END OF THE FOURTH TRIMESTER!

That's right, today James is 3 months old and he is officially out of his "4th trimester" (from Dr. Harvey Karp, author of "The Happiest Baby On The Block"). It's really quite amazing how much a baby changes from birth to 3 months... James has gone from an adorable little baby blob to a fully-functioning, highly-entertaining infant. Congratulations little man!

For instance, James now fills his bath tub. And he splashes. And licks the water as it runs down his face. Here is a comparison from his first bath (at 2.5 weeks old) to tonight's bath:

And the little man is really not so little anymore. He's grown from 8 lbs 20.75 inches to 14 lbs 24.25 inches:

Also, he is completely out of his 0-3 month sized clothes. Remember that beautiful baby blue sweater romper that was his coming home outfit? At 2-days-old it literally hung off his body. The sleeves had to be double rolled so that they didn't swallow his hands. And the matching beanie was so big that we didn't even bother putting it on him. It covered his face all the way down past his nose, even when we tried folding the brim up. Here is James the day he came home from the hospital:

Just for fun (and tear-inducing reminiscing), we dressed him in the complete outfit this morning. It fit him pretty well, though his torso length made it impossible to keep the center button closed (not sure what the crazy face is for - that's just James):

The other day I was going through photos on my camera and realized I had a couple stored in the internal memory. One happened to be from the hospital, on James' second day of life. Here is a long-lost photo of Dad and Mom changing one of James' first diapers. Why does Dad look so happy about it? Because he just loves his new grandson so much that even meconium didn't phase him, right? And to think, James has been in size 2 diapers for a month already. It seems like ages ago that he was wearing those little newborn diapers!

James has had a lot of "firsts" already... first car ride, first stroller ride, first plane ride, first bath, first photo shoot, first smile, first church service, first babble, first roll from tummy to back (still just that one time though), first family holiday, first trip to a big city, first time in a huge crowd, first day at daycare, and even his first real laugh last night, induced by the antics of his Daddy (he laughed, we cried - it was a good time). It's really been a great 3 months, and we're already looking forward to all the firsts that are sure to come in the next 3 months! This boy of ours is bound to keep us on our toes... when he's not sleeping:

Now, for your viewing pleasure, here are a couple short videos. The first is of James demonstrating his core strength. We were hoping to catch a roll on video, but he has yet to do it again since that first time (although he is now attempting to roll left in addition to the right), so you'll hear Jay and I incessantly cheering him on:

This second video is from tonight. We were trying to capture a giggle on video, but were only partially successful. His laughs from last night were the real deal, but what we have from tonight is just plain funny:

Happy 3-month Birthday James! Mommy and Daddy love you!