Part 1 of a 3-part series for today. I was experimenting with my new lens and taking close up pics of Samara and her pigtails... lots of pics to follow.
What big eyes Samara has...
I think Samara looks different in pigtails. She certainly gets more attention with them.
This picture cracks me up. It's the eyebrows...
Little cutie...
Her eyes are a bit out of focus here, but she looks like a little girl, not a baby here.
Today Samara is 25 weeks old. I realized the blog has been pretty video heavy, so here are lots of pictures of her (and a few videos as well).
Samara napping in her swing:
Samara opening and shutting the doors on her new toy (and, at times, looking coy):
Here is a video showing her ability to shut the doors:
I remembered I got a new lens for my camera a while ago (thanks, Jamie), so I decided to try it out while Samara was playing in the Jumperoo.
And finally, Samara tried peas for the first time today. She was NOT liking them, as can be seen in this video and these pictures. Yes, I know the bib looks like a dog collar/she has no neck. The area under her chin gets so messy when she eats solids, but the bib totally stops that. I kind of felt like I was torturing her, but she smiled at the end so I felt better.
Today Samara was in such a fantastic mood. Here is an example of her squealing in the Jumperoo:
Next, we tried sweet potatoes for the first time (she likes them!):
Finally, my favorite moment of the day: hearing her giggle. We were playing Peek-a-Boo, then I just started saying "Boo," which she found incredibly funny. The video is kind of dark, but I didn't want to miss the moment by getting up to turn on a light!
Samara, Nana, Grandma Cathy, and I had lunch today. We were having fun taking pictures to capture Samara cuteness. Samara was feeling left out, so here is her "selfie."
Samara puts her hands by her mouth, usually by the bottle, when she is eating. Sometimes I think she is trying to put her fingers in her mouth (and she occasionally does); other times I think she is trying to hold the bottle. When she was in daycare, her teachers would tell me that she can hold the bottle towards the end of a feeding, but I hadn't really seen that happen. Today I finally got the chance to see it:
For those of you who care about weeks, Samara is 24 weeks old today. I used to keep track of weeks, but at this point I easily lose track of them because they don't really coincide with months anymore.
Anyway, this week Nana was visiting. At the beginning of July, I started introducing rice cereal to Samara. It went well the first 2 times, but the 2 or 3 days following that she totally rejected it - terrible faces, turning away, and clamping her mouth shut. I decided to give it a rest and was later told by other mommies at playgroup that babies tend to like oatmeal cereal better. So I bought some and decided to give it another try.
In this video, Nana is giving Samara oatmeal for the second day in a row:
I would like to mention that Samara LOVES chewing on straps: the straps on her car seat, in her swing, and in her high chair.
I also decided that it was time to do something with the massive amount of hair that is on Samara's head: PIGTAILS!
Samara looks pretty happy to get her hair off her face. Here is the Instagram version, which I think really highlights this happiness:
And here is full-blown excitement:
After a nice nap, Nana, Samara, and I headed to the mall to get some relief from the crazy heat wave that was going on. Here are some nice shots after lunch:
Recently, Samara has been more interactive and fun to play with. Today, Seth decided to see how long she could stay up on his shoulders. She stayed up there a while, partially because she was grabbing on to Seth's hair for support. She was also simultaneously sucking her thumb (and probably getting some of Seth's hair).
She has also become very difficult to get down for a nap. I think her recent fussiness, which I thought was teething (no teeth yet), may be because of the week 26 leap if you believe in the Wonder Weeks. All the signs perfectly describe Samara: clinginess, cries and is whiny/cranky more, trouble sleeping, nursing more, shyness, regression of behavior and physical abilities, and more. As a result, she has been a fussy, tired baby. If she is distracted its fine, but if she isn't she just screams. Since we were at a friends house and I was bouncing her on my lap, she was able to sleep when she was tired. However, she was sitting in my lap with my arm around her middle, so she literally folded over in half and slumped over. Quite hilarious. I tried to take a picture of it, but this was the best I could manage.
I mentioned above that Samara has been more interactive. The way she plays in the Jumperoo has markedly changed. Before she didn't really do much except jump, but now she has gained the ability to really see and manipulate the toys on it. In this first video, you can see how she can grab and examine the red parrot, roll the drum in the front, start to turn the elephant, and roll the rainbow circle on the right side. It is amazing how quickly all the skills develop.
This second video shows her staring at the blue bullfrog hanging above (she really loves staring at things with eyes), rolling the toy on the left, and grabbing the blue butterfly chew toy. I think it is funny it is called a chew toy. I mean, she definitely chews on it, but when I hear of chew toy I think of something for a dog. The one thing I haven't captured so far is that she bangs the chew toy on the green arch.
Samara has become discontent to just lie on her back. She scrunches up and tries to sit up. I have been holding her up in a sitting position, and pretty much up until today, she hasn't been successful. At playgroup, she was sitting unassisted for a brief period of time.
The following video shows you some of her control in sitting. It is hard to tell how long she can actually sit since she is sitting in a Boppy for support while I videotape her, but there is a good 10 seconds or so starting at 0:16 that I think she is holding herself up.
And here is a picture of the cute little munchkin:
I was playing with Samara on the couch and she was being super cute. I captured this cute-ness in a series of pictures. Here they are for your viewing pleasure... they probably will make you smile =).
Today Grandpa Mark came to pick up Nana from her visit and spent some time with Samara.
Later that day, I thought Samara looked sleepy so I put her in her swing. However, she perked right up when she saw the little lambies circling above her head and started to squeal with delight. The following video shows this, but, because she is swinging back and forth, might give you a bit of a headache. Just a heads up!
