(9 weeks) Emily has discovered that she can move her arms . . . a lot! While she can move them she doesn’t know what she should do with them. This leads her to flail her arms around for not much reason. When she feels insecure her arms go flying out relying on the instinct to ‘catch’ her that has already developed, although it is pretty ineffective. Not to worry because she has her mommy [Daddy: Me too!] to catch her. One of the first signs of her getting tired is that her arms calm down and a sign that she is up for a while is because her arms start moving again. I think she gets that from her father.

Happiness Is a Smiling Baby, originally uploaded by Robby Edwards.

…And is much better than a wailing baby!

In her 6th week, Emily was sitting in her boppy next to Mommy on the couch while we were all watching TV. Daddy and Mommy were talking and we noticed that Emily had turned her head and was watching and listening to Daddy. It was the first time we had seen her search out and focus on someone that wasn’t directly in front of her. This melted her Daddy’s heart.

Baby in a Basket, originally uploaded by Robby Edwards.

Rachelle put Emily in a basket and took a series of photographs of her.

In Emily’s fifth week she developed her ‘melt your heart’ smile. She is sharing it with more than just Mommy and Daddy. It is simply a joy to see her burst out in smiles when talking to her. A good time to see the sweet smile is when she wakes up from a nap and Mommy goes to get her from her bed. I talk to her and she turns her head and looks at me and then she smiles. I reward these smiles by picking her up.