Milestones: Three Months

Three months. Three whole months. Honestly, I can hardly believe we made it here. Obviously I knew you'd continue to age and grow, but in the tough, dark moments of newborn-hood, three months seemed like an eternity away. But here we are...you're no longer a sleepy, squirmy, sack-of-potatoes newborn. You've graduated to a curious, interactive, sweet infant.

When I look at you day to day you don't seem to change much, but when I look back over longer periods (really just weeks or months) I am blown away by how different you look, and how much you can do. There are times that I miss your wrinkly, furry newborn skin, or how you used to sleep nineteen hours a day, without needing so much as a lullaby from us. But I wouldn't trade your new expressions, sounds, or skills for anything. I've heard other parents say that somehow each stage of babyhood becomes their favorite, all for different reasons, and I believe it. You have always had my heart, but as you continue to form your personality, and I get to know you better, I fall in love with more and more.

And because you'll never remember the wiggly, giggly, sweetheart of a girl you are right now, here is a glimpse into who our precious Piper is at three months:

• You weigh 14lbs, are 24" long and your head is 43cm around. (bear in mind this is all by my inexperienced measuring skills- there was no doctor's appointment this month to make it official).
• You are trying to sleep in your crib. Well...more like, you occasionally tolerate us putting you in your crib. Before this month you were sleeping in a pack and play in our room, but we thought it was time for you to make use of your own room, and get used to your crib. You had a few solid nights in there, but still really hate to be put on your back. We elevated the mattress, but I think you still would rather be upright, and I think you've gotten used to be cradled, either in our arms, your carseat, or your bunny bouncer. So rather than fight it all the time, we've given in, and you sleep in your bunny most of the time. At first I was worried that you'll never take to the crib, and we'll have to invest in a giant bouncer chair for when you go off to college, but I've relaxed a bit, and figure for now, as long as you're sleeping, it probably doesn't matter where you're doing it. (Still, I think we'll keep trying the crib....so get ready lady.)
• You sleep pretty well at night, typically going down for five hours or so on the first round, and then following that up with a round or two of three hours each. I won't lie- I'm jealous of moms with babies that can go for longer stretches, but we are getting used to getting up with you, so it's not as tough as it was in the beginning. I'm a little worried about the day when I have to go back to work though...it's going to be tough to be on duty through the night, and then still have the energy to get up and going in the morning. (especially when my naptime opportunities are taken away)
• You charmed me into one more month of maternity leave. I was supposed to go back at twelve weeks, but the last month was getting so fun I wanted to be with you full time for a little while longer. I also feel like we were just getting into a groove (or not quite there yet, when it comes to your sleeping) so it felt a little soon to ship you off to daycare.
• You're trying to get on a schedule. For a while we were just winging it, letting you wake, sleep and eat whenever you felt like it, but now we're trying to be a bit more strict. Our current goal is a three hour rotation- Eat, then play for an hour or so, then an hour and a half nap. It doesn't always work like that (you tend to like to stretch the play part, and shorten the nap part)
• You don't love taking medicine. Each night we have to give you a dropper of vitamins- which, admittedly, smell terrible, so I can only imagine how they taste. You don't enjoy it, but you're learning to tolerate it. We used to give them to you right before a "meal" so you could have a milk chaser, but now you'll take them anytime, and manage to keep about 90% of it in your mouth, which I think is pretty good. The one you're less fond of though is your Zantac. It's supposed to taste like peppermint, but even if it does- you're not a fan. We have to give it to you twice a day, and we're lucky if you swallow half of it each time. You seem to think it's funny to keep it in your mouth and then give us a big grin while it dribbles all over your chin. We try to combat it by squeezing your cheeks to keep your mouth open, blowing on your face to force a swallow, and making "gulp" noises to con you into imitating it. But if all that effort helps you to have less reflux (which I think it does) then it's worth it.
• You have busy little legs. You used to lay quietly for diaper changes, but now you're always on the move! You love to kick, kick, kick! You like to lay on your playmat too and wiggle your little legs as fast as you can. And it seems you just caught on that those crazy little feet belong to you, and you like staring at them as much as you like kicking them. As long as it's not too cold in the car, we'll unzip your carseat bunting, and you'll happily kick and watch and kick and watch until we get to our destination.
• You're getting even better at tummy time. You've always had a strong neck, but you're tolerating being on our stomach for longer periods of time, and sometimes even manage a smile or two in the process.
• You learned to laugh...well...almost. You occasionally make noise while you're smiling, so I count that as laughing. It sometimes turns into crying pretty quick, but it's still a wonderful little sound while it lasts. I love your smiles more than just about anything, and can't wait until you have an honest-to-goodness giggle.
• You're pretty true-to-size, wearing mostly 3 month clothes (the 0-3 sizes are getting a little snug...especially in the length, but the 3-6 month options are still a bit big). You grew out of your newborn sizes pretty quickly (or never fit into some of them to begin with) but then you've been growing slow and steady since then. I'm not exactly sure about the growth charts, but you seem long to me- your pants are always riding up a bit short, and onesies that still fit in the body don't always stretch enough to snap at your crotch. But I love that you're a big baby. You always have a healthy look to you, and I'm a sucker for your chunky little thighs.
• You like to hear me sing. Or if you don't, at least you're too polite to complain. I talk to you all day, and about half of that is in the form of made up songs. I'll narrate what we're doing in a sing-song voice to entertain you, or try to calm you down with a soothing melody. A lot of our play time involves me singing too. We do "Old MacDonald" quite a bit- your favorite is the pig noise. The snort makes you giggle! When we're rocking you to sleep, I often sing G'mi's "Hamburger Song", and recently your dad has been serenading you with "Kiss the Girl" from The Little Mermaid. It's an unexpected choice, but you seem to like it just fine.
• You're a bit vain. Ok, maybe not, but you do love to look in the mirror. It's pretty much a no fail way to make you smile. You like to study other people's reflections too so we have fun after bathtime checking out your beautiful clean self.
• You are a bookworm. We've now made it through almost all the books in your collection. Your taste seems to be on the lighter side, preferring shorter books, with bright fun pictures.
• You like to eat on your terms. Before, you were pretty content to eat whenever I offered...and sometimes even more often than that. But now your schedule is lengthening out a little, and I've learned that you have to be truly hungry, or you'll get distracted and pull off and on the whole time you're supposed to be eating. It's a pretty painful, and a bit annoying, but I do crack up when you catch my eye and give me a big grin. You've suddenly discovered there's a big world out there, and you don't want to miss a minute of the action.
• You're working on sitting up. Ok...with some help. If we steady you, you love to sit and watch the world. Your noggin is still a bit big for your body though, so you tend to topple over easily. We've tried to put you in the Bumbo seat, so you can sit on your own, but you're not a big fan. You tilt your head back, and lean to one side, and it almost always ends in tears within a few minutes.
• You pretty indifferent to toys. You'll happily play on your mat, watching the lights and listening to the songs, but you don't really care to reach for the little dangling creatures we've hung for you. We try to play with toys when you're on our laps too, but for the most part you'd rather watch our faces and "talk".
• You're becoming more flexible about how you're held. You're now content to face out (especially if you're sitting on our laps) and even allow us to cradle you on your side as we rock you to sleep.
• You are experimenting (or at least we are) with different carriers. You used to just like the Baby Bjorn, but now you've gotten the hang of the Ergo as well. I like it a lot better because it disperses your weight better (not saying you're chubby!) but it does get pretty toasty with you all snuggled up on me!
• Your diapers can't always contain a whole night of your messes. We don't like to leave you in a dirty diaper, but we also don't like to wake you up in the middle of the night to change you. By morning you've usually left a few rounds of pee, and sometimes that early morning poo becomes too much, and ends up leaking out the sides. Your poor jammies are in the laundry quite often, and a few of my pants have become casualties as well.

It's hard to know where to stop when writing about you Piper dear. I want to record every blink and sniffle (well, hopefully there aren't many sniffles). You seem to change by the instant, and I want to remember every stage and milestone. We continue to surprise and delight us all the time, and we love you more and more every day.