Three Months

Dear Joey,

On Monday, you turned three months old. You have changed so much over the past month, I really don't even know where to start, so bear with me! You are growing and learning so much, and I am anxious to see what new things you will do every day. You didn't have to go to the doctor this month, but when I got on on our scale with you, it said you weighed about 14 and a half pounds... I won't tell you how much it said mommy weighs.

You have finally figured out how to suck your thumb (before, you had been sucking on your whole fist) and it usually ends up in your mouth when you are getting tired, or just lounging around with dad.


When your toys are near you, you can reach for them to play with, and you can even keep yourself entertained for quite a while. Your favorite things are a set of colored rings that link together, and a small stuffed lion. You shake the rings and chew on them, and you give the lion big hugs!


You have discovered your voice, and you definitely enjoy hearing it. You make all sorts of noises now, and when I am feeding you, you often stop eating to have a "conversation" with me. It is the cutest thing I have ever seen. You have also discovered that you can scream very loudly, and you do it a lot when you are happy. The other day, I was reading you a book about baby farm animals, and you would let out a loud squeal after I finished reading each page. And, on Father's Day, you started to laugh. You don't do it too often, but it is definitely a laugh. Of course I try everything I can to make you do it, but it's not always that easy!

You have become so much more aware of your surroundings. You recognize people that you see often, and you greet them with a big smile - much to their delight. Things that you were totally unaware of just weeks ago, you now have quite an opinion about. Like when Ruby dog came to visit and she licked your forehead - you were not too happy about that! If you hear a loud noise, you jump a little bit, and look around to see where it came from. We have been putting you on your tummy like Dr. M told us to, and you don't really like it too much, but you are trying really hard to roll over each time we do it. You are very strong, and one of your favorite things to do is stand up when you are sitting on someones lap. You seem very proud of yourself when you do this, and it makes you very happy to be up looking around. You are very alert, and you hate to miss anything that is going on around you!


This month, you went to 4 parties! At the beginning of the month, daddy and I took you to Luis's son's baptism party with Meghan, Geoff and Phoebe. We were all surprised when you fell asleep while the Mexican banda was playing (it was incredibly loud). You went with me to our friend Andrew's annual Bocce Ball tournament in San Luis Obispo, and then to Santa Maria for Maddox's 2nd birthday party. Two parties in one day! You also got all dressed up and went to Phoebe's first birthday party in Shell Beach. Again, you slept through most of it, and everyone was very surprised that you were able to do that with all the people around!



One of the things we've been working on has been getting you on a bedtime routine, and trying to get you to sleep through the night. You are doing pretty well so far. The longest you have slept so far is 7 hours. It has been very difficult for me, but I am finally able to let you cry and fuss when you first go down at night until you go to sleep (of course, there are still times that I come in your room to check on you and rub your tummy if it's taking a little too long for you to fall asleep - usually that little bit of reassurance is all you need, and you go right to sleep). This week, I am trying to let you cry yourself back to sleep when you wake up at night, but this has not been too easy. I always get up to check on you at least once, and when you are crying in your crib, I lay awake in bed sweating. It is so hard to hear you cry, but daddy says it's for the best, and I know he is right - you need your sleep, and so do we!

Oh, and how could I forget! You experienced your first earthquake this month. You were asleep in my arms, and I think you were more upset that I flew out of the chair and woke you up than anything else.This will probably not be the only earthquake you experience, but I hope you handle all the rest just as well as you handled this one!

We look forward to seeing what this next month holds for you!


Love,
Mom