3 Months

Dear Charlotte,

The days are flying by and here we are, already three whole months into our life together. I feel like you just arrived yesterday, and that you have always been here. Funny how that always seems to happen.

In the last month, you have turned the corner from newborn to baby and I gotta say, it’s pretty great. After hitting peak fussiness between 9 and 10 weeks, you have settled into being a seriously happy little girl. You are so smiley, and have even started to give us a few chuckles now and then. In the morning when I get you up, you greet me with a huge, gaping, gummy grin. It always gets my day off to a good start.

And speaking of getting up in the morning, you deserve some applause because you are sleeping fantastically well. For the last several weeks, you have slept from 8:00 until 11:30 in the swing in the living room as Dad and I putter around. Then after another bottle, you sleep soundly in our bedroom until Emma comes running in at 7:00. I keep thinking about moving you to your crib in your own room, or trying to wean you off the swaddle, or not letting you sleep in the swing anymore — all things that we had done with Emma at this point. But you are a different person, and I definitely don’t want to mess with the good thing we’ve got going right now!

However, there is one thing that I’m hoping you grow out of soon, and that’s your complete distaste for being in your car seat. It doesn’t matter whether we’re driving or just walking — you are not really a fan. It’s worse in the car, and I’ve chalked it up to you just not liking the fact that you can’t see anyone else when you’re back there. Like I mentioned last month, you really do like to be in the midst of family activity, and you can’t do that when you’re facing the back of a seat.

In happier news, your big sister continues to adore you. She loves to give you your pacifier when you cry out, and always wants to hold you and give you kisses. And fittingly, you save some of your biggest smiles for her (like in the picture above). I hear “Mommy, Charlotte’s smiling at me!” often and it never fails to make me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. I’m so glad that you have a big sister, and that she has you.

I went back to work this week, and it was harder than I expected. Although I have always known I want to keep my career, we had developed a nice little routine over the last month and the realization that those days are done affected me in a way I didn’t anticipate. It’s been hard this week to say goodbye to your newborn-ness and to our weekdays together as just the two of us.

And so this week when I get home from work, I’ve been snuggling you more than ever, letting you fall asleep in my arms, and basically rubbing my face all over your little head like a crazy person. This certainly won’t be the last time I do anything crazy, so you might as well get used to it now. And if I’m still trying to snuggle you as a teenager, well, now you’ll know why.

Love,
Mama