Three Months Old!

My little punk,

You are three months old today. For a quarter of a year, you have been on the outside learning about the world. I can't believe how much you've grown and how much you can do!

Just three months ago, you weighed 6lbs11oz. A week and a half ago, you were 12lbs3oz! Where did my little baby go? We had to move most of the 0-3 month clothes out to make room for the 3-6 month clothes. They are a little big but it's more comfortable for you to have "room to grow" than for everything to be stretching out. You have long legs and a tiny little bum, so your cloth diapers still look so big sometimes. You are getting big for the infant prefolds but we are using them anyway because the one-size AIOs are still so huge.

You are a tummy time champ. You can tell that your mama worked in Early Intervention because you are the best tummy timer in the whole mama-and-baby group we go to on Thursdays. You are really starting to become interested in toys and will occasionally reach for something if it is dangling really close to where your eyes are anyway. You are a good tracker when you are interested and you like to watch people leave the room. You haven't really noticed the cats yet.

You have such a cute smile and a really infectious laugh. Sometimes it's hard to get you to laugh but when you do, it is all worth it. You laugh at the wall in the nursery, you laugh at the green giraffe on the bouncy seat, and you laugh when you are splashing in the bath. Sometimes you laugh at mama when she sticks out her tongue. Mama laughs when YOU stick out YOUR tongue!

You have a little gang of babies from the mama-and-baby group that you like to hang with. The other day you were at the park with Baby Anna and it was so cute to see the two of you checking each other out. Both of you starting cooing and your mamas were so happy! You also like Baby Ella and Baby Glenn and Baby Kate and Baby Austin.

Mama nursed you for three months with the help of a lot of medication, and she decided to stop taking all of the pills since it wasn't helping much. Her milk is almost all dried up now and she hopes you won't forget all of the sweet nursing time you shared over the last three months. You have gotten donated milk from your fake-aunt Emily and from some foster mamas and now Austin's mama is going to give you some milk. So many mamas love you, little punk, and want you to get big and strong.

You want to kick and move all the time. It is so great to see you getting so strong, but all of that moving around has really sent your reflux into overdrive as your sphincter muscle can't keep up with your activity level. When you are really active, you sure do spit up a lot! Sometimes it goes really far! Spitting up makes you sad and it breaks mama's heart to see you cry. Mama started taking you to a chiropractor to see if that will help with the reflux, and we are just waiting for that day when your stomach is strong enough to keep all of your milk in. You also have a mysterious case of petechiae that no one can explain, so mama has to take you to a pediatric dermatologist an hour away! Everyone just wants to look at you, I think.

Everyone says you are a beautiful baby, and I am inclined to agree. As you grow and change I can see more ways that you look like me, though you have features that are all your own, like the dimpled chin and your stick-out ears. You have a small head like your mama and we definitely have the same mouth. We are waiting to see if your eyes change color or if they will stay blue.

You have really changed my life and baby girl, sometimes I don't think I am strong enough to be your mama. I just want to be able to be and do and fix everything, and everytime you cry, a little part of my heart dies. It's a good thing it's big enough because it's so full of love for you. You and your pretty smile are the light of my little life. Thank you for choosing me to be your mama!