This past Tuesday, Beatrice turned three months old! Here’s our precious little peach at three months:

Beatrice’s third month has been full of new accomplishments. For one thing, she’s figured out how to grab things!

One day, I came home from work and held out her bee with the crinkly wings for her–she loves to hit it–and instead of just batting at it, her hands zeroed in on the wings, opened up a little like a pair of lobster claws, and latched on. Soon she was making her happy noises while tugging at the wings and listening to them crackle.

She’s getting lots bigger, too. Here she is in the chair for comparison with the 1- and 2-month updates:

Her newest trick is babbling! She’s become very vocal over the last few weeks and lets us know exactly how she’s feeling. We’ll post a video of her talking one of these days and you too can be enthralled with her command of consonants and vowels (I think she’s got enough to say “Dang!” if she puts them together in the right order.)

Best of all, she’s developing a little personality and becoming more like herself every day. She will hold your gaze now, look into your eyes and beam at you to see if you’ll return her smile. She knows her momma and her daddy and rewards us with huge, toothless grins when we walk into the room. She loves it when her dad pretends to be a lizard and when her mom sings songs to her. She thinks she’s a little grown-up and always wants to be part of the action, sitting with us at the table if we’re eating and shouting little interjections if we’re talking.

We love you, Beatrice! Don’t grow up too fast!

Today Beatrice had her two month well-baby visit at the pediatrician’s office. She’s such a cute little girl! I love that she smiles so much and is just happy. She hardly ever cries and when she wakes during the night it’s just her little moving around we hear.

Here are her stats:

Weight: 12lbs, 9oz. 95th percentile
Height/Length: 23″. 75th percentile
Head circumference: 41cm. 90th percentile

She also received her two month vaccinations. That was pretty much the worst thing to happen to us since she was born! Poor girl, she’s such a joyous baby and all afternoon she’s been smiling, then wincing and then crying. Hopefully she’ll keep sleeping and will feel better in the morning.

She does not want to lie flat right now, I think being in the swing helps her to keep her legs still. She’s enjoying the swing and has been sleeping there pretty well, I was holding her most of the afternoon, but we were getting a little hot and sweaty!

Here are some other big milestones from the last week or so:

Sleeping in her own room for the first time May 12, 2010

Strollin' with Aunt Megan May 14, 2010

We also went on our first family roadtrip this weekend! We visited Jonathan’s brother Rusty in Yakima and stayed over night. Beatrice did pretty well in the car, but upon arrival in Yakima, she was cranky because she was hungry. While I was nursing her in the backseat of our car, she managed to fill her pants to overflowing and had poo all up her back! Thankfully, I was able to hold a burp cloth back there so she could finish eating and then we went into the restaurant to change her. To add injury to insult, I took her back to the restroom and they had two doors, so I pushed the first one open and went to rush her into the bathroom only to have the door stop on the stupid garbage can and bash her in the head! So I had a hot, sweaty, poopy baby that was now crying loudly! I was also hot and sweaty and crying, but we managed to get her changed and we both calmed down and enjoyed a nice dinner. She seems to be okay in the head so I think we’re clear there and I’m pretty sure the stain came out of her onesie. Oh, parenting. I’m still waiting for the day when I don’t think one of two things: “What a miracle!” or “Crap! Crap! Crap! Crap!” while tearing up a bit.

Wait… wasn’t it just yesterday that we were writing a blog post about little Bea turing one month old? She’s two months old now and growing big and strong.

While she was visiting her grandparents in South Carolina last week, she rolled over for the first time! In the photo above, you can see her trying to do it again. She’s very focused and gets frustrated when she can’t do it, but she gets even MORE frustrated when we pick her up. “Come on, mom and dad,” we imagine her saying, “I was just about to get it!”

Yes, yes, we can see that you’ve almost figured it out, Beatrice. Good job! Bea also loves to try to crawl: she grabs the blanket and pulls forward with her arms while kicking furiously with her little feet. We’re pretty sure she’ll be mobile in no time.

Here’s Beatrice waving from the chair so you can compare her to her one-month picture. She’s really growing! Kelly estimates her weight at around 12 pounds.

She’s also becoming much more aware and interactive–she will stick her tongue out if you do it to her and she smiles and laughs at little games. She can’t reach and grab much yet, but she will bat the occasional book and she’s just starting to notice and try to touch toys.

And, of course, if you’re wondering why little Bea is such a beauty, you need look no further than her mother. Here they are after Bea’s little two-month photo-shoot.

Our little Bea’s growing up so fast. It’s a real joy to be a part of her discovery of the world.

We’d like to take just a moment to thank everyone who brought us a meal over the past month! We enjoyed many fresh and delicious dinners that we didn’t have to plan, shop for, prepare, and serve, and consequently we were able to spend more time just being parents during these first few weeks of Beatrice’s life. It’s been pretty great to have that time and to get to spend time with each of you.

Thanks, friends!