Three Months

Lincoln,

You are three months old! When I think about how much you've grown, I can't believe it's all happened in just 13 short weeks.

You love bath time. One day you were fussy all afternoon, so I decided to leave you in the tub as long as you were at least content. You lasted 30 minutes before I finally decided that the water was cold enough that I should take you out! You kick your rubber ducky and splash, splash, splash! We have to mop up the floor afterwards. You're still taking baths in your baby tub over the sink, but it won't be too much longer before you've outgrown that.

Your self-imposed bedtime is still 8:00, as long as we're home. If we're out and about, you still have to have your bedtime routine of clean diaper, nursing, and swaddle whenever we get home. Typically, you sleep until 6:00 a.m. During the day, you will be awake for about an hour to an hour and a half at a time, then you fuss for a nap. You get swaddled, rocked, and (usually) read to before you are actually ready to go down. I usually can put you down awake as long as you're calm. And, really, neither of us mind rocking and snuggling for a bit at nap time. Nap length is still a toss-up, anywhere from 1 to 3 hours. We did hit a rough patch this week with naps - as in, they were practically nonexistent for a few days. We're hoping that it's a growth spurt or something so you can get back to a little bit of sleep during the day. 

Your head is still just a little bit wobbly, but for the most part you hold it up and lift it well. When it gets tipped backward, though, you can't always bring it forward on your own. You love to sit and stand with support (either someone holding you or in the bumbo). You're pretty strong and mostly just need help with balancing. During tummy time you've started to act like you're trying to roll over but aren't quite there yet. I think what you really want is to creep and crawl, not roll to your back, so you spend most of the time trying to do that. Sometimes you get frustrated that your body won't do what you want it to.

You also have the one eyebrow raise down pat, with both eyebrows! I can only do it with one, so I'm impressed. 

Whenever you get a chance, you are working with your hands. You are getting much better at doing what you want with your arms and legs, instead of flailing. You hold hands with yourself, suck and chew on them, and have started grabbing certain things - the rings on your car seat and in your pack and play, our fingers, blankets (especially your swaddle), and a little blue monster. It's fun for us to watch you start to play. You will shake the rings and blankets and put them in your mouth to suck or chew on. Just this week you've started rubbing your eyes with your hands when you're really, really tired. It's pretty adorable.

You continue to smile a lot, laugh, and "talk" (especially when I'm singing to you). Your "vocabulary" is increasing but it's hard to write the sounds you make; "ah," "g," "l" are the three most common.

You don't have a doctor's appointment this month, so I'm not sure how much you weigh. I'm guessing it's close to 13 pounds based on your previous growth. I measured you at home this week, and I was so amazed that I had to do it four or five times - 25 1/4"! That's a whole inch and a half since your May appointment. I've put away most of your 0-3 month clothes, but there are a few that still fit. You also wear 3 month (which are getting a little snug), 3-6 month, and 6 month, depending on the brand. Your cloth diapers are still on the smallest snaps; sometimes they're a little snug at the waist so I do an "in between" with one side on the next largest setting. 
 

We realized when you were a couple of weeks old that you have a blocked tear duct in your left eye. There's nothing we can do about it until either six months (according to your primary care doctor) or one year (according to an optometrist friend) other than massage it with a damp washcloth. It seems to be getting better, but there are still some times when you wake up and can only open your eye halfway because of the "goop."

Other things I want to remember about three months:

• your little feet hang off the end of the pillow when you nurse.
• smiles, smiles, and more smiles - sometimes just because we say "hi" to you.
•  when you wake up, you stretch your arms as high as they can go and your legs as far down as they can go, making your whole body so stiff.

We love you, Lincoln, and it's exciting to think of everything the next few weeks have in store. Here comes month four!