3 Months

Dear Emma,

You were in a great mood and smiling in the most adorable way this morning, so I decided to do our monthly photoshoot right then and there. I gathered your blanket and the camera and headed upstairs, but as soon as I sat you down, your attention shifted to enthusiastically gnawing on your hands.

Dad was getting dressed for work, so I was on my own. I tried again and again to get you to put your hands down and smile, but by the time I could raise the camera again, those tiny fingers were back in your mouth. Within about 5 minutes, the hand-eating had turned your “3 months” sticker into a soggy mess. So yay! This is now officially your 3 month picture! I suppose it’s appropriate, given that it’s a pretty accurate reflection of what you like to do these days.

This month was full of more big events for a little girl. You won’t remember it, but today is election day! Dad and I stood in line for over an hour this morning to cast our votes for a president, senator, representative, and various local officials. Tonight we’ll be parked in front of the TV long after you go to bed to find out if President Obama will stay in office for another 4 years or if Mitt Romney will replace him.

But the closer-to-home events in our lives this month are that I went back to work, and you started daycare! Today was only your second day, but I’m pretty sure your teachers are already smitten with you. They told us this afternoon that you’re a very good baby who only gets fussy when you’re hungry. I can’t claim that you’re always that good at home, so I’m glad that you’ve been on your best behavior at “school” so far!

Today I logged in to the daycare’s video viewing site and watched you lying on the floor mat, wiggling like crazy. There were three or four other babies lying there with you, and you all looked like little turtles who’d gotten knocked onto their shells and couldn’t turn back over. It was pretty funny, and I just sat there at my desk giggling inside my head.

You also celebrated your first Halloween last week! We couldn’t pick just one thing for you to wear, so you ended up with a total of 4 different Halloween outfits including this Piglet costume that I made for you. (I can’t wait to show these photos at a graduation party or wedding rehearsal dinner someday.) You were pretty unimpressed by the trick-or-treating thing — in fact, I’m not sure you even noticed! — but oh, you just wait. In a few years, I promise that you’ll love it!

You continue to grow and develop in leaps and bounds, and it’s so fun for Dad and me to watch. In the past month, you stopped needing to be swaddled! At first, this idea was terrifying to me since swaddling was the one thing that consistently calmed and comforted you for the first couple months. But the transition was surprisingly seamless. One day we noticed you were falling asleep — and STAYING asleep — on the couch without being swaddled, so we started leaving one arm out when we put you down at night. Then both arms.

Each time, we braced ourselves for some sudden wakeups, but you were a champ so after a week or so, we just did away with the swaddle blanket entirely! I must admit that it’s pretty nice to not have to worry about you worming out of the swaddle and waking yourself up, and there’s another bonus too. You’re a warm and somewhat sweaty little girl so you had to be swaddled in a onesie or even just a diaper; now you can wear all the cute pajamas and sleep sacks our friends have given us!

Overall, you are a pretty great little sleeper — I hope I don’t jinx anything by saying that! — but there’s more, of course. Your head and neck control is good enough now that when we hold you on our shoulders, you turn left and right to scan the room, and you can already sit in the Bumbo for a minute or two before you start to wobble (even if you do make skeptical expressions while you’re in it).

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Through the magic of the internet, you’ve been able to see some of your family this month without any travel involved! Your Uncle David helped your Grandmama and Grandfather G set up Skype on their computer in Charlotte and they love getting to see you and talk to you on Sunday evenings. And your Uncle Alex got a fancy new iPhone, so you’ve gotten some quality FaceTime with him and your Grandma R. Maybe by the time you’re a teenager, you’ll be able to teleport to Charlotte or Corpus Christi for dinner! Hey, you never know!

Emma, I can’t believe that you’ve been in our lives for a mere 3 months, because the cliche is totally true — it’s getting harder and harder to remember what life was like before you were here. I know that I had more free time, and I wasn’t as tired, and I didn’t routinely have a hand or shoulder covered in drool, spit up, pee, or poop. But I also didn’t get to listen to you coo, or watch you sleep, or see how your biggest smiles are your entire mouth, wide open, with crinkles in your chubby cheeks that run all the way to your beautiful eyes. If the price for that is a little less sleep, well, baby, I’ll pay it anytime.

Love,
Mama