3 months

 Can you believe it?  I can't. She is growing up so fast....

But seriously, she is already 3 months old?  Isn't it funny how time draaaaaaags by when you are pregnant and it feels like you will be pregnant forever?  The best parenting thought/advice I have gotten was: "The days are long, but the years are short.  Cherish each day."  I haven't experienced the "years" yet, but I can already tell it's true.  Sometimes it seems like her bedtime will NEVER get here....but it also just seems like yesterday that I was taking her 2 month pictures!   I already wish I could go back in time and hold that little puny 4 pounder.  She weighs 10lbs 6oz today.  Suppose to triple birth weight by a year?  Psh. 

We have turned a few corners recently.  First of all, I think slowly but surely, she is outgrowing her colic.  It really feels like she is getting better each day.  She still has her fits, and I have my breakdowns but she is getting better.  Sometimes she is so content that I really don't know what to do with her.  Should I be teaching her something?  Playing with her?  How do you play with a baby?   She never lets me worry about it for too long though.  Second, remember when I told you about the bedtime routine that turned disastrous?  Well, I decided I needed to give it a fair shot since she was sick...so we have been doing it since then, and it has changed. my. life.  Seriously.  She is asleep by 7:30 or 8 each night!  AND since we have been consistent, she doesn't even fight!  There's still a big fit after the bath and she still hates book time...but I think she hates it less than she did at first.  I still feed her at least once a night, sometimes more, but its not so bad.  I know one day I will miss it.  She actually slept 9 hours without eating last night.  Stephen and I both woke up at 4:30 in shock.  Now, she's not sleeping perfectly...I was still up most of the night a few days ago, but she is getting better and better.  She has even put herself to sleep THREE times now!  And just for going public with this info, I am sure she will give me an eventful night tonight.  

I think she is going to be type A.  She is just a little ball of stress.  Even when she is happy, she is stressed.  She will get so excited and be kicking her legs and waving her arms and screaming (happy screams) until she works herself up to a cry.  It's actually kinda funny.  So when she is extra excited, we just take breaks with her pacifier periodically.  Seriously.  As soon as it seems like she is a little too worked up, I pop it in, she relaxes a little bit, then we can go back to being excited.  She also does this when she is standing up.  She gets so intense when standing on my lap, trying to walk on me, and then she gets frustrated.  So I pop the paci in and she just crumples.  It's like if she is sucking then she has no muscle control.   I can't believe there was a day I considered going "no paci."  Stupid. 

Doesn't she just look like she is trying to manipulate me in this picture?  She is, I am sure.  Stinker.  Last week we were having a rough day and I was desperately trying to get her to take a nap- which is nearly impossible- and I was trying to cheer myself up.  And the thought popped in my mind of Blakely walking and talking.  Not like walking in 9 months...walking and talking NOW.  Like a big person.  And I just pictured little Blakely walking around our house just bossing us around.  I laughed out loud.  So take a moment and picture this little squirt walking up to you, tapping you on the shin and giving you a piece of her mind.  Cause that's what she would do if she could walk and talk.