How did I get such a precious girl?

"Mama, the rain is tickling my skin!"

Matthew's Journal

At a Chinatown restaurant with Mama

You are three months old! Your neck is really strong – when I lay you on your tummy you can hold it all the way up. And you love to “stand” on my lap as I stabilize you so those legs are getting stronger too! I've switched from the sling to wearing a homemade Moby Wrap much of the time (easier on my back). I used to wear you facing me, but now you just want to see everything, so you face out! You love it – often I almost forget you're there because you are so content. Sometimes I look down and find you nodding off to sleep without so much as a peep.

You're starting to be more vocal, but it seems very intentional. You don't tend to waste your breath talking to the toys hanging from your bouncy seat, but if you know you've got someone's undivided attention, you coo away. When I look into your big blue eyes, your whole face lights up - your smile as wide as your face. You smile a lot but it is hard to get you to laugh – I think I've only heard you laugh three times. Kind of like me, I guess – I'm not much of a belly-laugher!

You have been giving me a bit of trouble with eating – I think it relates to your great desire to see what is going on around you. It is just too much to bear to face me while you're nursing because then you can't see! So you tend to eat a bare minimum then refuse (with screaming and arched back) my attempts to feed you a full meal. Pretty much the only way to get you to do more than snack is to wait until you're ravenously hungry – every four to four-and-a-half hours. So I do a little of both – basically whatever works on a given day. Sometimes you snack (if we're going to be heading out and I want to make sure you won't be hungry while we're gone) and sometimes we wait a while (if we're staying home). Sleeping is okay 7:30pm-6:30/7am with feedings at 10:30pm and around 4am. I think you're not able to sleep through the night yet because you frankly eat poorly during the day!

You got to go on your first vacation – Daddy took me to San Francisco for three days and of course you came along. I carried you in the Moby Wrap from Pier 39 to the Golden Gate Bridge and across it. You went to Chinatown, on a ferry, on a cable car, to see the seals, to the sourdough factory. And of course – on an airplane to get there. You did amazingly well sleeping everywhere from in my arms on the airplane to in the Moby Wrap about town to in the heavily padded bathtub at the hotel. While it wasn't quite the fifth anniversary get-away to Europe that your daddy had imagined, it was still a lovely break for me from everyday life (and your siblings!).

Isaac and Abby delight in making you smile – sometimes you smile right away when you see them! Isaac often tells me, “I like Baby Matthew SO MUCH!” Your eyes follow them all around the room – you like to have someone in sight all the time. Daddy is very good at calming you and sometimes he'll be late for work because he gets so captivated by talking to you! As for me, well, often my face starts to hurt because I'm smiling so hard back at you. And then I just tear up because I love you so very much.