Madison: 12 weeks old!

Holy moly!

She was officially 3 months old on December 15th.

As I mentioned before, the first 6 weeks were tough and seemed to go pretty slow.  It wasn't the most amazingly fun time for us as we all adjusted to our new life together.

But the SECOND 6 weeks flew by!  I would love to freeze time so she could stay this stage for a little while longer.  Madison at 3 months has been so much fun.  She's so much more responsive, she's smiling a lot more, she is becoming more vocal, she giggles, she reaches for things, and we are pretty well adjusted to being her parents.

Sleep:  She is doing great.  She sleeps all night, from about 9 or 10pm until 6 or 7am *usually* (because no baby is ever entirely predictable.  Sometimes she'll go back to sleep after feeding until around 9am.  With all the traveling we have been doing, she may wake up at about 4am and then back to sleep until 8am or 9am.  Her naps are inconsistent and usually a bunch of short naps throughout the day.  Hoping that we can consolidate them so mommy can get something done with a bigger chunk of free time.

Eating:  We are still breastfeeding.  I still go back and forth on whether I want to stop sooner than 1 year or just keep going for as long as possible.  It's not horrible like it seemed in the beginning.  I think I've just gotten used to her eating every 2-3 hours during the day now.  Not that it's super fun, but it's good for her and not that difficult since I work from home.  We still give her one bottle of formula before bed.

One of the two biggest worries of a new mom are: Is she getting enough to eat?  Is she getting enough sleep?  I mean, you are all of a sudden obsessed with these two issues.  Breastfeeding makes it difficult because you have no clue how many ounces they are intaking unless you literally weigh them right before and after.  Because I was sick, I had to do formula for awhile, and I had a hardest time figuring out how much she should have.  Many websites don't really say because every baby is different.  I thought this article was helpful.  

Growth:

Birth - 6 lb 3 oz , 20 inches

1 month - 8 lb , 21.5 inches

2 months - 8 lb 14 oz , 23 inches

Just like every parent does about their own, we think she is the cutest, sweetest babe that ever existed.  Bryce is absolutely nuts about her.  He's even woken her up in the morning (with my "okay") just so he could spend some time with her before he left for work.

Having your own child is such a crazy thing.  When she was first born, it was surreal.  We met her for the first time and she met us.  We loved her because she was ours, but we barely knew her.  Ever since then, as we continue to get to know her and her personality starts coming through, every week, my love for her grows exponentially.  We just keep growing together, learning each other, and getting closer.  We often look at her, then look at each other, and say "I can't believe she is ours."

I feel like I can, in a minuscule way, relate to God's love for us so much more now that I have my own child.  She really doesn't do much for me beyond giving me absurd joy every time she smiles or learns something new.  She has given us more trouble and frustration than we expected.  She wakes us up when we wish we could sleep just a little bit longer.  She cries for no apparent reason.  Yet, we have a crazy love for her.  No matter what she ever does to us or for us, it doesn't matter.  We love her so much.  It's pretty amazing.  She is precious.