Welcome to the family, Emily

Next week our new baby will be 3 months old. She is an absolute delight. She's been sleeping through the night since she was about 2 weeks old, starting at about 5-6 hour stretches and now she goes 8-9 hours at night. She's a beautiful, happy, sweet little baby. She doesn't cry that much -- usually just at night, when she gets tired or hungry or sometimes gassy. She was 11 pounds and 24 inches at her 2 month check-up. Elizabeth adores her. She's always giving her hugs and kisses. She's very gentle with her and she's learning to back up a bit when she talks to her, and not get RIGHT IN HER FACE when she's saying, "Hi, baby sister." Everyone talks about regression. Elizabeth has had some, but not too much. She'll put a pacifier in her mouth every now and then, and she'll want me to carry her around some (which isn't easy at 40 pounds!) and she'll whine some and try to sit in my lap when I'm holding the baby, but for the most part, she's been great.

Being home full-time with both girls is a big change for me. Some days I simply can't get much done because if I'm not tending to one, I'm tending to the other. But I really enjoy being with them. As a dear friend of mine recently said to me, "The days are long but the years are short." I can't believe how Elizabeth is growing. The other day we were all together in the den, just kind of hanging out and I started to hum a tune. She turned to me and said, "Mommy, be quiet, I"m doing my homework!" And sometimes after she goes to bed, if she hears us talking, she'll come out of her room and say in an annoyed tone, "be quiet guys, I'm trying to sleep." She's funny! She's had a cough lately and the doctor gave her some medicine. He said it might make her sleepy....not so much. She still ran around and jumped and danced and twirled as much as usual. I'm not even sure she remembers how to walk because she runs everywhere she goes.

I think she's going to be a princess for Halloween. As she often tells us, "I love princesses and pink is my favorite color." She has started putting her baby dolls to sleep around the house in different places. She'll put them on little blankets with a pillow and sometimes a cover. And she puts her baby dolls in time-out, too.
She's really interested in the alphabet. She wants to read and write so badly. She can recognize all the letters. She can write most of the letters, and she's trying to learn how to write her name. Maybe I should have named her something shorter, like Tina.