Dear Charlie,

3 months! Well, now it’s more like 3 1/2 months because I made the mistake of not writing this before I went back to work. On the plus side, it gives me that much more to tell you about! It’s been quite an eventful month. I’m pretty sure you had some sort of grown spurt in the last month because you practically went straight from size NB to size 6 month clothes. I actually just sold all of our size NB and 3M clothes tonight…. except your “Little Brother” outfit that you wore in the hospital, that I just have to keep as a memento. 🙂 I have no idea how much you weigh right now, but if I had to guess you’ve gained at least a couple pounds since your 2 month checkup. You next checkup is at 4 months (so in a couple of weeks), and we’ll find out for sure then!

Another big change in the last month is that the colic is GONE. Hallelujah! The only time you fuss now is if you are hungry or overtired. In fact, I’d say you’re a downright happy baby! You’re very social & smile at everyone, almost every time someone looks at you. You don’t quite giggle yet but do this sort of “heh heh heh” thing when I tickle you…. it’s so funny. I’ll try to get it on video for the next letter. You’re not very demanding at all really, but you do have yourself on a pretty specific schedule (NOT complaining about that though, I’m thankful for it!). You eat every 3 hours and are ready to lay down for a nap after being awake about 1.5-2 hours. Usually I lay you down at the 1.5 hour mark and you go right to sleep for an hour or two. You still prefer to be swaddled and although I’m sure the pediatrician will give me crap about it at your 4 month checkup… I’m in no rush. You’re sleeping through the night, a solid 10-12 hours straight almost every night (and on the nights you wake up at the 10 hour mark, you eat & go right back to sleep for a few hours)…. so honestly at this point I don’t want to do anything to jeopardize that! It’s ironic given that I’ve chosen to mother two young kids so close in age, but I do NOT function well on a lack of sleep. :-X

As far as milestones go, you do roll from tummy to back but still not consistently. We’ll have a day where you do it several times, the you won’t do it again for a week or more. Your head control is pretty good and your “upward dog” is much stronger… but tummy time still is not your favorite thing. You’re willing to stay there for awhile longer now, but after about 5 minutes it goes something like this:

The other big change was going back to work. I’m not going to lie, it’s been tough. I changed my schedule back to 5 days/week, so from Monday-Friday I’m going non-stop from when I wake up at 4:30am until I go to bed around 9 or 9:30pm. Keeping up with work, keeping us all fed +clothed and the house livable, and making sure I get to spend quality time with you boys + Dad and workout everyday… it’s a lot. I’m running a really tight ship here. But we’re making it work! Phew!

I think the rest can be told in pictures/videos…

Baby’s first Easter! You enjoyed the bunny lovey in your basket, and did a great job on your first long drive to/from Hampton. The following weekend you went to the Easter egg hunt with our weekend playgroup too, which was your first big event with the group! The first of many, I’m sure. Many of the other moms in the group are having babies this year as well, so you’ll have lots of little friends to play with soon enough. 🙂

The weather’s been finally warming up, so I’ve been getting out with you to jog quite a bit! This was one of your first rides in the double jogging stroller I recently acquired. I put off getting a double stroller for as long as I could, but after a disastrous outing to the zoo with you & Alex by myself it became clear that I couldn’t wait any longer. LOL. The first time I took both you boys out in it, Alex was fascinated that you were there next to him. He kept reaching up to touch your seat and saying “Charlie?” Speaking of Alex…

Brother time! You two love each other so much. Watching you guys together is my greatest joy as a parent. I know I’ve said that before, but it is just SO TRUE. And the more you grow, the better is gets because you are able to interact more with each other. Alex is your #1 source of entertainment at home. He brings you his toys and tells you all about them (I put that picture of you with Elmo & Cookie Monster in this group because it is an example of the high esteem Alex regards you in! LOL), talks “baby talk” back & forth with you, sings to you, reads books with you, and gives you LOTS of hugs + kisses. He likes to “help” with changing your diaper and giving you bottles, he picks out your PJ’s before bed every night, and puts the binky back in your mouth whenever you drop it. When you’re doing tummy time, he lays nearby and cheers you on when you work on your rolling skills. He never fails to make you smile each and every day!

Charlie smiles! Like I mentioned earlier, you’re much more generous with the grins these days. It’s so cute! Those last couple of pictures are from your 3 month photo session we had recently. Here are a couple other photos from the session:

You might have noticed the Charlie Brown shirt… I was inspired by a baby shower gift from my friend Christin (Charlie Brown shoes) to get a stuffed Snoopy and have you take a picture with him at each of your 3, 6, 9 and 12 month photo sessions. That way we can see how much you’ve grown in comparison with Snoopy! Also, I love that the photographer let me jump in for a few photos! I’d say at home, 99% of the time I’m the one taking the picture, so we don’t get many good ones of me with you and/or Alex. Every once in awhile I can get Dad to whip out his camera quickly enough…

Here you are all dressed up to visit my office! A few weeks before I went back to work, I took you into the city for lunch with some coworkers and a quick tour around the office to visit the rest of my coworkers. You did pretty well, but got a little overtired after lunch and were pretty fussy while you fought sleep. I felt terrible for the folks trying to work in that part of the building! :-X

Baby meets dino! I try to make tummy time fun for you. 😉 You obviously can’t play with many toys yet, but there are a few things you seem to enjoy. You love laying on your play mat (pictured above with your pal Devin, who’s a couple months older than you) and looking up at the mirror/toys hanging up there, or kicking the keys on the little piano by the foot of the mat. You also like looking at your penguin mirror, your light-up rubber ducky, and the animals perched on your bouncy chair. You’re starting to reach and grab for things a little bit, and seem to particularly enjoy holding into your soft lovies. You occasionally hold onto rattles and your squeaky Sophie giraffe too. Other than that, you’re not quite ready for most of the toys in your closet yet…. So Alex puts them to good use for you. 😉

I take so many pictures of you sleeping, but my last week on maternity leave I was inspired to record this video of you. I was thinking about how rare it would be for me to be able to just hold you and watch you while you sleep, once I’d gone back to work. With a toddler running this house, you & I just don’t get that kind of quality time during the evenings/weekends. And given how quickly you’ve already grown & will continue to grow, I decided to record all the little “details” of you while you slept in my arms. It’s a video I know I’ll treasure forever, especially after you’re all grown up. 🙂

All in all it’s been a busy but blissful month (okay, 6 weeks) and although my life is absolutely INSANE right now (certainly not all sunshine & rainbows), I wouldn’t have it any other way. I love you boys so much, I seriously feel like my heart is going to burst with it sometimes. I’ve lost count now of how many times I’ve turned to Dad and said “How on Earth did we get so lucky?!”, but I’ve come to realize the truth is that I did not simply “get lucky” … If I know nothing else about this life, I know this: I was put on this planet to be your mom. 🙂 And for that I feel so incredibly blessed and thankful!

All my love,
Mom