Emma at Two Months

So I was definitely planning on posting more frequently. A whole month gone by! This has resulted in quite the backlog of photos. I debated what to do with them... should I divide up the past photos into several future posts? but then what to do with all the photos I'll inevitably continue to take? So I decided to just dump a whole bunch of photos here. Sorry for the long post. But I doubt I'll hear any complaining.

Emma's development: 

Size: 

birth weight: 7 pounds, 1 ounce

two months: 11 pounds, 2 ounces

birth length: 20 inches long

two months: 25 inches long

Emma graduated to size one diapers right at 8 weeks, and started wearing size 0-3 month clothing the same day. She's still a little girly.

And as if Emma could get any cuter, she's turned on her smiles.

She's also started making more interactive noises. She'll look up at you and make cooing and babbling noises. She grins when you talk back and smile at her. She's quite conversational. She'll be lying on her back, talking to herself, and if you look down and smile at her, she gives you a huge grin back. She likes to be noticed.

Emma's pretty alert -- her eyes follow us across the room, and she likes to be shown things. Not too many things, though, or she gets overwhelmed -- faces are still her favorite things to look at. Sometimes when I'm nursing her, she'll pull away to stare up at me. Her eyes will move all over my face, then she'll smile and make a tiny "ooh" sound. It melts my heart every time.

Likes:

Sucking on things.

We introduced her to Sophie the giraffe when she was barely 5 weeks old.

She's used to the teether now, but still finds it fascinating.

She's found her hands, and loves to suck on her fists. Not her fingers or her thumb -- she balls up her fist and goes at it. Sometimes she prefers it to her binky. And who can blame her, really, with hands as cute as hers?

Her other favorite thing to suck on is my thumb. She'll chomp and smack and fuss if I take my hand away to dry it off. Sometimes my thumb actually gets pruny.

Walks.

Emma's come quite a long way from her first walk at three weeks old.

For the first two weeks or so of walks, they were basically a way of getting her to fall asleep. Or to scream her head off.

Now, though, she loves walks. Typically, she hates being restrained, but as soon as I start buckling her into her stroller, she calms down and often smiles. Though it's not always easy to catch on camera.

She gets really eager for walks, too. Once I put her in her stroller, then we walked down to the laundry room so I could switch out a load before our walk. She threw a fit in the laundry room -- but calmed down as soon as we walked outside and started moving. It's the same story with stopping on walks. If I stop to get coffee or go to the bank, she starts fussing. It's a walk, Mom, not a stand-around. If I want to  sit still, I'll do it at home.

People.

Emma loves looking at people. She's not really shy -- she'll go to just about anybody at this point. Sometimes she falls asleep better for people she doesn't know well -- our hunch is that she shuts down once she begins to feel overstimulated.

Grandma visited for a few days, which was pretty fun.

But Emma's favorite person is still Eric. She can stare at him for hours.

 Her changing table.

Emma loves getting her diaper changed. Mostly because it's a chance for her to get completely undivided attention. Also because she thinks it's funny to laugh at us when she's had a big poop. It's very exciting for her to see us stressed when she blows out her diaper. She kicks her legs around, smiling, and once she got poop on her hand and I barely caught it before she stuck it in her mouth. The twerp. 

She also loves the light behind her changing table. She can stare at a light for ages, which is probably not the best thing.

Sleeping

Emma still sleeps about 15 hours a day. She's actually pretty good at sleeping at night -- she goes down between 8 and 8:30, then wakes up between 1 and 2 for her first feeding. Then she'll eat another 2-4 times before waking up between 7 and 8. She falls asleep like a champ after eating in the night, which is awesome. We're still working on Emma learning how to put herself to sleep. She doesn't like to practice this skill. She really likes to be bounced or nursed to sleep, and to be held, though she's getting better at putting herself back to sleep if she wakes up in her crib.

I always thought that those baby photos with babies propped up on their folded arms looked so stupid and contrived.
False. Emma loves to sleep on her arms and her hands.

Rocking

We just got a rocking chair, and Emma likes it so far. It in no way replaces the yoga ball for her... yet. But we've got our fingers crossed. It's certainly more comfortable for Eric and I to sit in with her.

Bouncing

Again, still Emma's favorite activity. 

We're trying to help her learn to be a bit more independent (read: not have to be held constantly). So we got a baby jumper, in the hopes that she'll learn to bounce herself to contentment.

She hasn't figured it out yet. Every so often, her kick will send her in the air, and she'll start crying from the surprise of it.

She'll get there.

The yoga ball is still her favorite place and activity.

This is a really common view:

Until it turns into this:

Dislikes:

Being ignored.

Being bored.

Not being bounced.

Being tired and unable to fall asleep.

Her prison chair. I mean, car seat.

Us paying attention to anything other than her.

Being clothed. Especially sleeves. Emma hates sleeves.

Emma can sit up a bit better now, so her two-month photos aren't as dramatic as her tipsy one-month photos.

You're making me sit here by myself?

booooooring

bubbles, I guess.

is that--something interesting?

oh, wait, no. no, it's not.

how much longer, mom?

oh, hiiii, bear.

side-eye, bear.

fine. ignore me, you jerk bear, you.

really over this.