3 months

It's high time for an Ellie update (read: Beware of long post!)

-Ellie's first "social smile" was on Mar 13, the day of the St Patty's Day run. However, she's come a long way in the smiling deparment, just this week. Before we had to practically stand on our heads to get a teeny smirk; now it's full-on open mouth, nose-scrunched, squealy grins almost every time she sees us (or her elephants, or her mobile).

Here she is giving a grin w/ her Aunt Shanna.

-We can't really call her Grunting Gerta anymore, because all the grunts have turns into adorable coos. Now her sounds mimic language a lot more and are absolutely precious.

-She's gone to a 4 hour eating schedule. The girl still packs it away, but now she goes longer between feedings. She's been eating at 8, 12, 4, and 8, and one middle of the night feeding around 4:30/5:00. Since I'm going back to work next Monday I am moving her schedule back an hour so that she'll eat closer to 7, 11, 3,and 7. I would love it if I could wean her from the 5 am feeding, (it's not even a full feeding...more like 8 min rather than 20) but she still seems genuinely hungry.

-She likes to kick her legs furiously and wave her arms up and down when laying on her back. Yesterday she lay in her bassinet and realized that if she kicked it shook the whole bed, so she really went to town! In the pic below her legs are a blur 'cause they're go, go, go...

-Ellie LOVES her carseat. She seems like a born traveler. In fact, each time we've taken her out for a walk she has ended up falling asleep 'cause she's so comfy in the carseat.

-She has officially been dubbed a "summer" by my Aunt Dee. In our family we stick religiously to buying according to our color schemes so that all our clothes mix and match. Mommy's a winter and Daddy's an autumn, so now we'll have to learn a new color palette when shopping for Ellie's clothes. (I'm still in shock that I have a blue-eyed beauty!)

-She's not a huge fan of tummy time (yet). She can hold her head up for a long time when we're holding her, but she gets frustrated after only a couple minutes of being on her stomach. I am trying to increase this amount of time since our Parents as Teachers rep reminded us of all the benefits of tummy time.

-Confession: our daughter is a paci-holic. I mean serious. addiction. What's funny is that somehow Currie and I have taught her to cough to get the paci. I have no idea how it's happened, but that's how she lets us know she wants it. Or, she'll open her mouth and lean towards her chest because she knows it's down there somewhere, and that it magically appears when she does this. Recently, when that doesn't work, she has figured out that she can shove her fist in her mouth for a similar effect. :)

I'm sure there are lots of things I'm leaving out, like her first trip to the beach, her first flight, her baptism, etc. but most of those I have recorded on our calendar (or have upteen million pictures to help me remember).

p.s. I have videos of several of the above that I am desperately trying to upload, but they take FOREVER. Any tips on quicker options?