Quarter turn

It’s bittersweet to see the infant disappear, and the “plain ol’” baby emerge….

But, oh, what a wonderful baby she is!

  
Dear Erin,

Your personality blossomed during your third month here with us, and the sunshine you’ve brought to our home is unmatched – even by the relentless, 100+ degree solar rays beating down on Nashville all July (the hottest on record for Music City).

You smile, and smile, and smile some more.  You blow bubbles, and sing in the sweetest tone I’ve ever heard.  And you know how to rock out a photo shoot, poses and all.

 
At three months, you are sleeping (pretty much) through the night (if by “night” you mean “the sleep time that ends at 5 am”), but I’m not complaining.  After you eat three or four ounces at dawn, you go back to sleep for a few hours and wake up, happy and ready to tackle the day.  Or not. ;) 

 
You wake up more like mommy.  You don’t want a whole lot of stimulation (talking to, or, in general, attention from Seth) and you like to be snuggled and rocked for a bit after you get a dry diaper.

You seem to like your day sleep as much as your night sleep, too.  You take a mini-cat nap in the morning, usually around 10 am, but then you give me a three-hour+ nap in the afternoon, usually between 2 and 6 pm.  THANK YOU!  Thank you for timing this with Seth’s permanent drop of his afternoon nap.  You won’t know for many, many years how much this helps Mommy get through the day.

You are eating about 4 oz. on average, and you are starting to watch us intently while we eat table food – just about the same time your brother started to take notice.

  
Kendra has introduced cereal to your just-a-few-weeks-older buddies Luke and Abbey; I’m thinking you aren’t too far behind.  What an adventure that’ll be, huh?

You got to spend some brief-but-quality time with Nonna and Papa this month.  I think Papa is pretty taken with you.  (Maybe it’s because you look like him – chubby and bald!)

 
You also got to have a special moment with your mommy, grandma, and great-grandma:

 
You make a four-generation dream come true, sweet bug.  No one loves you more than these women, I promise.

You are moving like crazy.  Your back-and-forth rolling has turned into army crawling.  Now we just need to work on going backwards; you crawl yourself right up the edge of furniture, and then get M-A-D that you can’t go any further!

Erin, I love you.  I love everything about you.  Your little clenched hands (what’s up with that, by the way?), your hair (or lack thereof), your herniated belly button, your gorgeous baby blues, your pouty lip, your laugh.

 
I am so glad you are my daughter.

Love, Mommy

Yes, this post is WAY overdue.  Life’s been crazy….blah blah blah. ;)