London Claire is Three Months

... or, she was. a week ago. whatever.

Age: three months (three months, six days today)
Height: about 24 inches (haven't checked recently)
Weight: as of 9-20-12, she weighs 13lbs 3 oz
Hair Color: still brown, though lighter than when she was born, and has a reddish tint to it
Eye Color: blue

Favorite Outfit: she wore "real" blue jeans for the first time last week, with a pink & white striped onesie - it was precious. I've been dying for her to wear this outfit and she looked like such a little girl (not a baby!), perfect for a fall school day.

watching daddy's soccer game

Sleep: she is back to doing a long stretch when we first put her down, anywhere from 4.5 - 6.5 hours (praise Jesus). bed time is anywhere between 8-9 and as much as we try to make wake-up time 7am, she rarely sleeps past 6:30. we did a little bit of sleep training, because we were having such a hard time after she started daycare with her getting up. all we did was - for about a week - only feed her at night every 3-4 hours. so if she woke up before it had been at least 3 hours, ben would go in a soothe her while she was still in her crib - rub her belly, give her a paci, etc. seems to have worked, or maybe it's the combination of her getting more to eat during the day and being worn out by daycare.
Eating: I started sending 4x 5oz bottles (instead of 4x 4oz) to daycare and she's been taking 3 of those a day. she normally wants to eat when we get home from school / work, nurses to sleep, up anywhere between 1-3am to eat, whenever she wakes up (in the 6am hour) and a little bit right when we drop her off at school. so she's averaging eating 7-8x each day, every 3ish hours (during the day).
Illness: she has her first stomach bug, according to the pediatrician, but her demeanor has not changed and she hasn't been running a fever, so I think we've gotten off pretty easy in terms of her first "illness".

at the dr's office - doesn't look sick to me!

Development: the teachers have started putting her in a baby einstein exersaucer and she LOVES it! she is supporting herself on her feet in that, and reaches out to play with the spinning toys. miss tracy is very impressed with her fine motor skills, and so was my mom - she said that I wasn't reaching / playing with toys like that until 4 months. she can sit up while propped against the couch and much prefers that to laying down, unless we're paying constant attention to her (such a diva!).

still a little unsure of herself sitting

Movement: I actually got to see her roll over (from belly to back) this morning, and I got so excited. she tries so hard to pull her head forward when she's in her car seat, bouncy seat or laying down.

Funniest habit: she gives kisses with her mouth wide open - as soon as one of us leans in and gets close to her mouth, her mouth is as big as it can be!

giving daddy kisses at brunch after church

Best moment of last week: I walked upstairs last night when Ben was getting her ready for her bath, and she was in hysterics at Ben because he was talking in a British accent. no matter how hard I try, I will never be as silly as daddy! it's a little voyeuristic, but I love watching them play together.

she loooooves bathtime now

What I'm looking forward to: her baptism (october 14) - I've been shopping nonstop on etsy and looking for ideas on pinterest. if you have any suggestions, send them our way.

this template is a work in progress, as I couldn't find one online that I liked. if you have suggestions of things I should add or things you'd like to know, please let me know!

oh, and I still haven't uploaded her three month photos, so here are some of my recent favorites. the three month photos will be coming in a separate post, hopefully soon.
 

lunch with the hughes' - evan gave london her first kiss

tailgating for the nc state game - too hot for clothes!

London Claire's first laugh

Any working mom knows - it's tough. You sometimes feel like you're not in control of any aspect of your life, and there are those days you just need a win.

I mean, I NEVER feel that way and I always have it together. But if I happened to have a day where I fell apart and that day happened to be today, there's probably only one thing that could make it all better.

This:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psdBDaihC2A&feature=youtube_gdata_player

She laughed for the first time. If that's not a win for the day, I don't know what is.

Finally

I am the worst {blog}mom ever.

But, finally, I am writing an entry. I'm writing it from my phone so I can't guarantee how pretty it will be. And there's a baby sleeping on my chest so I can't guarantee how long it will be. But I'm writing it, so bear with me.

I swore I would update constantly, documenting every aspect of my daughter's life like I did my pregnancy. Then motherhood happened. Being a stay at home mom is hard, y'all. But I'll be damned if I didn't just have the best three months of my life.

Then reality set in. And on Monday, London started daycare and I went back to work. Hardest thing I've EVER done is leaving that precious baby with virtual strangers. I worked my ass off to grow that kid for nine months, and have worked my ass off to keep her growing for three months since she's been born, and now you just want me to ABANDON HER?!

But seriously, it gets easier. The emotional wounds start to scab over and you both start to adjust. And then, if you're a control freak like I am, it gets harder - when you realize you're not succeeding as a mom or a wife and your house is a wreck and you're not contributing at work and OH MY GOSH, MY LIFE IS IN SHAMBLES! The next thing you know, it's 1am and your husband is laying on the floor of the nursery while you feed the baby and google, "how young is too young to cry it out?"

I wrote on a friend's facebook wall, "Being a working mom sucks sometimes."

But then sometimes it doesn't. Like when you get a paycheck and you're able to buy your daughter diapers or occasionally even cute clothes, or when her doctors appointments and medicines are taken care of. Or when you go to pick her up from school and she gets a huge grin on her face. It sucks a little less then.

We are figuring it out, just like we are STILL figuring out how to parent this little nugget. And it'll continue to get easier. It has to, or else no one would do it - right?

The important thing is we survived the first week. Now, here are some gratuitous photos of the week that you've probably all seen on instagram. Sorry I'm not sorry.