Alaina at 3 Months Old

Dear Alaina,

It's been three months since you joined our family. Three wonderful, fast, joy-filled months. I was thinking back to my time on bedrest the other day. I remember feeling like those three weeks would never end, and now here we are three months later. It's good for me to remember how fast time flies by so that I enjoy every second of your babyhood.

This past month has been a good one. I feel like we've fallen into a nice routine and life feels normal again. You fit so well into our family and our life, and it's such a good feeling to have settled into a routine with a new baby. You're a sweet, easy baby, and you're pretty good at going with the flow. You're still a great nurser, and you eat about every three hours during the day. You take a bottled of pumped breastmilk fine, but lately you've only been drinking a couple of ounces when we give you a bottle.

At night, I feed you between 8:30-9, and you fall asleep. I transfer you easily to your bed, and you sleep until about 6:30. At that point, I feed you in my bed, and then I let you sleep with me until Aubrey or Jude wake up. I love that time in the early morning with just you. You've been such an amazing sleeper, and that is a huge blessing! Nap time is a little less predictable, just because we're on the go a good bit. You take a short-ish morning nap (about an hour), and then you usually take a really good nap (about three hours) in the afternoon while Aubrey and Jude are having rest time. The evenings are still your worst time of the day. You just get tired, but you won't take a good nap. You catnap in my arms, and that holds you off until bedtime. You still sleep swaddled in the Miracle Blanket, but you're starting to bust out more and more, so our days of swaddling are probably numbered.

You definitely love to be held. You've started going to the nursery at church now that you've had your shots, and the nursery workers even commented on how much you like to be held :) If you're rested and fed, you will sit contently in your carseat or bouncy seat for a little while, but then you get bored and fussy. I spend a large part of the day holding you, and, even though there are times when I wish I could put you down for a while, I'm ok with holding you a lot. Actually, I love it. Since you're my third baby, I feel like I just have a better perspective on how quickly times flies than I did with my other babies. I know that as soon as you're mobile, you'll be all over the place and super independent. I'll probably have to pin you down in order to hold you! ;) So, I'm trying to enjoy these days when you just want to be near me. I'm 100% sure that I'll never look back on the time I spent holding you and regret it. With that said, I can't/don't hold you ALL the time. There are times when I'm tending to your brother or sister or cooking dinner, etc. when I just can't hold you.When there's only one mommy and three babies, it makes it hard to meet everyone's needs at the same time, but I think we're all learning patience in the process. At least, I pray we are.

You're so alert and happy, and you smile so easily. You LOVE to be talked to. You coo and smile, and you've come so close to laughing several times. You've recently discovered your hands, and you suck on them quite a bit. You still aren't a big fan of riding in the car, unfortunately. You usually spend at least a portion of any car ride crying :( I'm hoping you grow out of that and soon!

You have really grown, and I'm starting to look at you and think you look so big. You weigh around 12 pounds, and you wear 3 month clothes. You're in a size 2 diaper, and you don't wear shoes ;) You still have way more hair than Aubrey or Jude did at this age (of course, that isn't saying much - ha!). Your little thighs are starting to get chunky, and it's pretty much adorable.

I joke and say that you aren't going to know what your name is because everyone calls you something different! Daddy calls you "Alaina Ruth." Some people (like Gramzie and your uncles) call you "Ruthie" as a little nickname. (I happen to love Ruthie, and that was actually a name we considered as a first name for you.) I call you Alaina for the most part, but lately I've found myself calling you "Lainey" more and more. Jude still just calls you "Baby." I love all of your little nicknames, and I think you'll just learn to answer to anything. Ha!

This stage that you're entering is probably my absolute favorite. I have always loved babies, and you're definitely still little bitty and totally helpless. But you're more alert and happy and predictable. I've gotten to know you enough to know what you like and how to soothe you when you're unhappy. So, I have the perks of having an infant, but not the stress of having a newborn. That's about perfect in my book! :) Of course, every stage is my favorite when my babies are there. I love you more and more everyday, Alaina, and I'm so happy to have you in my life. You are such a joy.

Mommy