Lily Who from Whoville

It's been about a month (2 1/2 months old to 3 1/2 months old) since I last blogged about my own progress as a Mom to Lily. I think the best way to sum up my progress is to simply say that my heart has grown wiser. There was definitely an obvious turning point at 3 months; It was a combination of Lily adapting to our environment and me gaining a healthy supply of experience to more confidently handle what Lily throws my way. It feels like my heart has more room these days to cherish whatever the day brings instead of seeking out and cherishing only the really good moments....like the one below of Lily looking like she came from Whoville (Dr. Seuss).

As for some examples of why it became easier around the 3 month mark, I have a few. 1) I can now put her down in her rocking chair for as long as it takes to cook dinner and eat it which means Nate and I now eat dinner together again. 2) We're putting her down to sleep awake but drowsy so I no longer pace the house with her in my arms. 3) She doesn't mind the car seat now (Montana trip was the turning point). 4) We don't go to bed with Lily anymore so it's nice to get some down time to ourselves. I'm reading books again! 5) She smiles so much now, she doesn't have as much time to cry.

Her nap routine isn't quite there yet but I'm starting to see signs of it. She might have a day full of 30 minute naps and then the next day have a solid 2.5 hour nap. Lily is usually awake for about 2 hours between daytime naps.

We have a consistent bedtime routine now which seems to be working. We tried including the bath as part of her bedtime routine but we're already giving that up; we're too lazy. At this point, I feed her, we read to her, and then we sing Eternal Flame by the Bangles to her. Yeah, you read that right. We sing a cheezy 80's song to our daughter to help her fall asleep. It worked well to calm her when I was pregnant so why stop a good thing. Just in the last few days, we stopped swaddling Lily at night. We were so scared we'd ruin a good thing but Lily didn't care, no effect whatsoever. As I type, Lily is sleeping away in her new crib (thank you Craigs List). We thought we would be able to keep Lily in a cosleeper for 6 months but she's getting too big for it and we'd like to not whisper in bed, tiptoe around her, and stumble around in the dark anymore.

I do have one quick funny story to share with you. This afternoon when Lily was napping in the next room, Nate and I were putting together her crib as quietly as possible. Nate accidentally hit a toy that started playing music that doesn't turn off until the song ends. To muffle the sound, Nate decided to put the toy down his pants. Things parents will do for their kids.

I'll leave you with one more picture of smiling Lily beginning her bedtime routine. Pay no attention to Gigi licking herself inappropriately in the background.