ALL ABOUT CORA: 3-MONTHS-OLD

At 3-months-old, Cora is becoming quite the little charmer. She smiles. She coos and crows. She bats her eyelashes. She's starting to giggle. She responds in different ways to each of her parents, to her brother, and to her daycare caretaker and the other babies in the nursery. She fusses less in general, and her witching hour is nearly non-existent these days. She is becoming a tiny little person, full of love and fun and possibilities. Oh how we've looked forward to this age!

Cora weighs approximately 12.6 lbs and is about 22.5 inches long. We think that's pretty remarkable, considering that babies aren't expected to double their birthweight until they are 4-5 months old. James didn't reach 16 lbs until his 5-month birthday, and Cora is nearly a pound heavier than her birthweight doubled already, at only 3 months. I wonder if this means she's going to be a real chunker? Or do little 6 lb newborns just put on weight faster, then taper off earlier? We shall see... Cora naps 3, sometimes 4, times during the day. Her naps last anywhere from 30 minutes to 2 hours at a time. We've noticed that the better she naps during the day, the better she sleeps at night. And while she still loves to be held, she is willing to sleep on her own for most naps, whether in her stroller or swing. Sometimes even the guest bed.

Cora sleeps sooooo much better at night now, usually waking only once to eat, then going back to sleep within 30 minutes. Don't get me wrong, she was never a night owl (she never once had a middle-of-the-night play session or bout of fussiness, like James used to do as a newborn), but it was getting awfully tiring to get up with her 3-4 times/night to nurse her and stay awake for an hour each time because she didn't want to stay asleep out of my arms. For the past week she has had one nice, long sleep stretch (6-7 hours) at the beginning of the night, every night. There was even one night where she slept right on through from 8pm-5am! (Can we get a repeat? Please?) Although 6 hours is technically considered "sleeping through the night", the most coveted of baby milestones, I'm not ready to call this habit of hers a milestone yet. Maybe next week. Though the best part, perhaps, is that once Cora starts screaming for sleep (yes, she actually screams when she's tired and wants to go to bed), we can swaddle her (yes, she still requires swaddling to sleep on her own, and we even prop her between a set of sleep positioners so that she feels "cuddled"), feed her (yes, I nurse her to sleep - it works for us), and put her down without her waking up 3 or 4 times wanting to be picked back up before she finally settles in for the night. That was such a frustrating game... Maybe it was our fault though, as her new self-imposed bedtime is 7:30pm, and we had been keeping her up until 8/8:30pm when James goes to sleep. We'd prefer her to stay awake a little later in the evening so we can play with her, but we admit that her earlier bedtime is quite convenient for getting James the one-on-one attention he craves from each of us, and it makes bathing him and putting him to bed so much easier. Oh yes, and it's oh-so nice to be able to sleep for longer than 2-3 hours at a time!

(This is how she sleeps at night - the lights were off, I just have a really good flash!)

While she is starting to really enjoy floor time (on her back, under her play gym), Cora still hates tummy time. She has plenty of strength in her neck, but she still fusses and spits when we force her to lay on her tummy. She'll give us about 3 minutes of happy gazing before she gets mad though.

(See that furrowed brow? She is thinking "Mama, you better hurry and snap that picture because your time limit for this photo session is just about up!")

Cora is finally opening up her hands, and not just keeping her thumbs tucked tightly into her hot little fists all the time. This is reducing the amount of finger lint we have to pick out at bathtime, which is awfully nice. It also makes it possible for her to hold onto toys if we place them in her hands, or if she inadvertently grabs onto one of the toys hanging from her play gym. She can get an excellent grip on my hair though, on purpose and without assistance, anytime it's within reach. Yay. Perhaps it's time I visit the salon...

Cora is reacting to all sorts of noises now, as opposed to just our voices. The cat's meow can cause her to flip her head around in an instant to search for the source. Her brother's squeals make her squeeze her eyes shut, then wide open after she rememberss that he is not a threat (at least, not most of the time). Her Daddy can scare her (which we discovered unintentionally), and the effect is lasting (hopefully she won't be a grudge-holder when she gets older). She likes to watch the TV if it's on (which it rarely is). If we shake a rattle, she smiles at it. When we talk to her, she "talks" back. And if we play her music from James' baby iPod, she'll kick her legs and wave her arms and smile big while staring at the flashing lights. She is too cute!

(By the way, that is her "coming home" outfit. It hung off her as a newborn, fit loosely at 2 weeks, and now she looks like a stuffed sausage in it...)

Cora is enjoying her baths more and more these days. She used to fuss at me, preferring her Daddy to handle her baths, but she now coos and smiles for both of us during bathtime. And even though she's packing on the pounds, it is finally getting easier to clean under her neck. Her thigh rolls are a different story though... So, in summary, Cora is simply not a newborn "baby lump" anymore. And we are not sad to be hitting these milestones (as we were with James) because while we know we'll miss her newborn months, it's just so nice that things are getting easier, and we honestly can't wait to watch Cora interact with James, who will hopefully be her best buddy soon! He sure loves her! We know because he is always patting her tummy, rubbing her head, kissing her, or trying to share his thumb with her. He even reaches out for her and tries to take her out of our arms now and then - perhaps thinking she would be as easy to tote around the house as Bear Bear? And she just smiles and smiles at him. It's really quite adorable.

Happy 3-month Birthday Cora! We love you baby doll!