This month, your little boy or girl will add more body fat, which will make his or her skin look more smooth and less wrinkled. The skin will also begin to take on a little more color!

At this time, your baby's hands are now fully developed, complete with miniature fingernails and the ability to curl his or her fingers into a tiny fist. This week, he or she is probably using these hands to discover different body parts.

Your little one is exploring the environment and structures inside your uterus, including the umbilical cord. The nerve connections to your baby's hands have a long way to go, though. She or he won't yet be able to grasp a big toe, except by accident.

Your baby's eyebrows and eyelashes are now well-formed, and the hair on his or her head is longer and more plentiful. Your baby still looks red and wrinkled, but more fat is accumulating under the skin with each passing day. As your baby continues to gain weight over the next few months, this wrinkly suit of skin will become a better fit.

Your baby's footprints and fingerprints are now formed. And all the components that make up the eyes have developed, but your baby probably won't open his or her eyes for about two more weeks. By 26 weeks, your baby weighs between 1 1/2 and 2 pounds.

By the 27th week, your baby looks like a thinner, smaller, redder version of what he or she will look like at full term.

Your baby's lungs, liver and immune system aren't yet fully mature, but they're getting close. If birth were to occur this week, your baby's chance of survival would be good — about 94 percent of babies born at this age survive. However, babies born this early often face significant health problems, including difficulty breathing, heart conditions, anemia, and physical and intellectual disabilities.

Your baby may start recognizing your voice this week, as well as your partner's. But it's probably hard to hear clearly, given that his or her ears are covered with vernix, the thick, fatty coating that protects the skin from becoming chapped or scratched. It's also hard for your baby to hear through the amniotic fluid in your uterus — similar to the difficulty in hearing under water.

At 27 weeks, your baby is now three to four times as long as he or she was 12 weeks into your pregnancy.

Your baby's eyes, which have been sealed shut for the last few months, may begin to open and close this week. If you could sneak a peek at your baby, you might now be able to determine the color of his or her eyes. But in many cases, baby's eyes change in color during the first six months of life, especially if his or her eyes are blue or gray-blue at birth. So, the color they are now may not reflect what they'll be later in life.

Your baby's brain also continues to develop and expand rapidly this week. In addition, he or she continues to accumulate layers of fat underneath the skin.

Your baby is now sleeping and waking on a regular schedule, but this schedule isn't like that of an adult or even of a newborn. Babies during this period of development probably sleep for only 20 to 30 minutes at a time. Your baby may move less during sleep cycles. You're most likely to notice baby's movements when you're sitting or lying down.

By the 28th week of your pregnancy, the end of your seventh month, your baby is about 10 inches long, crown to rump, and weighs 2 to 3 pounds.