Dear Hailey,
Tomorrow you will be 15 weeks old. Which means that it's been over 100 days since I've gotten more than 3 hours of sleep at a time. Physically, I am not tired, but I can definitely feel a bit stumped (as I can't find a more suiting word) and sluggish in the mental department.
I really can't complain, because I have a beautiful, happy baby to cuddle each day. I get to nourish you with the milk my body produces, I get to rock you to sleep. When you cry, I can comfort you, and when when I wake up in the morning, I can look into the sweetest little happy face. I am so thankful for you. You are a blessing in our lives.
Nathan and Hannah absolutely adore you. Hannah loves to wear matching outfits with you.
Nathan feels left out in the outfit department, but I try my best to coordinate.
Your big brother and sister definitely fight over who gets to hold you.
But in the end, the lesson about taking turns, usually upsets someone.
One day you were crying in Illinois while I was out getting groceries. Grandma put you in a stroller down in the basement and started to roll you around. You stopped crying. We tried the same thing at home, except with Hannah's doll stroller. You fit perfectly, and lo and behold, you stopped crying. I was even able to fold and put away a load of laundry during that time.
Nathan and Hannah both took turns pushing you around. Counting to 20 before switching off.
Here are a few more pictures of you with your older brother and sister taken by grandpa.
Nathan and Hannah have been praying for you at night. Since you've been born, you have not been the biggest fan of the carseat, which is quite the understatement. One day, I asked them to pray for you at night and guess what? The next day, you had a successful car ride. You even fell asleep!
From that day on, car rides have improved greatly. You are usually content for at least 10 to 15 minutes before you get fussy, and then you end up falling asleep most of the time.
It was so cold in Chicago, so when we did go anywhere, you just hung out in the baby carrier. You really like this one better than the other ones that we have. You have started to suck on the straps, so I put a cover on it so I just have to wash the cover periodically.
You are a very social baby. You don't mind it when other people hold you. You are very generous with your smiles and babbling.
On Christmas, you received your very first princess dress. Oh, Hannah was sooooo excited for you.
As far as sleep goes, you are falling into a pretty predictable night time sleep schedule. For the most part, you will fall asleep sometime between 8 and 8:30 pm. Wake up around 10:30/11:00 for a 20 minute feed and then sleep for 2 hours and 42 minutes. Wake up, feed for another 20 minutes, and then sleep for 2 hours. Wake up, feed for another 20 minutes and wake up an hour later. At this point, I pull you into bed with me and we cosleep until around 7:30 in the morning. Otherwise, you wake up every hour. You are a snuggler, more so than Hannah, and Nathan wasn't even a snuggler as a baby at all. My arms always fall asleep when you are with me because I use it to prop myself up so I don't squish you. So waking up to a sore arm that's also asleep sometimes can be annoying.
I'm praying that you sleep longer stretches at night. I was talking to another mom who has a baby who is 1 month younger than you. Just so you know, she's sleeping for a 7 hour stretch at night for her mom. That's right...1,2,3,4,5,6,7. 7 hours. *sigh* must be nice. But you sleep and most of the time will go back to sleep quickly after a feed. So I must remind myself that this is just a phase and will be over soon.
Grandma found some pictures of Daddy when he was a baby. Of the three kids, you probably resemble him the most.
Uncle Timmy, your Godfather, held you for the first time after your baptism. Since we had you baptized in Illinois, it was very nice to be able to have family there to witness your baptism.
I cherish all the moments that we get to spend together. Sometimes when I am feeding you, or rocking you to sleep, I can hear mischief going on in the next room over. While I am often tempted to go see what is going on, sometimes I just try to ignore it and pray that no one gets hurt, too badly.
You are generally a happy girl. You are so talkative I've started to give you the nick name, "Squeaks." The rest of the family is not a big fan of the name, but it has stuck with me.
So, exciting news, we are going to Disneyland! Since you've been going to bed right around when Nathan and Hannah go down, I've been able to do a lot of crafting. Today I found shirts for each of you at the thrift store and I added on these decals that I made. All three of you have matching shirts, now no one will feel left out.
Sometimes the opportunity arises where I casually mention in conversation that I have three kids. Most of the time inside, I kind of feel like a rockstar mom, but sometimes I feel a little crazy: Three kids! What were we thinking? Another day, I think I'm going to write a more reflective post on how my perspective as a mom has evolved with each birth. I definitely feel like I am more wise, less judgmental, and have become quite the mamarazzi.
I love you and your brother and sister each so much in your own different ways. I look forward to meeting your little personality and seeing it blossom and evolve as you go from the terrible twos, to threenager, fabulous fours, and so on.
Until next week,
Love,
Mommy
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