3 months of milestones

Melodie turned three months old today!

She, of course, had NO idea that it was a special day, but it was fun to take extra notice of what she's doing, compared to three months ago today.

One thing that is really fun, is that Melodie is getting pretty good at rolling over. She rolled over from her belly to her back to her right side (if that couldn't be more specific) on the 4th of July. Grandma and Grandpa LaBarge, as well as Great Aunt Jennifer and Great Uncle Jim Berry were there to watch. Ryan and I just sat in shock afterwards because she acted like she had been doing it for months! It took her another week to roll over again, and this time she went the other way. Today, I came home from work and put her on her belly and she quickly rolled to the right, and then after being on her belly again, quickly rolled to her left! She's turned into a rolling pro.

Another fun thing that she's been doing is "cooing". I was singing to her after her bath tonight and before I knew it, a little "joyful melody" broke out from our Melodie Joy. It was pretty fun.

She LOVES to smile, ESPECIALLY when she's getting her britches changed!

She's good at turning circles, or at least 1/2 circles while she's on her belly. It's not quite crawling, but she's getting that coordination thing going. Dr. Fogg (our chiropractor) said that she was already starting to develop her gait (which is the coordination of arm and leg movements for crawling and walking). He was impressed, as he told us that normally doesn't kick until for another few months.

She's putting EVERYTHING in her mouth that she can, drooling, and has a couple of teeth on the top that are trying to get out. I think it'll be weird to see a little toothy grin soon. It's neat though, to watch her motor skills go along with her teeth. For the first time today, I watched her take a toy with both hands and put it towards her mouth and chew. Normally it's very awkward and rigid, but today it seemed purposeful. It was pretty cool.

Within the last week she's discovered her "thumb". Or should I say her fist, with her thumb tightly clenched inside. But for her, that part of the hand and wrist work just as good for a new sucking toy!

She's been a pro for awhile at holding her head up, and now it's just getting smoother and smoother.

After a several week stint of drinking 7 ounces, we moved her back down to 6 ounces, and she seems to be more content, and finishing more bottles. Spitting up is still an issue, but it is getting better with each visit to the chiropractor.

She's been sleeping through the night for about a month and a half now, which has been nice. We've been putting her down between 10-11, and she'll get up around 6:30-8:30, take a bottle and then sleep for another couple of hours. Tonight is a first attempt at bringing that bed time down a bit, and I was able to get her down by 9:30. Hopefully that trend will continue for awhile and we'll be able to get her down and have her sleep for reasonable periods of time. :)

She get's along with her cousins great, especially her cousin Raleigh. It seems that whenever Raleigh holds her, she calms down and checks out her older cousin. They seem to have a special bond. Raleigh's little brother Hudson passed away a couple of weeks after Melodie was born. It's hard to see how great of cousins both Raleigh and Sydney are to Melodie and to know that they should have been enjoying that same holding and cuddling with their little brother in a couple of months. Nothing can replace Grace, James and Hudson and the time that we've missed with them, but we are looking forward to meeting the future cousins that God has in store for our family.

Overall, Melodie has been a great joy, and we're pretty proud of her. I can't believe how quickly three months has gone by. Everyone says that time flies, and now I believe them. I can't wait to see what the next three months has in store.