3-month update

As usual, it's been a while since my last post. Shocking, I know.

It's been eventful around here! Marla is doing very well. She's changing and growing so much every day. It's hard to believe that this is the same baby we came home from the hospital with three and a half months ago! A few updates on her newest accomplishments:

1) She has much more head and neck control, which means she wants to get up off the floor and look around. She can sit up with the help of pillows and tries to "stand" whenever someone is holding her.
2) She's found her hands and is able to get them into her mouth pretty easily now. She can also hold onto lightweight toys and guide them to her mouth occasionally. Just this week, she began reaching out and swatting at toys hanging above her.
3) She can roll from her back to her front, but can't get from her tummy to her back yet. This is unfortunate for her, as she still loathes tummy time.
4) She smiles and laughs a lot more now.
5) Have I mentioned that she's a screamer? She always has been, but lately she's become positively piercing. In fact, she seems to do a lot more squawking and squealing than cooing and gurgling. Our newest nickname for her is "Screech."

Here's a video of Screech demonstrating her lung strength. (Pay no attention to Jeff talking to me about The Sopranos in the background.)

Crazy, huh? I wonder where she gets it from... oh yeah, her dad.

In other news, we got her 3-month pictures taken. We hired Swanstrom Photography to take the pictures and are so happy with the results. They came to our house for the shoot and were able to capture some of Marla's cutest expressions, even when she started to get crabby. Here's a few of my favorites:

Of course, Betsy had to get in on the action, too.

They took lots more photos, all of which are just as fantastic. If you want to look through the whole album, go to this link: http://photos.swanstromphotography.com/families/schmidt. The password to view the photos is husky.