Three Months!

Dear Adeline Grace,

            Three months, baby girl.  Three months! You aren't considered our newborn anymore, and that's so odd (and sad) to say.  Wow how you have changed this past month! I know I will say this every month, but you are so much more full of personality and spunk this month.  You are just way too much fun and we want to kiss your sweet cheeks all the time!
 

So what have we learned about you this month and what have you been up to in your third month of life?

Once again, you have had many firsts

-On 1.10.12 you took your first road trip! You ventured to Ft. Myers, FL with your mommy, daddy, Grandma and Grandpa.  We met your Gee and Papaw there and had so much fun that week! You were great in the car and slept most of the time! While there, you went to the beach for the first time, to the pool for the first time (the water was too cold for you to get in), and we shopped gobs and ate out a lot! You were so content all week and slept great! We also visited Sanibel and Captiva islands.  During the trip you really started saying a hard G sound a lot.  You also started interacting a lot with your toys and hitting them to make them light up and make sounds!

-On 1.19.12 you let out your first loud shriek! You got your mommy and daddy's attention with that!

-On 2.3.12 your mommy and daddy went on their first date night since you were born.  Your Grandma and Grandpa came to the house and stayed with you.  They had so much fun with you and couldn't get over how much you talked to them!

-On 2.7.12 you had your first play date! We visited Page and Selah, had lunch together, and played.  You enjoyed taking it all in and talked to me a bunch about it later that day!

This month you also:

-Really found your thumb and are showing signs of enjoying that over your paci.  You will often knock your paci out of your mouth or grab it and pull it out to put your thumb in.  Sometimes you will even hold your paci while sucking your thumb on the same hand...you are so loud sometimes when you do this and it's adorable!

-Starting talking up a storm! Oh my, girl! You love to talk and carry on very important conversations with us!

-Started holding onto and grabbing toys.

-Started rolling to your side with ease...it doesn't matter if you're on your back or belly.

-Really increased your smiles! You love to smile at people and think they are so funny when they talk to you.  You especially smile huge all the time at your mommy and daddy--melts our hearts!

-Discovered your feet.  You aren't sure how to get them to your mouth, but you are very interested in them!

-Started this new thing where you put your hand over your face when you are getting sleepy.  It seems to help you self-soothe and get to sleep.  It's adorable.

-You became a TV junkie! No matter how we position you, your little eyes find the TV.  We really work hard to keep you from watching it...but sometimes it's so adorable how your get fixated on it, that we let you watch for a few minutes.  It cracks us up every time.

So what do you like and dislike?

You love…

-Being held looking out

-Being talked to but mainly talking back

-Reading books and listening to music (you now look at the pages and even touch them and move them when you can)
-Your bouncy seat

-Sucking your thumb and just about anything else you can get to your moth

-Moving (you love when we walk around with you)
-Morning time (you are such a little morning person still!)
-Your "taggie" blanket
-Looking at the mobile in your room and talking to it before taking your naps
-Being in the Moby wrap facing out
-Your changing table and being naked
-Your baths...you splash like crazy and get us and the bathroom soaked

You dislike…

You are such a happy-go-lucky, laid-back baby...it's hard to come up with this list!

-Swinging when you aren't drowsy.
-Being on your tummy for too long.
-Scratchy beards...when your grandpas kiss you or touch your face or hands to their beards, you get a really pouty lip look that turns into tears.
-Rocking if you aren't already sleepy.

What are your sizes?

You are completely out of newborn clothes...so sad! I have packed them away.  You are still in some 0-3 and 3 months (mainly) but you are starting to venture into 3-6 months.  I do have to roll your sleeves and pants quite often...it's your sweet little chunkiness that puts you up in size.  You are in size 1 and 2 diapers when in disposables and are in your one-size cloth diapers on the smallest snap settings.

You weigh 12.5 lbs. and are 22 inches in length.

What are your eating habits like?

Well you still enjoy your eating! :) You are very verbal when you get hungry.  You go quickly from a happy baby to a mad baby when you are ready to eat.  You get yourself so worked up sometimes so quickly that I have to walk around with you to get you to start eating and then sit down once you've started and you're settled.  You are an intense eater with gobs of noises! :) You are now stretching your daytime feedings to about three hours a piece.  We are just now starting a little "routine" to try to get your feedings closer to predictable times for when your mommy goes back to work.  So far this is working well.  You dropped your feeding that you wanted around 11 or 12 at night.  You were going from 8ish to 5ish without a feeding, but just in the last week or so you have started wanting to eat 2-3 more times during the night.  Maybe it's a growth spurt? You are still only breastfed and only take bottles when someone else is watching you. You eat about 8 times a day for about 10 minutes each time.

How is your sleeping?

This month you've been given the nickname "cat-napper" because you have started taking 30-45 minute naps at the most.  You wake up happy from them, so I'm not concerned.  You have grown leaps and bounds in your ability to self-soothe and get yourself to sleep.  For naps, you probably take about 4 or 5 naps a days which usually come after eating and some awake/play time.  You will occasionally drop a nap during the day and play through to your next feeding.  You now take all your naps in your crib--whoo hoo--and rarely nap in your bouncy seat or swing.  We turn your mobile on (without the music) and you watch that while listening to your sleep giraffe with safari sounds.  You talk for a little while and then go to sleep as along as we make sure to keep putting your pacifier back into your mouth.  You are absolutely adorable when going to sleep! At night, (knock on wood), you never cry when we lay you down.  You either instantly close your eyes or jabber for a bit and then go to sleep.  You sleep at night in your bassinet.  I feel like we really mastered a nighttime routine this month (it seemed to start working for you when we were in FL).  I think you are finally starting to realize when it's close to bedtime and the routine is now predictable for your little body.  You get your PJs on, get changed, I feed you, you take your vitamins and gas drops, we rock while reading a book (that you now pay attention to), and then we sing and pray while I rock you.  We put you down drowsy into your bassinet in our room and you go to sleep with your paci and sleep sheep.  You were sleeping through the night, but I guess due to your growth spurt, aren't right now.  That's okay.  And you still wake up so excited and happy...talking up a storm! (Although every minute is special...It's my favorite time of day with you because you are so, so excited and happy.)

So what makes you, you this month?

You are just so special to us.  We are having so much fun starting to "figure you out" and really get to know this sweet little girl that God blessed us with.  I end every day in our prayer thanking God for another day with you...because every day is truly a gift that we don't take for granted.  You are so sweet, make others feel like you just love them like crazy and you already have a gift of making others feel so special when they look at you and you smile and talk to them, and you are learning new things daily.  If we could stop the clock, we would freeze you here...but we know all the days ahead will be even more special than the days before.  You are so loved baby girl.  So loved!

                                                                                                    Love,

                                                                                                    Mommy and Daddy