Three months!

I feel slightly in a daze at the moment, simply because I am sort of tired. It's time for the "afternoon pot" of coffee, except that I gave that up a long time ago. Maybe it's time for the 2nd liter of water, instead.

Things have been going well here. We just spent time with the family yesterday for Labor Day, which was fun. The Morrises were there, too, which made it more entertaining than just our immediate family. Sam and I were sort of surprised when we had eaten basically only one meal all day - a rather huge one, at that - and were still not hungry when we went to bed. We ate pretty steadily from three till five PM, though, which may explain things.

Today is Elizabeth's three-month birthday! It's hard to believe that she's been with us for three whole months. And at the same time it's hard to believe she hasn't been here with us forever.
Sunday night we put her in her crib to go to bed for the first time ever. Since she goes in there mostly asleep, she doesn't have a problem with it. Then when she wakes up (usually around 3 or 4) I move her into her play yard in our room. And then when she wakes up the second or third time (usually around 7 AM), I just drag her into bed with us, where she snoozes off and on for another hour or two. In all, she has been sleeping at least 6 hours at a time at night, then another 3-4, plus 1-2. This is wonderful, and we thank God for her capacity to sleep at night.

Elizabeth's day-time sleep capacity is another story. I have learned to accept the fact that she sleeps no longer than 30 minutes at a time during the day. It's just the way it is, and as soon as I came to terms with that (it took me until she was 10 weeks old), I was much less stressed, since I had different expectations. Now when she sleeps longer (like 45-60 min) at a time, I am almost beside myself.

Right now, I should be making a grocery list and planning meals for the rest of the week. But since Elizabeth is in one of her naps (in her crib, I might add), I feel like it's more worth my time to record a bit about her progress as a little person. The grocery shopping will probably not get done today, anyway, so why stress? If anything, I can put her down at 9 tonight, and run out then.

Over the last few days, we have discovered that walking with the stroller outside is a secret weapon in getting E to fall asleep without nursing. On Friday she and I met Sam for lunch, and after lunch, I decided to stop in to Old Navy. While I walked through the parking lot, and then through the store, E kept getting more and more sleepy, and within about 15 minutes, she was out. So, like any sane woman, I took full advantage of the opportunity, and tried on jeans! Glory to God, I found a pair that fit wonderfully, and they are the same size I wore before she was born (albeit a slightly different shape). The same thing happened on Saturday when we went to a wedding shower for a couple at church. Elizabeth had come to the end of her rope, so I took her outside in the stroller and walked around the building a time and a half. By the time we had cooled off the car and were ready to leave, she was sleeping again.
So today we took advantage of the concept by talking a walk around the neighborhood this morning. She enjoyed the fresh air and the sights, and by the time we got back after 20 minutes, she was asleep.

Two weekends ago (Aug 29th-ish) she laughed for the first time. She had been doing a sort of squeal, which you can't really count as a laugh. This one was a full giggle: "heh-heh-heh-hehhh." Kisses make her giggle. And blowing on her chest or belly will also do the trick.

She is very good at grabbing things with her hands now; she can pull toys to her mouth, and she strains and reaches toward things that are out of her reach, especially things on the table when we sit with her on our laps. Today she was all about the allen wrench on the table while we ate lunch. We also set her in her Bumbo seat next to a fridge pack of Cokes, and she played with the box. It had a loose flap, so she maniuplated it happily for at least 7 minutes. Stuffed animals, especially a light tan puppy who jingles, are favorite toys, and she will talk to them, and lick them and smile when they "kiss" her mouth.

Elizabeth now almost entirely refuses to be reclining; she has to be sitting upright. No more of that business of laying back on my knees. Instead she pulls herself forward and wants to sit up. Because of this, we have put away her bouncy/rocker seat, and have replaced it with her Exersaucer. We call this thing her "command station" because of the way it sits her in a cockpit of sorts. She holds herself up on her feet, turning herself to play with different toys on the different sides of the "station". Sometimes her turning is accidental, but for the most part, she is very good at being in command of what she plays with. The funniest thing is that she can go around the toy a couple of times playing with its different parts before she gets bored with it. The joy of no object permanence yet is that every time she sees a different side, it's a new toy. Oh, wow, this toy is over here!

Smiling is probably Elizabeth's favorite thing to do. She smiles at faces, whether they are real people, pictures of babies, her reflection in a mirror or car window, cartoon shapes of baby faces, stuffed animals, or the dogs or cats. She loves faces. In the last few days, she has taken to smiling at Jessa, and if we're close enough, she will reach forward and pet her. Jessa has no concept that this is a human being, from whom food may be begged in the future. Oh, but she will learn.

With all of these amazing milestones, it is not hard to be more and more infatuated with this little girl. So of course, Sam and I can't keep telling each other and everyone about how wonderful she is. We're quite smitten.