A Lovely 3 Months

Little Hannah. You have changed so much in the past month in ways that are so endearing and sweet. Dare I say it? This is our favorite stage.

Your traits that I previously would have said were the sweetest things about you have evolved into new "sweetest" things.

It was so sweet when you were a newborn and would curl into a limp ball on our chests to sleep. Your tiny sighs and squeaks were the sweetest!!

Now you will sit happily in your seat or lay on the floor, your eyes roaming around the room and taking everything in. But when your eyes meet our eyes they stop, stare at us for a second and then your face breaks into the biggest smile.

Last week we had an important dinner to attend, so I took a bottle for you so that I could remain a part of the activities even while you were eating. We still ended up tucked away in a room together for your dinner time, and it was the first that you have eaten looking up at me and the room instead of at my armpit. Well, you kind of ate. What you ended up doing instead, after the first few sucks on the bottle, was talk with me. Constantly. You started smiling with the bottle still in your mouth, your eyes on my eyes, and let out a big "Ooooooo. Ooooooo. Hmmmmm. Aaaaaoooooo. Aaaaooooooo. Mmmmmmmm." Over and over, all with a big smile. I kept laughing at you at first, but eventually made myself look away while I was giving you your bottle as to encourage you to actually eat and not just play. As I told your dad about it later, I said, "She loves me."

You have found your hands. Your hands and arms used to behave similar to however your legs were behaving. By that, I mean that if you were kicking your legs around you were also waving your arms and hands around as well. Furthermore, I could tell you were getting sleepy if your arms were drawn in with your hands up under your chin. This was one indicator that I needed to retire you somewhere to doze off to sleep. At week 11 your arms were often drawn up even when you aren't tired, with your fists opening and closing and your fingers clenching one another. If we didn't stick a blanket in your hands then you would eventually, out of boredom perhaps, start sucking on your fist or occasionally a finger or two. You still have the "sucker mark" on your fist. Some people have asked me if it's a birthmark, but I tell them that it is a reinforced hickey.

At week 12 I realized that though you still like to watch us around the room, you are less entertained by it than before, so I pulled out the play gym. You love it. A few of the toys dangle low enough that, even though I don't think you are purposefully swatting at them, you smack them as you are moving around, and then coo and squawk at them as they bounce around. At week 13 you put your fists in your mouth regularly, often trying to get both in at the same time. At week 14 you sometimes will lift your knees up when you are flat on your back, so the archer's pose days are coming to an end.

You are sleeping a 6 to 7 hour stretch at night, and your naps are starting to get shorter, creeping down from 2 hours to 1 hour 15 minutes. We are working on that this week, and trying to stretch out your feedings to 3 1/2 to 4 hours. We hope it's just growth spurt time.

You took your first road trip over Labor Day weekend to Louisville and did so great! We only stopped once on the 5 hour trip, fed you, and were back on our way. There was no crying. The car soothed you to sleep and you stayed that way-a huge improvement from the days where we couldn't even drive for 2 minutes without you screaming. You still don't love the car seat, but if we can distract you a little, which is easier to do now, you get over it.

We discovered on our trip that you definitely prefer to be lay down in your crib to go to sleep as opposed to be bounced or held to sleep. This is sad sometimes when we want to snuggle with you, or your grandparents do, but I also think it's an accomplishment. I remember when you were around 6 weeks old and we were having to walk and bounce you to sleep every time, sometimes for an hour or so, and it was killing my back to be holding you all day. We had to do a few days of crying it out at nap time, which was rough on ALL of us, but after a few days you could get to sleep on your own, and I'm proud now that you will coo a bit in your crib and then drift off to sleep. You also sleep easily and happily in the bouncy seat or swing.

When you want to be consoled now, you like to be down in the crook of our arms and swayed, as opposed to up on our shoulders and bounced. This is different than the newborn days. I wonder if it has to do with how often you are rocked, by me, by your dad, and every time that you eat.

Your "belly issues," if there ever were any, are gone now. I can eat pizza, dairy and everything else. Other than a little gas, it doesn't seem to phase you a bit, at least not compared to before. I was reading an old post the other day where I had mentioned that you had a short fussy period most days, and had to ask your dad about it because I barely remember it. He barely did either. It's nice to realize that we've come past that point now.

At 4 months I started giving your brother cereal. This is crazy to me because you just don't seem anywhere near old enough for something like that yet, and I will probably wait a bit longer with you. I mentioned this to your dad, who remarked that he still kind of thinks of you as a newborn. But you are getting so much bigger. You're wearing 3-6 months clothes, with some room in them, still in 0-3 month shoes though.

Happy 3 months, sweet girl.