Mary Kate 3- months

Hey little girl,

I am bad about routines, yours and mine. But since I see you sleeping better and behaving better with a routine in place, I am working on it. I'm also working on keeping better records of these precious few months. So, a week late, thoughts on your 3rd month.

This month you continue to awake to the world more and more. Our best smiles from you come from the changing table (for obvious reasons). You coo and make the g sound and squeal at us. It's just the beginning of your finding your voice and we know genetics alone ensures us that you'll have lots to say in the coming years.

You are sleeping better and better and for this, mama is on her knees in thanksgiving. (As I wrote those words you started crying 30 minutes into your nap. nice.) You sleep from 9:45-10 until 9:30-10 am with a feeding between 5:30 and 6am. I succumed to pressure to put you to bed earlier and that got me 4 nights of 3:30 am feedings. So to the birds that plan went. Mama has the great luxury of staying home with you so if you want to sleep until 10, by alll means. Diet coke and English muffin are consumed with 2 hands happily.

This month mom and dad celebrated our 1 year anniversary and readily help folks do the math. You were not a shotgun baby, my love. We left you with Aunt Rae Ann, only the 2nd babysitter you've had after me-maw. We could have never dreamed we'd get to have you so quickly but wouldn't have it any other way. Now, your brother or sister, we can wait on them. Mom has a loong memory of the first few months with a newborn. But back to you.

You are slowly letting me put you down while we eat dinner or mom cleans. The swing and the bumbo seat buy me 10-15 minutes of peace before you realize there are no hands snuggling your sweet self. You have discovered fans this month and this also buys mom a few minutes of teeth brushing, hair combing in the bedroom. You can see the tv now and if I am not careful, I will easily turn you into a couch potato. You definitely like the lights and sounds of dad's tv. But how you could not see it- that thing is obnoxiously big.

You are still nursing like a champ and this one mostly easy task for us makes me very grateful. You will finally, finally take a bottle without much complaint and for this I am also very grateful. While my favorite place on the planet is with you, some tiny bits of separation are good for mom (and you.)

Some of my favorite sights throughout your 3rd month: clasping dad's shirt while he walks around with you, noticing monty for the first time, your big, huge smiles that make your eyes squint, family talks at night when you coo and make sounds at mom and dad, watching you look at dad while he gives you a bottle, seeing you and dad watch tv, those profiles so similar.

You still really don't like the bath and have discovered that arching your back delays that little bum from hitting the water. Distraction works sometimes and my rendition of "Don't you wish your girlfriend mama was hot like me" got us through a bath without much yelling the other night. Don't judge, you are not the easiest of babies.

You also DETEST your carseat. Please hurry out of this phase love. Back arching also delays the carseat. If you want to be spoiled by me-maw and loved on by aunt roo (translation: never put down), you cannot scream the whole drive to savannah this time. Have mercy on mom, this upcoming trip is solo.

Sometimes to my detriment, I don't read a lot on baby stuff and don't always know what you "should" be doing at this exact moment in your development. The doc has give us her stamp of approval so we'll trust her training. At your 2 month appointment, (which was 3 weeks late, so it was technically a 3 month appt), you were in the 90% percentile for height and 75-90% for weight. While we call you a chub or a tank often, Dr. Combes says much of your weight is in those long bones. Dad may get his volleyball player afterall.  You were 13.5 lbs at that appointment which floored me because 2 weeks earlier you were there with your first cold and you were 12lbs 6 oz. You know what kid, maybe you'll be long and lean like dad's family. Maybe you'll be roly poly kid. Folks loooove to comment on precious chubby babies (I do too). Whatever you are, whoever you become, know a few things please. 1. Jesus loves you just as you are. You are exactly the girl he wants you to be. Love him. He's awesome. 2. Your beauty comes from your smile, your compassion, the way you treat others. And at this very moment, your dad I  think you are radiant. We love your chins (note plural ;) , your rolls, your smile, your cries, your back arches, your squaks, your cuddles, your coos. We love you just as you are, today, tomorrow, in 40 years.

As this 3rd month ended, we saw some welcomed changes in the overall ease of you.  You were not a colicky baby (like granddaddy reminds me I was 30x a day) but no one will ever accuse you of being laid back. It's not really your fault though, no one has ever called mom or dad laid back either. You fit right in to our high energy, sometimes high strung family m'love. But we are enjoying you more and more. And because of you, I never forget to say prayers anymore; because it's impossible to fall asleep without thanking God for the gift that is you.

You at 3 months and 1 day (Brady K's 1 year birthday!) Thanks to his LaLa for the photos because (see above about routines) mom is bad about taking pictures of you each month. Aunt Roo will be all over me about that! 

P.S. today, 10/13/10, you rolled over for the first time. I guess that's what all that squaking was from your crib. You had a trick to show mom! Good job kid!