Fiona at 3 Months

Ignore the fact that Fi is wearing a Halloween outfit. It still fits, so I took these a couple of days ago, at 3 months.
I'd say this last month has been a good one. About 2-3 weeks ago, Fi's colic symptoms seemed to have vanished! A heaven-sent blessing, to be sure. It was only intense for 4-6 weeks, so I was able to maintain my patience and keep a tenuous grasp on sanity. I always feared that colic was an indicator of personality, and if one of my kids displayed it, it would mean I was doomed to a difficult and contrary child. Luckily this does not seem to be the case at all with Fi. She is a happy child, usually only giving to tears if tired or hungry. She has started smiling spontaneously and even giggling within the last week or so. How I love those smiles and giggles! Just one of those little miracles can dissolve any stress, sadness or distress momentarily. Truly magic.
She is growing at a steady clip, although I still need to take her in to have her weight checked for this month. I also haven't yet gotten her first vaccines, which she was supposed to receive at 2 months- Oops! Her sleeping is still a bit of a torment. During the day she largely sleeps in her swing, and does fairly well at that. She seems to do best when we are out and about in the car, doing errands. Night, however is a different story. She is only happy sleeping in my arms, in bed with us. Sometimes I love this sweet embrace between mother and child. She sleeps so soundly, and it is gratifying to be able to soothe her so completely and so quickly. I love to hold her close to my body and gaze down at her sweetly closed eyes and steady breathing. I love the closeness that I feel between us, this symbiotic relationship that exists now outside of the womb.
However, I do wish she would sleep in her crib, that she would be soothed in places other than my arms. I wish that I had the option- I would still choose to cradle her and sleep with her at times, but also be able to lay her down in the crib and be productive with full use of my hands as well as enjoy a peaceful solitary sleep. Shortly we hope to begin sleep training, letting her learn to fall asleep and soothe herself. Up until this point I have not felt comfortable letting her cry herself to sleep, but shortly she will need to learn this skill. Why is sleep training so difficult- emotionally and physically for both mother and child? (as well as everyone else in the house...)

Her reflux also seems to be on the mend. She doesn't spit up nearly a much, nor does the burning seem to bother her as often. Hallelujah!
We have no such thing as a schedule, and parent her on demand. Bella was the same way- try as I might to regulate a schedule she resisted it until about 9 months old, so until that time we just demand-fed. Although, by 4 months old Bella was sleeping from 7pm-7am every night. I hope we can do the same with Fi just one month from now!
She seems to be growing so fast now, leaving the stage of infancy for a quickly-developing baby. It is a bitter-sweet experience to see your baby grow and change so quickly. How is it that we have only had this sweet girl for 3 months? What did we do before her?