Charly's Three (Months)

Yesterday, our little girl turned 3 months and I swear, our lives just seem to get busier and busier and busier . . . Summer can't come soon enough!

Kelli went back to work this month and it was pretty traumatic. Her biggest fear has been that she's not going to be able to give 100% to her job or our daughter. She doesn't want to become "mediocre" at either role . . . I think she's crazy. Of course we can't devote "time" to Charly when we're at school, but that doesn't mean we can't give her 110% of our attention when we are at home with her. And vice versa . . . with Charly now, we can't check as many papers while at home or plan as much for school as we did pre-baby, but that doesn't mean that we can't give 110% to our job while we're there, when we can. It's been a tough transition, but we'll survive and do our best!

Almost as traumatic as going back to work for Kelli, was Charly's two month check-up and vaccination. I knew she was getting shots, but holy crap . . . I had no idea how they were given! First, the nurse gave Charly a vaccine in liquid form by slowly feeding her drops at a time. Kelli and I thought, 'This isn't so bad' . . . then the two nurses pulled out three needles and grabbed our little girl's ankles! They told me to hold her arms down and on the count of three, they slammed two needles into each chubby little thigh! Her poor expression went from wide-eyed, inquisitive bliss, to red-faced, teary eyed anger in a matter of seconds . . . and they weren't done yet! One more needle had to go in, thus, the three band-aids in the picture above (two on one thigh, one on the other, unpictured). I couldn't even look at Kelli. It was honestly one of the most difficult things I have experienced EVER. The fact that we can't explain to her why we're doing this, made it even more difficult.

But she recovered, she's tough like her mom, and went on to accomplish many things in her third month! She began sleeping through the night. She (accidentally) learned how to splash in the bath tub. She got lots of fresh air (she needs some time to really get used to it though) and she became quite the storyteller, especially when she's with her Grandpa Denny. She loves to ramble endlessly in coos, yowls, high-pitched shrieks, low-pitched growls, grunts, and squeaks. We seriously think she's trying to put words and sentences together!

She's getting stronger and stronger everyday! She no longer looks like a bobblehead doll when we attempt to sit her upright and she can no longer be trusted to lay on her back on a blanket without rolling over. Only problem is, she can't quite get over the arm she decides to roll over on (we're afraid she's going to dislocate her shoulder) and she usually ends up face first in a blanket, kicking her legs and waving her arms in frustration. If we can only teach her to turn her head to the side now . . .

As far as we can tell, the only chink in Charly's armor is her acid reflux. She's always been a little spitty but we've been told by lots of people that some babies are so we never gave the idea much thought. The Doc checked her out and officially diagnosed her with acid reflux. We now have the fun job of mixing half of a dissolvable tablet with 1 ounce of formula a half hour before we give her the other 3-4 ounces of her bottle. She can be a little impatient when she's hungry in the first place, now teasing her and making her wait 30 minutes before eating, only further complicates the matter. But hey . . . it works.

We're having a blast with Charly, watching her learn and grow before our very eyes. We can't wait to see what she has in store for us in month four!