Josephine is 3 Months Old

Dear Josephine,

You have been in our arms for ¼ of a year already. I’ll never understand how time is passing by so quickly, but I fully understand how you fit so perfectly in our lives and our family. The girls and I love counting your firsts and celebrating all of your special milestones alongside you. It’s such a blessing to be able to share that with them as they are growing up too. Your sisters adore you. Every single little ounce of you. You are constantly being kissed, cuddled and having your hand held. It warms my heart so. Your eyes brighten and your face is beaming with that beautiful wide grin of yours, when your sisters enter the room to see you. I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again – you precious one, are the heart of our family. Our day starts and ends with loving on you. You are precious, you are dear and you are loved. You, Josephine are the perfect addition to our family.

Here’s a peek into your world at 3 months old:

·      You are now rocking tummy time and can fully lift your head and chest. Soon you will be rolling over!

·      You are officially a giggler! You get these laughing fits and it doesn’t matter what we say, you think it’s funny and will laugh out loud in the sweetest little laugh I’ve ever heard.  

·      You are a talker when spoken to. You love to coo, say ‘ah-goo’ and ‘ah-boo’ by repeating us. You are trying to have a full on conversation with us already. We are ready to welcome our 3^rd little chatter box to the family!

·      You are smiling all the time. One look your way and you are beaming. It makes us giggle every time.

·      You have found your hands and are so fascinated by them. You just move them around and stare at them for minutes at a time. These moments of  you discovering you are dear to us all.  

·      You have finally found your toys on your bouncer and started playing with them and also bating at the toys on your tummy time mat.

·      This month we introduced to you the baby seat where you can sit supported and play with your toys. You love it and it makes you feel like a big girl!

·      You have yet to take interest in picking up any toys, but you do love to pick up and chew on your clothes or your blankets.

·      You are officially following mommy around the room with your head. It amazes me how far you can turn and follow me. We play games with it and you just smile and gaze at me while I work around the kitchen.

·      You are officially a thumb sucker. I was really hoping you would follow Giselle and love the paci, but nope. You wanted nothing to do with it from the beginning. It really is precious when I check in on you sleeping and you have your sweet thumb in your mouth.

·      You are officially mommy’s girl. You will only fall asleep on my chest. When you are fussy, you want to be close to my heart just like big sister Giselle did. You still rarely fuss, but I am your safe place when you do.

• You are eating 6 oz every 3 hours.
• Some nights you sleep all night and some nights you are awake all night. You are definitely not my best sleeper!
• You are officially out of newborn clothes and into 0-3 month clothes and in size 1 or 2 diapers. You are in between sizes really. You have sweet baby cheeks that are to die for. Ah, I could just eat you up. You are so beautiful…

We love you our sweet Josephine. Always will.

Love you to the moon and back,

Mommy, Daddy, Emeline and Giselle,

(and Oskar and George, too!)

Josephine is 2 months old

Dear Josephine,

Two months new – how can it be? Each day you grow more beautiful and a little bigger, both in body and in spirit. You have learned our voices and faces, your name and you are now following mommy around the room with your eyes. Another Momma’s girl in the making! Your uncertain frowns have left your precious face and have now been replaced by a smile that lights up the room. There’s nothing quite like your smile. It heals my heart of any woes and makes me instantly happy. Just you and me and that bright-eyed smile of yours – nothing else in the world matters at that moment.

We have cherished every second of being your parents these last two months. You are something special and are a true treasure in our home. These days of cuddling your sweet body against my chest will be sorely missed one day, but for now, I’m breathing you in and enjoying every single quiet moment I have with you.

Here’s a peek into your world at 2 months new:

·      You still dislike tummy time – don’t all babies?! But despite that, you have very strong neck muscles from our version of tummy time on my chest. The doctor was surprised by the control you have already.

·      It took you longer to smile than it did your sisters. Not going to lie to you – mommy and daddy thought something might be wrong. Did we do something wrong? Is she not happy? And then one day, daddy got you to smile and you haven’t stopped! I literally jumped for joy that day. With one look in your eyes and one word spoken to you – you smile. It takes next to nothing to make your face light up. And that my dear makes me so very happy. I hope you will always be a happy, easy-going person, who is at peace with herself, because those traits will take you far in life.

·      Cooing – My little love, you have discovered your voice and love telling us stories. You have the sweetest little voice and it melts my heart when you talk back to me. I think we may have our third little chatter box.

·      Your legs continue to get stronger every day and you love to stand. We are amazed by your leg strength.  Oh and if you are fussy, we stand you up and you are once again a happy smiling baby.

·      It's evident now that you know your name and you do respond to mommy's voice. I can call your name and you will turn to face me or look up at me.

·      Your sleeping is still very inconsistent. You go to bed around 8:30 every night by falling asleep on one of our chests and from there, we never know what’s going to happen. You stopped waking in the night to feed, but you do need soothing. A soft place to land your head, a heartbeat and a firm pat on the back takes you back into a slumber in no time. Sometimes you sleep through the night and some nights you wake every 45 minutes for more soothing. We never know what the night will bring. Somedays we are well rested and some days Mommy is a zombie. No matter what the night brings, we are thankful to have you to care for.

·      During the day, you do still sleep quite a bit. Some days it still feels like you sleep 20 hours a day and other days we can keep you awake a little longer. You finally started yawning this month because you know what is like for your little body to be tired after being awake.

·      You are eating 4oz every 2-3 hours - about 6 bottles a day.  You can be happy, happy, happy and then all of a sudden start crying for that bottle.  You still don’t cry much, but did start to discover your voice and will voice your opinion if your tummy is not satisfied.

Two Month Stats:

9 lbs 6 oz (8%)

20" long (<1%)

You did amazingly well as you got your shots.  You were shocked and you cried for as long as it took the nurse to give them to you, but as soon as I picked you up, you were fine.  The rest of the day, you were a bit sleepy, but not fussy at all.  We were very fortunate.  

You are still in newborn clothes, but we finally did move you out of preemie diapers at one month and into newborn and/or size 1 diapers for month 2.

Josephine, each day with you is a true blessing and a true joy. I know you will grow up knowing this, but you are truly loved in the biggest way be our whole family. Your sisters have gotten the greatest joy out of watching you discover their world and do something new for the first time. It makes your mommy and daddy swell with pride too. My heart is full.

We love you so our little baby doll,

Mommy, Daddy, Emeline and Giselle

(and Oskar and George, too!)