Three Months Already...

Ellie turns THREE months old today. *sniff*. Time is going by much too quickly. It certainly does not seem as though it has already been three months since she was born. And here we are...almost to her first Thanksgiving...out of that newborn stage and into full baby mode. She is growing and changing by leaps and bounds! While I don't have an exact weight on her, I'm guessing that she is near the 12 lbs mark...she feels much heavier nowadays. She grasps at objects, plays wildly in her little gym; kicking her legs and batting at her toys. And she has begun to hold long 'conversations' with me. Last night, in fact, I was awakened at 1:45 (not a normal time for her) by the sounds of her little voice chatting it up in her crib. Must've been talking to her teddy bear??? I debated about going in or not, but decided to in the end, and found her happily awake, staring at that special teddy my mom bought her and just talking away. Soooo cute...even for 2am! :) I decided to nurse her then, since she typically wakes around 3 or 4 for a feeding, and then put her back down. I knew, of-c0urse, that since she had awakened so much earlier than normal, I was destined for an early wake-up call this morning. Sure enough, when 5:15 rolled around, Ellie was ready for breakfast. I, on the other hand, was not. :( So, we opted for 'breakfast in bed' while I tried to catch a few more zz's, which also didn't happen. Oh well!

Last night was reminiscent of her earlier days of waking often in the night. I wonder if she is going through a developmental growth spurt, which made her wake more frequently. I remember when Luke was tiny, his sleep was almost always interrupted when he learned new skills. Kids are odd in that way. But Ellie is following the same pattern as her brother in that arena too. I just hope she goes back to her norm of waking just once to eat and then happily drifting back to sleep for several more hours. She actually slept completely through the night last Saturday, for the first time. 7:30pm to 5:45 am! A feat she has yet to replicate, but I now know she is capable. And while her wake time is pretty consistent every night, it is obvious to me that she is still quite hungry and still not yet ready to drop that feeding. I am watchful that she is not developing a 'habit'...for now I'm still pretty convinced its not.

Her temperament has changed little since she was so tiny. She is still quite a mellow, joyful baby. She is easily soothed and content most of the time. How blessed are we?! She has started to be more vocal when she's uncomfortable, tired or hungry, but even then she is such a easy-going kiddo. The only area in which we (I) struggle with her is in taking a bottle. She refuses. :( We have made several attempts to get her to take one, simply so that I can leave for more than 2 hours at a time, and more accurately, so that Ty and I can go away over night for our anniversary that is coming up in two weeks time. But Ellie will have NOTHING to do with a bottle of breastmilk. She wants it from the source. I find it very ironic that when Luke was tiny, I struggled so much in getting him to breastfeed and not bottlefeed, whereas with Ellie, I can't seemed to entice her to the bottle at all. Oh how very opposite my kids are in so many ways! So, with my lofty goal of a romantic night away with my dear husband in mind, I ventured to Target yesterday to purchase two different types of bottles, to see it maybe...just maybe they might work better for her. We'll see. I think we'll (ahem....Ty) will start 'bottle-training' her today. Once a day from now until the 30th will hopefully help. I pray that it does! This night away, on our 5th anniversary, is very important to me. Its been much too long since I've even been able to have a date with my husband, let alone a full 24-hours alone with him. We desperately need some time to reconnect. So, if you could, please say a little prayer for success! :)

Well....in looking at the clock, I see that its time for Miss Ellie Belly to go back to bed and for Master Luke to wake up (I hear him playing in his room upstairs anyway). So off I go...to begin another day! :) The plan is to take Ellie's 3 month pictures today, so if I actually get around to doing them, I'll post one soon. But since this post is all about her, it wouldn't be right to leave you without a picture for today, so her is my favorite shot from last month's shoot....isn't she just so precious!? My heart is full as I look at her here....