Baby Conly: 3 months old!

As we brought dinner last night to a couple that just had a baby, I was reminded of how much things have changed in the past 12 weeks. Adelaide's gone from being about as responsive as a floppy baby doll to one that can play with toys, hold her head steadily, sit and stand up (with help of course), smile and coo. Just this week she began playing with her feet, rolling from her tummy to back, and even trying to hold her bottle. I'm just amazed at what a difference a few months make at this age.

Everyone told me that once the big 3 month mark hit, things would get better. I'd see leaves on trees again. I'd be able to concentrate once more, and I wouldn't want to pull my hair out everyday. But as I reflected last week when my friend Katie asked me, "Has parenting been different than you expected?" I realized that it certainly has been.

I truly expected more bouts of crying (on my part) and feelings of helplessness, but I've been truly blessed with an amazing kid. Of course there have been many times when I asked myself and others what to do, but all in all the first three months have been great (though the first 2 and a half weeks were filled with complete exhaustion). I'm really enjoying motherhood, something I didn't really expect. I've never been a "baby" person so I was surprised by how enraptured I am by my little girl.

Right now there are a couple things that we're struggling with a little bit. The biggest thing being the "The Battle of the Bottle." I'm still having to supplement with formula which stinks but I've come to accept it. However, Adelaide's starting to reject it. Each and every bottle is a battle (some more minor than others). She's been drinking at least a couple of bottles every day since was 5 days old. She had no problem taking them from the beginning. Then she stopped taking them from anyone but me, and now she's not even wanting to drink bottles at all. Last night she flat out refused to eat for 30 minutes so I put her to bed. When I say "refused to eat," I mean screaming and squirming like a 2 year old having a tantrum. She slept for an hour and woke up starving and finally ate (more like guzzled really). Tomorrow night Rocky and I are going on a date and the thing I'm worried about most is the babysitter being able to feed my child.

Adelaide has also been put on a medicine for acid reflux. There were signs that she struggled with it-- back arching while eating, lots of spit up, crying during and after meals, lots of coughing and gagging, etc. She'd even stopped eating as much, and because she wasn't eating as much she wasn't sleeping as long. I really think the medicine is helping. She's gone back to eating a good amount and is sleeping through the night once again. Through all the acid reflux mess, ADelaide still hasn't complained very much.

I am a very spoiled mother. Rocky and I think our next kid will most likely be spawn of satan to balance out how easy Adelaide's been. Just last night I slept 8 hours. Adelaide slept 10. That's totally normal for her. She began sleeping through the night; I'm talking at least 6 hours most nights when she was 3 weeks old. Being someone who values sleep so much, I've got to admit I think that's the main reason I've loved parenting!

Here's some pictures I took over the past week: