Three Months!

Dearest Harper,

You're three months old! Time is flying! It's simultaneously exciting and sad - we love watching you grow and do new things, but we're losing our little baby.

You usually sleep from about 9-10pm to 3-4am, a solid 6 hour stretch, which we hear is good for exclusively breastfed babies. You're using your hands in a purposeful way now, bringing things to your mouth. It's still fairly clumsy, but you're definitely getting there. You love to look at yourself in the mirror. When propped up, you sit up pretty well, falling forward or to the side after a while. You love to watch TV. When you're in your swing, you turn your head to see it. When you're on your play mat and turn your head to see it, sometimes we'll rotate the mat so you're no longer looking at it and guess what you do? Yep, you turn your head back toward the TV! Stinker! You're super good in the car; usually you fall asleep. We drove to visit your great grandparents in Oregon this month, and you slept the whole way there, with a stop for a feeding and diaper change more than half way there. You don't like the car at night though - you cry and cry and cry. I wonder if it's because you're rear facing and it's so dark back there. You are laughing a lot more. Your Auntie Cassie actually had a tickle fest with you! It was so cute! You are still absolutely beautiful, getting compliments everywhere we go.

I return to work in a week - February 2nd is my first day back. It's going to be hard leaving you for 12+ hours, but I have to remind myself that it's only 3 days a week. I get to be with you over half of the week, which is so much better than everyone else who has Monday through Friday jobs. Plus, thankfully, when it's slow at work, you and Daddy can visit.

On Monday we're going to try having you sleep in your own room. You're a noisy sleeper, and with me returning to work, I need to sleep well. It's going to be hard at first I think - SIDS scares the crap out of me. Every night, when I lay you down to sleep, I tell you, "You keep breathing and your heart keeps beating, tonight and every night of your long, healthy life." When you're in our room, if I get nervous, I can lay still and hear you breathe, but with you in your own room, I can't do that. We have a video monitor, but as morbid as it is, dead looks like sleeping. Until I start to feel more comfortable, I imagine I'll make a few trips to your room to check on you.

You're turning into an amazing little girl, my love. You bring so much joy into our lives. Thank you for choosing us to be your Mommy and Daddy.

I love you,

Mommy