The Brooks Board: Three Months

Dear Ellison -

You are three months old! How is that possible?! You are such a big girl now. You have filled our lives with immeasurable joy and each day brings somthing new and exciting. We could just look at you all day. We make gigantic fools of ourselves just to hear you giggle. You are truly the light of our lives.

You have been a busy little bee this month! It seems like you're learning something new everyday!

You are such a happy girl. You've become super chatty and your personality is really starting to shine! You love to "talk" with us and you get so excited that you'll shriek! It's the best happy scream in the whole world. You are also really trying to mimic us. We swear you're trying to copy sounds and you like to stick your tongue out at us when you see us do it. You coo at us constantly! You'll stretch your little neck out and make sweet little "ooh" and "boo" noises.

You have also started to giggle! It is the sweetest sound! You think your daddy is hilarious.

You are still so happy in the mornings! You will even laugh sometimes while taking your Zantac, which is a definite change from how it goes in the evening!! Your daddy and I like to get you out of bed together whenever we can because you have the biggest smiles when you wake up and neither of us wants to miss it!

Speaking of waking up, you don't do a ton of that anymore! You are a rockstar sleeper and we are so thankful! You started sleeping in your crib when you were 9 weeks and 1 day old. The first night, you woke at 3:45 to eat and then went back down; the second night you woke at 4:45 to eat and then went back to sleep; and the third night, you woke at 4:15, but by the time I got back upstairs with the bottle you had fallen asleep and stayed that way till 7:15! Around 10 1/2 weeks, you started consistently sleeping 7-9 hours overnight. You've even gone as long as 11 hours! You are sleeping in your Halo Sleep Sack with Swaddle wings now and you really like it. You were quite the Houdini when it came to your regular swaddle, and you've even managed to free your arms from the Halo a few times! You are such a wiggly sleeper! I don't know how you stay asleep. Most nights you'll spin 90 degrees in the crib, and we've come in to find you with your head where your feet should be a couple of times too! We can even put you down for naps now while you're still awake and you can soothe yourself off to dreamland. Bless you my sweet child.

Around 9-10 weeks, you had officially grown out of all of your newborn clothes and diapers. That was kind of a sad day. :-( You are still in 0-3 month and 3 month clothes for the most part. Gerber onesies in 3-6 months fit you, but none of your other 3-6 month clothes really work yet. We are between sizes for footie jammies again. How do you grow out of those so fast?! They fit you everywhere else but are way too short! You still have plenty of room in your size 1 diapers.

We didn't have a pediatrician appointment this month, so we don't know exactly how big you are, but I'd guess you're probably somewhere around 13 pounds.

You started eating 5 oz bottles at 10 weeks. Your first night finishing that full bottle bought you sleep from 9:30 pm - 6:00 am! Around 11 weeks, you were able to stretch your daytime feedings to every three-four hours. Before that, you'd wanted to eat every 2 hours like clockwork! We switched you to size 2 bottle nipples at 12 weeks and it has made your feeding move a lot faster. We can usually get you fed, burped, and settled in 20 minutes.

At about 10 weeks, you really started to grab at your toys hanging from your play mat. You started paying lots of attention to your hands around this time too; watching them and reaching out for things. At 11 weeks, you figured out you could get your hands to your mouth and have thoroughly enjoyed chewing on them! You're now figuring out that you can hold something in your hand and bring it to your mouth at the same time!

We tried out your Bumbo for the first time at around 10 1/2 weeks. You hated every second (of the ten seconds you stayed) the first time, but have since come to like it and will hang out for a few minutes before you're ready to move on to the next thing. Do not be alarmed by the photos....we do NOT leave you unattended to chill in your Bumbo on the couch!

Once you started really grinning big, we noticed that you have the sweetest dimple in your left cheek. Your eyes are still a dark, smokey blue and you lucked out by getting your daddy's long, pretty eyelashes.

You also got to experience your first Presidential election. Barack Obama won...that's all we'll say about that. :-)

You have a few silly nicknames. We call you Ellison most of the time, but from time to time it will be Ellie, Ellie Bean, Ellie Belly, Ellie Belle, Boo Boo, and Pumpkin/Punky. Now that we've moved into the winter months, your daddy thinks we should drop Pumpkin and call you Snowflake. :-)

We had a couple of fun visits this month too. Mommy's best friend Lora came to meet you for the first time when you were about nine weeks old. She's having a baby in February, and we can't wait to meet your new best friend or boyfriend! Grammy (who used to be Gammie) came to visit us for a few days. We ventured out to the Southern Christmas Show which was quite the adventure!

You still love your paci when you're feeling really sleepy. It helps to soothe you, but you don't need it. You also really love chit chatting, kicking your legs and flailing your arms around, stroller and car rides (you fall asleep every single time!), and escaping your swaddles. You also have a new found love with your Taggie blanket! You really don't like clothes going over your head, but that's the only thing that really makes you sad.

Tummy time used to be no fun, but you are much better at it now and I think even enjoy it from time to time! You are getting so strong and can hold yourself up with your arms now. You haven't rolled yet, but you move around so much and get lots of momentum when you rock back and forth. I don't think it will be long before you're going from your belly to your back.

When you turned 11 weeks old, we visited daddy at work for the first time. You were a hit and everyone just thought you were the sweetest things. You got lots of sweet smiles and snuggles from daddy's friends.

Thanksgiving was a blast and we had so much fun celebrating your first big holiday together. We spent Thanksgiving Day in Emerald Isle, which is about 5 hours from here! We went to Burlington and spent the night at Grammy and Pop Pop's house on Wednesday night and drove the rest of the way on Thursday morning to break it up a little. You did such an awesome job in the car. You slept almost the whole time! You were probably only awake for 20-30 minutes of the entire trip...there and back! Mommy sat in the back seat with you just in case you needed me and the car was packed to the brim! We celebrated Thanksgiving #2 on Saturday at our house with Grammy, Pop Pop, Gigi, and Grandad.

The biggest thing that happened in our lives this month is that mommy had to go back to work the Monday after Thanksgiving. While it was a huge transition, it wasn't as devastating as I thought it would be and every day gets a little easier. We did two practice days at school before mommy went back to work...and I got all my tears out then, so we did OK when I actually went back! We just love your teachers. They are so sweet to you and you give them big smiles in the morning when we get there. It is such a relief for me to know that you even if you can't be with me all day, you are in a safe, loving environment where you'll learn lots of new things and make lots of new friends. And, having you right on the hospital campus makes me feel a lot better about it too! You're still our sweet, smiley girl so we think you're enjoying school too. As soon as I pick you up in the afternoon you start chatting away like you have so much to tell me!