3 months old

Labor Day marked the 3 month-iversary of my own day of labor. I know I've said this before, but it has not ceased to amaze me how quickly time has passed since Ruby was born. I still clearly remember counting down the days of my first trimester and thinking that my due date seemed lightyears away. Now our baby is 3 months old.

Although 3 months is an insignificant amount of time for most of us, it has made an enormous difference for Ruby. I now can hardly recognize newborn Ruby as the baby I know today. Are these both Ruby???





At three months, we have officially entered the Easiest Period of Parenting. From what I've heard, this lasts from about 3 months old to 7 months old. It's after all of the kinks of parenting a newborn have been worked out, but before the worries of crawling and walking (and way before the worries of driving and dating) kick in.

Even though Ruby has always been a relatively happy and mellow baby, she is now happier and mellower than ever. She is constantly cooing, grinning, and giggling with the purest glee I have ever known. Here she is, telling her grandpa a joke.



At 3 months old, Ruby is also getting more and more interesting, as she is figuring out more about the world and learning to do more stuff. She has recently become more aware of her hands and the fact that she has dominion over them. Whereas before she would give her fist a few sucks if it happened to pass by the vicinity of her mouth, she now is able to pacify herself for quite some time by holding her hand to her mouth and sucking on it with vigor.



She is also now able to sit up when propped up against something soft.



However, she's not able to sustain this position for very long.



Ruby is also now able to bear some weight on her legs, and she likes to be stood up with some assistance.



She is getting better at lifting her head when she is on her tummy time wedge.



However, she still does not enjoy regular tummy time on the floor.



Three months also marks the end of my maternity leave, and I have started going back into lab this week. Steve is taking a couple of weeks off from work in order to facilitate the transition. Although the thought of leaving Ruby every day still makes me want to fall to the ground and weep, I know in my head that she has gotten to a point where she is much more prepared than I to make this transition. She is finally 100% recovered from the surgery, and we have resolved our issues with breastfeeding. Despite this, if it were not for the 4 years I've already put towards a PhD, if I just had a regular job instead, I'm not sure I would be going back at all. I guess it will be interesting to see what I decide to do after the next baby ...