Dear Reid,
You are 3 months old, little boy! 3 months: no longer considered a newborn. No longer a tiny, helpless, squirmy, squeaky baby. All that's been replaced by a chunky, sweet, rolly-polly little boy who lights up the room with his smile and who can melt any heart with those big blue eyes.
This month with you in our lives has been so much easier. You are easing out of the newborn stage and are just more content with life in general. You certainly know exactly what you want, and you have your own likes and dislikes. And, for the most part, as long as we give you what you want, you are a happy little guy. You are a total Momma's boy. There's nowhere you'd rather be all day every day than snuggled up to me. And I love that. You do not like to be put down or left on your own, and you are quick to loudly let us know. You hate your carseat with a fiery passion, and you scream the entire time you're strapped in. You love when I wear you on my body in a baby sling and fuss whenever I take you out.
I've been a lot more relaxed as your momma than I was when Cohen was a baby. I've learned there are no set rules, and I'm not a stickler about most things. You are a go-with-the-flow baby, napping when you can, always on the go (you have to be when you've got a big brother!). We don't have set naptimes or set feeding times: you pretty much just fuss when you need something and we figure it out from there. You typically wake up around 7 or 8 AM, and that's when we start our day. By 9, you're asleep in your swing for a few hours before you wake up starving. You go down for a nap in the Big Bed with me between 1 and 2, and we typically don't wake up until 4 or 5. And then you're ready for bed around 8:30PM. And when you're ready? Oh, you're ready, and you let us know.
You still sleep with me in the Big Bed. You snuggle right up to my side and nurse off and on all night long. We are slowly starting to work on getting you to sleep in your own crib, but I'm afraid that's going to be a long road. The other day, I tried getting you to nap in your crib. It took you a while to fall asleep, and once you fell asleep, you were up and screaming for me 10 minutes later. It's OK if you're not ready to sleep on your own just yet: I'm not ready yet either.
You are still exclusively breastfeeding, and that's working very well for us. You nurse every 2 hours on the dot, but now it really only takes you about 5 minutes to eat before you're done and ready to move on to something else. You love your milk, and it seems to really be agreeing with you: you have grown by leaps and bounds this month! You started the month at 13 pounds, but I'm guessing you are closer to 16 pounds now. You are my chunky monkey, and I adore all of your chub. You have the most delicious little rolls all over your body! You fit well in 3 month clothing, but I am guessing you'll be in 6 month clothing by the time you're 4 months old. You are in size 2 diapers, and I couldn't tell you what size shoe since you've never worn shoes a day in your life.
You are freely giving smiles now, and Daddy got you to laugh one time. You have become such a happy boy this month! When you smile, you smile with your whole body and your eyes sparkle and your dimples pop out. Pretty adorable. You have great head control now and can sit well in your Bumbo. We've tried the exersaucer a couple times, but you're still a little too short to sit well in there. You're working on rolling over from your belly to back, too (although you hate tummy time, so I don't make you work on it as much as I should). You also "talk" to us all day long. You are a very vocal baby.
You are such a light, little boy. Such a sweet blessing. Every morning when I wake up and look into your smiling face, it takes my breath away. I thank God for giving you to us -- you are the perfect fit in our lives, and I cannot wait to watch you grow into the boy and man He has designed you to be.
