog kennel!  The pictures were just too funny not to include.

Oh yeah, another update, Samantha got another tooth.  Her 8th one!  In the church nursery on Sunday the ladies commented on how she was putting everything in her mouth and might be getting a new tooth soon.  Well, we didn't think that was going to happen because she just got her 7th tooth last week.  However, on Monday, we noticed her 8th little tooth (the bottom right one, next to the two front bottom teeth) poking through her gums.  Now we have to take her to the dentist sometime soon.  The doctor told us that she needed to see a dentist when she had eight teeth or reached one year old, which ever came first.  She has quite the set of chompers now!


The last few days Samantha has been going through a weird phase.  She hasn't been nursing very well, and she hasn't been eating her food quite as well as normal either.  We don't know if it's just a phase, or if it was just a side effect of teething.  I know babies can go through phases where they aren't as interested in nursing or are easily distractible.  However, being a typical mom, I get worried that she's not eating enough, not getting enough nourishment, or that she is beginning to self-wean (which I'm not emotionally ready for yet).  We actually made an appointment to talk to a lactation consultant today to discuss weaning and the progression to solid foods, as well as the issues that have arisen lately.  It was great to get the reassurance of a medical professional because you can find sources on the internet to refute or provide evidence for any position you want.  She was very reassuring to me and told us that we are doing everything right, that we shouldn't change anything about what we are doing.  She encouraged me to continue the precious bedtime feeding for the enjoyment and bonding it provides for both of us.  The biggest thing we took away from our appointment was not to force food on Samantha if it seems like she's not interested and also to provide her with more variety of finger foods and allow her to feed herself when she seems interested.


Samantha is such a curious baby who likes to observe everything around her.  Today, at the doctor's office, she explored every single corner of the room we were in, taking everything in.  When we go out to restaurants, she loves to sit so she can see everyone, and she loves it when people walk by and show her attention.  Everyone that interacts with her remarks at how social and personable she is.  She doesn't seem to have stranger anxiety at all so far.  Lately, the weather has gotten remarkably pleasant, so we have taken Samantha on stroller rides in her new stroller she got for Christmas.  She loves being outside, looking around, and feeling the warm sun and cool breeze on her skin.


One of the sweetest things to me that Samantha has been doing lately is crawling towards me and onto my lap when she wants to be near me.  It's so great to have that expression of love starting to come out in Samantha.  Also, the last several nights, while nursing her at bedtime, she has chosen to hold onto my hand or finger rather than her blanket toy while she dozes off to sleep. These things are so precious to me.  I think we just have the sweetest baby anyone could ask for.