'3 months and almost 2 weeks, since our lives significantly changed. I know we are long overdue for posting updates on Erica, so hopefully this will help make up for it (a friend of mine from high school has 6-month-old quadruplets and I swear she posts on her blog every other day or something!).
Well, I started back to work, part-time, the last week of August (8/25). My department was generous enough to give me a "temporary" part-time schedule, which will hopefully give me time to find a permanent one, but in a different department. It's really nice only being at work for 4 hours a day - it goes by fairly quickly, for now. I think Lil Erica and I both went through some adjustment, but I think we are starting to get somewhat of a routine down. I work 3pm-7pm, so Nana Newman watches her a couple of hours before Eric gets home. She is sleeping through the night now, so that's a big help (in fact, now she goes anywhere from 8 to 12 hours) - however, my problem (at least since I started working again) is not getting to bed before 1 or 2am, but I'm hoping to get better at that (and I recently have started to, for the most part). In the beginning, it didn't bother me as much to go to work (I think because I was just ready to get out of the house everyday), but now it does, and I'm sad to leave her...
Erica has had a few "firsts" in the last few weeks: she found her thumb a few weekends ago, which I wasn't sure if I liked at first, but now I realize it really is a lifesaver for me (especially at night) because she can soothe herself; she has started talking a lot (aka babbling, gurgling, squealing, etc.) and smiling a lot more (especially while she's on the changing table, or when she's near the end of a nursing); she has started rolling over from her tummy to her back (which she started while I was at work, so I missed that at first, but caught it on video a couple of times, later that week); she has started to be able to successfully grab things (not consistently, but it's a start); and she follows objects REAL well with her eyes - especially Mommy and Daddy. Erica is really showing more and more of her personality, and yet I'm sure this is ONLY the tip of the iceberg - lol! She's always been a pretty strong baby, but she can stand and hold just about all her weight on her legs, while one of us holds her hands to steady her! She holds her head up pretty well now, and isn't nearly as wobbly, but the girl sure is a wiggle-worm!
We've also had her on a couple of "outings" that we avoided before, such as: the mall, the restaurant (outside on the patio, though), the park...
Even from the beginning, Daddy Eric can't wait to hold her when he comes home. Most nights, he and Baby Erica go for a 1-2 mile walk around the neighborhood, and he reads to her at home, when time permits. The current selection is a book of the classic Winnie-the-Pooh tales, which are rather funny, I must say...
We don't see the Pediatrician again for another couple of weeks. Her last appointment was at 2 months, and she was just a few ounces shy of 12 pounds! She's still a butterball, and just keeps getting bigger, so we're curious to see what she weighs at 4 months! I think she's jumped in length lately, too, because some of the clothes she was wearing recently are suddenly too short for her. She can still wear some of the 0-3 mo clothes, but we're having to get into the 3-6 mo clothes, too (and even then, some of them are questionable - lol!).
And now, a moment of honesty: I think I'm really falling in love with her now! Don't get me wrong - I've always LOVED my baby, but I think I was so consumed with false expectations, exhaustion, hormones, and emotions in the beginning, that I couldn't feel the way about her then as I do now... Does that make sense? Now, there are times when I can't get enough of her...
