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Maggie, 3 months

June 29th, 2007 @ 4:41 pm | Comments
Filed Under: emotional, motherhood, photos

Dear Monster,

I hope you don’t mind that we call you that. You’ll soon learn that in our house, name calling is a way of showing love and affection. And little girl, we surely do love you. Bunches.

Yesterday you turned 3 months old. It is true what all those books and articles said, that after about 2 months or so, this ‘Mom’ thing would get a lot easier. It’s not necessarily easy now, but I don’t want to cry or give up anymore and I rarely get frustrated anymore. Part of that is probably just because you are an incredibly easy baby, so even tempered and mellow (except for when you’re hungry, of course) that we often find ourselves asking each other: How did we get so freaking lucky? We’ve also started talking about our fears for your ’someday’ little brother or sister, that they might not be so easy and boy, wouldn’t that suck? That’s the irony behind the ‘Monster’ nickname, of course- 95% of the time, you are anything BUT a monster. You are a sweet, smiling, gurgling baby.

Now there are those moments where you get mad and seem to have quite a temper (we’re not sure where that came from, neither one of us has much of a reputation for a temper) But it’s usually only when you’re hungry- which is a lot!- or if you’re very very tired and don’t yet realize that if you’d just relax and close your eyes, you’d feel better. And now that you seem to have outgrown your evening-time fussiness (thank goodness!) most days are pretty smooth-sailing. We have settled into a pretty predictable pattern of eating and napping and playing. And you’ve even been fine with your new babysitters on Wednesdays at the daycare. (Your daddy and I joke that as long as someone has a bottle for you, you’re okay with them.) The biggest thing that has made it easier is your nights- you are gradually mixing in more nights of only waking once to eat which does WONDERS for both of our moods during the day :) And you’ve even made it all the way through once.

But don’t worry- I’m not letting myself get lulled into a false sense of ‘My baby is so easy!’ You haven’t started teething or had a cold and you’re not mobile yet. Those days are coming, I know, so I’m just trying to enjoy you in these weeks after the hard learning period and before the ‘Holy Cow My Baby Can Move’ days.

As far as baby milestones and development goes, you’re doing pretty well. All of the books make parents feel like we’re not doing enough to stimulate and promote development, and really a lot of things will just happen almost on their own, and as much as I know this, I still worry that you’re behind on certain things. Which is silly, because… behind what, exactly?

You are excellent at holding your head steady while in a sitting position- you have been doing well at that since 7 or 8 weeks. You love when we sit you up on our laps so you can look around at everything. You like to watch the world around you which is so fun to see. If you’re not eating or sleeping, you are always very busy looking around and kicking your feet and punching the air. And suddenly your hands are your favorite tasty treat.

You aren’t a very big fan of tummy time, but you tolerate it. This is almost a bad thing, because now you don’t really even get mad while on your belly, which when you were smaller allowed you to push yourself over onto your back! But now you just sort of lay there and look at me like, Are we done with this yet, lady? So the whole half-push-up thing that babies your age are supposed to be doing, you’re just not interested.

You are an awesome smiler. Half of the time I don’t even have to do anything, I’ll just look over at you and you’re already grinning at me. And you’re almost giggling now- mostly it just comes out as a cough because you’re just so darn excited! But I think we’re getting very close to getting our first laugh.

There is no doubt that you are our child, because you love watching tv. I’ll catch you turning your head while you’re eating your bottle, trying to look at the flickering light with the sound on the other side of the room. At first I thought it was cute but sometimes I have to turn it off so you don’t get distracted! One night last week, your daddy and I were watching Starsky & Hutch while you slept in your bouncy seat. About 30 minutes into it, I looked over and you were awake, just staring at the tv- not crying or anything, just watching. You stayed like that for the rest of the movie.

And you are growing. My, are you growing! It’s probably because you were pretty small when you were born, but you just seem so giant to me sometimes. And really, you’re only about 11 lbs or so right now, if I had to guess. You’re finally able to wear your 3 month clothes which is exciting- for a while, even your newborn stuff was too big! And I think your eyes are starting to change a little bit. You were born with blue-gray eyes, but your daddy has brown eyes and I have brown-green hazel, and there are lots of greens and browns in your families, so we’re pretty sure you’re going to end up with one of those. Just this week I’ve noticed some hints of green in certain light. No matter what color they are, they are gorgeous when they look up at me! You have very curious eyes which is just awesome.

Your daddy said something yesterday that is so true: we have loved every day of your first 3 months. Even in the early days when I felt physically depleted and my body was still recovering from giving birth and I was exhausted beyond all comprehension, I loved you. I look at you and I am just in awe that I carried you inside of me for so long and now you are here and every day you are changing and growing. I feel so lucky to have been able to do this! And I’m very lucky to be your mom.

comments

1. Melissa
   June 29th, 2007 @ 7:24 pm

   Happy 3-month birthday, Maggie! :)

2. Heather
   June 29th, 2007 @ 10:48 pm

   beautiful Jen!

3. Claire
   June 30th, 2007 @ 10:29 am

   THREE months already?! My, that went fast! What a beautiful letter. She is a very lucky baby :-)

4. Crystal
   June 30th, 2007 @ 12:23 pm

   Happy 3 months!

5. Steph
   July 4th, 2007 @ 3:50 am

   I call Heidi Monster too!!! hehe..
   Happy 3 months - that went fast!