3 months old

I don't know where the time has gone, but somehow my sweet baby Eliza is 3 months old!!!! How could this be???? why do i still feel (and look) like i have a brand new baby??? She is such a sweet baby!!

with all 3 girls i've absolutely LOVED this stage--the smiling, laughing, but still not moving stage :) She does SOOO well at night, too--i'm talking 10 hours straight! and she's tolerating little bits of dairy in my diet now--yipee!!! She smiles so much, laughs when I tickle her neck (this is total Allred thing) and I just cannot get enough of her! She still has earned herself the Fussiest Of My Babies award, but most of you know how insanely easy Abby and Grace were, so it's not saying much. She does like being held more than her two sisters did...but i think that I'm mostly to blame for that :) How could i possibly not hold this little thing?!?!?!

Cassi--am i right that you gave these p.j.'s to Grace? well, they're one of the only hand-me-downs that i'm not completely sick of...they're too cute!!!

She still sleeps tons during the day. She was looking like a "light sleeper" there for a while, but she has adapted quite well to the constant noise her sisters make, and is learning how to sleep through it really well. Abby loves nothing more then to go talk to her while she's napping--you can imagine how much I love this--yet Eliza sleeps right through it. I am a big believer in kids' ability to adapt to their surroundings, and she's proving to be capable of doing so! (Maybe in a few more weeks we'll move her out of our closet and see how well her sisters adapt to her sleeping in their room. ) She's in her crib for probably 70% of her sleeping time, the other 30% is in her carseat or here on the couch with me, or in her swing :) I should probably have her going to bed before 10:30 each night, but i LOVE my evenings with her too much to put her down with her sisters. I need my Eliza time!! And she doesn't wake up until 8am, when her sisters come in demanding breakfast. I don't know why all of my children have been such good sleepers...but i'm not complaining!!!

Three months ago i would have guessed that I'd feel a little more "together" by now. "Together" is the last thing i feel. But I don't exactly feel "separate" --if that's the opposite.... Somedays i feel like having three kids is awesome, and that having two would somehow be boring. And then on other days I feel like Grace and Abby are being cheated out of fun mom-time or crafty projects because i don't have enough hands. Somedays I just love watching my two "big girls" play with their baby sister, and play with each other. And then other days i feel like I have three babies who all need my complete attention and each one is more demanding than the other. Someday i'll have it all together and i'll know exactly where all my tupperware pieces are and I'll arrive to church meetings less than 45 minutes late and i'll get the oil changed in my van before the dealer has to call me and remind me that we're four months overdue and I'll finish the Christmas dresses that I started this time last year....but not today. Today i've got to go pretend to be a wicked witch with Grace, help Abby color another masterpiece and get at least a hundred more crinkled-nose smiles from my Eliza.

and maybe we'll survive another three months....maybe.