three month tess!

well we are confused because if you count weeks, tess was 12 weeks last week, but if you count by month dates, she will be 3 months in two days... so we'll call this a three-month update :-)

no official stats from the doctor for this month because she doesn't actually have to go back until next month, but we did a little investigation of our own, and here's what we came up with: when andrew stands on the scale with her vs. without her he is between 13 and 14lbs heavier (this, of course, includes clothes and diaper weight, so she's probably between 12.5 and 13lbs by our estimation. we also measured her using a measuring tape and laying her on the couch. it seems she is about 22.5 to 23 inches. i did not measure her head because... well that's just strange.

tess has already learned and done several new things, which i will try to remember.

• she is pretty good at holding up her head for a while.
• she has rolled over 3 times i think... perhaps more, but one for sure - i have witnesses!
• she smiles a LOT, especially when she sees people she recognizes. these people include mommy, daddy, grandma, and grandpa on the welch side.
• she has met and will look at the dogs. which means she follows things with her eyes.
• she likes the swing sometimes, the jungle (playmat with noise, lights, and toys) most of the time, and the tv all the time - we avoid letting her see the latter if possible!
• she has learned to "kick, kick, kick!" and will make the jungle play music when she kicks it (video here)
• the other day, she finally recognized herself in the mirror and began laughing hysterically. it may have been the best day of my life. it was certainly the best few minutes i've experienced in a while. we tried to get video, but she wouldn't do it again. she's no trick pony.
• while sitting in the car, she began looking at and touching the flowers on her blanket.
• oh, she's growing teeth. she's been teething for about a month now, and you can see the two bottom ones under her gums. yeah, way early. she's an overachiever.
• she still doesn't sleep alone, but we put her down when she's sleeping a lot more. we tried the "cry it out" method and forcing her to sleep other places, but it didn't work for us. we're taking our time and hoping she decides to be more independent soon.
• the prevacid is still working (hallelujah!), which means she spews spit like it's going out of style, BUT she doesn't scream afterwards.
• she may or may not have said the word "hi" - as in... she made a noise that sounded like "hi" and we're going to call it a word.
• she has several friends and play buddies: graham (and his mommy, heather), fiona (and her mommy, jennifer), and madeline (and her mommy, allison)!

AND we went to the pool for the first time today! madeline and allison invited us to go for a swim, and we had a great time! tess fell asleep getting ready for the swim on allison and justin's bed, (we got pictures on allison's camera) then while we were putting on her sunscreen, she rolled over right in front of everyone! we did not get a picture of that - sad. then tess peed in her swim diaper... it got all over the car and me and her, but we laughed and went to the pool, pee and all! for the most part tess did great at the pool, she was not too scared, and the few times she did get fussy, she was either hungry or sleepy. after that, we went to grandpa's house (grandma is at the beach) to wait our the traffic, and tess learned the macarena, which we got a video of! all in all, it was a really fun day! and oh yes, we have pictures!