I have been thinking of this post for a long time. Sarah, my baby princess, and my joyful, happy camper. Sarah is now almost 3 months old, and she brings so much joy to our whole family. She is smiling now, huge grins at me, her sisters, Daddy, and her baby doll. She smiled at Naomi “100 times” yesterday afternoon, all of which were dutifully counted by her adoring big sister.
Sarah loves to be close to me. At night, she sleeps in the bed beside me about half the time. I never planned to co-sleep, but the first day I came home from the hospital, I was exhausted, and I just knew that Sarah would not cry if I laid her down right next to me, and that we would both sleep. And I was right. Sarah has a cradle in our room, but if she is in the cradle, I lie in bed and listen to her every sound. Did she just spit up on herself? Did she cough? Did she roll over to the side and get her faced mashed into the bumper? Was that a poop, or just gas?
My parenting style has changed some since Naomi was born. I am less concerned about getting Sarah on a schedule. Her schedule depends mostly on whatever we have going on during the day. She takes naps whenever she starts to get cranky. She nurses anywhere from every 2-4 hours during the day. She’ll sleep 8 hours between feedings one night, then wake up every 3 1/2 hours the next. I do miss the reliability of knowing what we will do at which time each day, but I can’t make all our days the same. Sarah, though, is happy to just go with the flow.
She is changing so fast at this age. She is a chunky little thing. She hates being on her tummy and she has rubbed a bald spot on the back of her head. She got her hands in her mouth for the first time a few days ago, and now she is fascinated by sucking on her fingers. Yesterday her hands found her ears for the first time and she was amazed. She has a baby doll that she coos at. She loves to be held very tightly, right next to my heart. She likes baths, but she only gets 2 a week. She hardly ever cries, but if she does get upset about something and I am not quick to respond, she will get very loud!
Quiet time with Sarah is one of my favorite things. I love to lie down on the couch, with her on my chest, and read a book while she naps. With two other kids, I don’t get to do this every day, so it is a real treat for both of us. When she wakes up in the middle of the night, I often put her in the bed beside me (if she’s not there already) after I feed her. I love to just lie beside her and watch her sleep. She can wake up in the morning, after we’ve had a pretty sleepless night, and give me the sweetest smile as if to say, “Wasn’t that fun, Mommy? We spent the whole night up together, just you and me!” Luckily, most of our nights are pretty smooth now!
I look forward to seeing her sit up for the first time, hold a toy, look at a book, crawl across the floor, and say “Mama.” But I know I will miss these sweet newborn days.