Three Months

Catherine with Aunt Nanny Marah

Excuse me while I celebrate the passing of the fourth trimester (HOOOOOOORAY!!!!).  Forgive me, but I am not one of those moms who enjoys the newborn phase.  I love it when they can smile, sit up, and sleep through the night.  But I promise--I still just adore this little girl!

At three months, here is what The Princess is up to (my Grandma Danice is convinced Catherine is going to grow up thinking her name is Princess):

*Trying her darndest to grab things I hold in front of her.  Mostly it ends with her yelping in frustration.

*Wearing (finally) 0-3 month clothes, with the exception of pants.  Those are still newborn size.

*Talking and smiling all the time.  And LAUGHING!  Her favorite is Pat-a-cake--that gets her laughing so hard!

*Drooling up a storm.

*Insists on being held in a standing position whenever possible.

*Wakes up anytime between 7 and 8 am, stays awake for 45-60 minutes, then takes a 3-4 hour nap.  Yeah, I know.  I'm dang lucky.  But the rest of the naps during the day are totally inconsistent.

*Bedtime is still kind of a struggle for us.  She STILL refuses to go down for the night until sometime between 10 and 11 pm.  It's getting closer to 10, which is great, but it means Jon & I have absolutely no time to ourselves.  Hopefully that will change soon!

*She is usually up twice during the night (2 and 5am, then up at 8 for the day) but occasionally will be kind and only wake up once.  Or she'll be cruel and wake up three or four times with gas.  I hate you, gas.

*She is officially sleeping in her crib at all times.  Unless I'm really desperate--then I'll put her in her swing.  By 5pm you'll do anything to get your kid to nap.

*Her favorite, favorite place to sleep is on our bed.  She spent two weeks napping on it while we babysat a friend's daughter (she slept in Catherine's crib).  If only they made king sized, pillow top mattresses for cribs...we don't call her The Princess for nothing!

*Scratching.  If you have her in your arms, odds are good that she'll spend most of the time scratching your arm.

*Will go up to two days with no poopy diapers.  By day three, we just dress her in something easily removed because we know a poo-splosion is imminent. 

*Forgot how to roll over.  

(Waking up)

(Considers smiling)

(decides to whine instead)

*Wriggle her way out of the tightest burrito swaddle in order to get her fists in her mouth.  But as soon as she gets them there, she gets mad and yells.  I seriously have to re-swaddle her every time she wakes up at night. GAH.

Catherine really is such a joy to have in our family.  She is absolutely the happiest, mellowest baby I've ever met.  I've been back leading music in Primary for three weeks now and she has NEVER needed to nurse during the three hours of church.  So many things about her sweet little personality are just little blessings to me--she's the reason I've been able to jump back into everything so quickly.  We love her so much and love to see her learn and grow.

If she can survive her big brother, that is...