Little Sister Lucy

In a flash, Little Lucy is already 3 months old, and the newborn phase is behind us.  As quickly as Ruby's first 3 months flew by, Lucy's seemed even faster.  Likely it's because life moves at a much more frantic pace when you have a baby and a 3 year old than when you have just one little baby.  The second time around there is not the luxury of wallowing in the long days of maternity leave, napping and catching up on daytime TV.  This time there was a 3 year old who screamed, "Wake up Mommy!!!" anytime I started to drift off.  At the same time, there is also not the feeling of isolation and the shock of a life turned upside down that came with the first baby.  By now, we have our daily routines, our support system of other parents, and the calm that only comes with experience.  Overall this time around, the first 3 months have been much, much easier.

Lucy at 3 months can only be described as fat and happy.  At 16 lbs, she has already reached the size of Ruby when she was twice her age.  I've resigned myself to the conclusion that Lucy can't wear pants because nothing I've put her in seems to be able to contain all the belly flub.  

Unlike Ruby who was not able to breastfeed as a newborn, Lucy came into the world sucking on her finger and latched on the first try.  This is not to say that breastfeeding has been a breeze this time around.  I still went through your standard course of bleeding, blisters, and blinding pain that brought tears to my eyes, but, I suppose, such is motherhood.

Also unlike Big Sister Ruby, who was the sleepiest baby in the world and would sleep on anything anywhere under any conditions, Lucy is very particular about sleep.  Up until recently she slept exclusively either in the swing or draped over my body.  For about 2 months I spent my nights in a semi-reclined position with a baby on my chest.

Only in the last few weeks have we started trying to put Lucy down in her crib for the first stint of the night.  At first it took 2+ hours to rock her to sleep and then successfully transfer her into her crib without waking her and restarting the process.  The last few days have seen some improvement and we have actually been able to get both kids into bed around 8pm, thus reclaiming our evenings.  However, Lucy is nowhere close to sleeping through the night and still spends the majority of the night in our bed, eating and snuggling to her heart's delight.

Ever since she was a newborn, Lucy would always smile in her sleep like she was dreaming about big, big boobies full of milk.

When she was about 5 weeks old, she gave us her first true (conscious) smile and since then, smiles at anything that smiles at her.

There's nothing like a the gigantic, toothless grin of a chubby baby to make everything forgiven.

It never fails to surprise me how fleeting babyhood is.  I find myself wishing that I could go back and revisit each day of the last 3 months so that I can smell her again.  New parents, if I may offer a piece of advice, smell your baby EVERY day.  It goes by so fast.

Little Lucy, I could not have hoped for a more delicious baby.  You are so, so loved.