And just like that, we are a quarter of the way through Madelyn’s first year. Holy, dirty diapers, the time has fah-lown by! And my, has she changed! November 9th marked Madelyn’s third month of pure deliciousness.

At three months old, Madelyn now…

• holds up her head like there’s candy on the ceiling! Her neck control has always been good, but she is fully holding her head up now.
• is eating about 5 ounces per bottle. And usually she needs a top off to seal the deal of fullness. She is a little piggy and we love feeding her.
• costs us more money that we thought she would. Let me explain. She’s eating tons of formula (yay!) but it’s the most expensive formula on the market (boo!). Madelyn has a milk protein allergy (not a huge deal in the longrun, so no worries), and it requires her to be on the most sensitive formula available. It can only be special ordered through a mom-and-pop pharmacy and a 19.1 oz can costs — are you ready?? — $54! She goes through about two cans per week. Yeah. Ouch. Baby girl better get a scholarship to college!
• has a beautiful, crystal clear tushie! Remember that awful diaper rash? She had it on her bum for about ten weeks! YES! Ten weeks! We tried everything! And nothing made it disappear. It was the most frustrating and heartbreaking sight to see. Finally, the pediatrician decided to try her on the super-expensive-but-super-important formula and by golly, it did the job! Because her tummy was working so hard to break down the old formula, it was overproducing acid to break down her food and then she’d have acidic poop and well, you know where the acid-poop sits. It was eroding at her skin! So sad. Within 48 hours of switching to the super-expensive-but-super-important formula, her rash went away, the skin healed, and now it’s the most beautiful bottom I’ve ever seen. Whew!
• is sleeping better and better! Just before she turned three months, her long through-the-night stretches of sleep got a little wonky. I was panicking that she was not making progress and our once-awesome sleeper was waking up two to three times per night. Unfun. But we are reading a book called Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child by Marc Weissbluth, and we have learned that at three or so months, the baby becomes more aware and social of her surroundings and wants to participate instead of sleep. I can’t really blame her. So instead, we are making sleep a positive thing for her! And now she is back to sleeping nine to twelve hours per night! She goes to sleep around 6:30 p.m. and we start our day around 8:00 a.m. She has two hours of awake time before going down for a nap. She doesn’t fight her sleep now and is rarely overtired so she gets a good night’s rest. Happy baby, happy parents!
• can hold objects! She isn’t necessarily reaching and grabbing yet, but if I put a toy in her hand, she’ll grip it strongly and fling it around. She used to have no interest at all in objects around her, but now she seems to be aware of colors and textures. It’s very cool to watch her explore.
• can turn over! On the monitor, we watched her squirm around like a rolie polie all night, and by the time we woke up in the morning, Madelyn was on her tummy! It’s only happened once, but we no longer swaddle her just in case she turns over again. I was nervous about how she’d adjust to being freeeeee, but the unswaddled bebe seems to be just fine!
• smiles ALL. THE. TIME. Somebody get a mop, because I am such a puddle! When she smiles her cute gummy smile and raises her eyebrows with delight, I seriously melt. It is probably the best thing my big brown eyes have ever seen and I spend my days doing the most ridiculous things trying to make her smile again and again.

Love our little Madelyn! Happy 3 months, babygirl!