Anna

Dear Anna,

Yesterday you turned five months old! I honestly don’t know where the time has gone – I alternate between feeling like you just got here and having a hard time remembering a time before you arrived.

If I had written this letter on time, I would have said you were thisclose to rolling over. But today I can tell you that you just learned how to flip from your back to your tummy! And my goodness, were you proud of that little feat, giggling and looking up at me like “look, Mommy, I finally did it!” As soon as you learn how to flip the other way, we’re going to have to re-baby-proof the house…

Right now your most very favorite “toy” is a water bottle. You love, love, love water, especially in bottled form. You’re not quite as fond of being in it for baths as you are of looking at it though. You’ve also really become adept at grabbing toys and bringing them to your mouth, so any small links or light toys are very fun to play with. We have a soft block that has handles and rings dangling off of it that chimes when you shake it, and that’s your favorite actual toy to play with.

You still sleep amazingly well at night, although naps are still elusive. Basically, you only want to take a good long nap whenever we actually need to go anywhere. If there’s a day when we have nothing at all to do and nowhere to go, you barely let me put you down for five minutes. Of course! I’ve given up on getting anything done around the house for the most part. Eventually I’ll have time, right?

In just a few short weeks you’ll be starting to try “solid” food – which is good, because you intently watch anything we put in our mouths and frequently try to grab things off of my plate. I can’t believe how big you’ve grown already, my little baby girl. I can’t wait to see what this next month brings!

Love, Mommy

Dear Anna,

Today you are four months old. And I feel like I just wrote your three month letter yesterday, so I’m not sure where the rest of the month went!

This month you’ve learned how to blow raspberries, which you find absolutely hysterical. In fact, you tend to crack yourself up a lot and generally find most of life at least smile-worthy, if not downright amusing.

You are also starting to sort out the people in your life. As in, strangers and people you don’t see all that often tend to make you cry. But you do warm up to people you don’t know rather quickly still, they can’t just get right in your face or pick you up before you’ve had a chance to figure them out.

One group of people that you will always smile at, though, is children – especially babies. You love to look at kids and babies in real life, in books, and even in pictures on my computer! We’ve started reading Baby Faces to you every night before bed, and you just smile and smile at all those baby face pictures – even the ones with the crying babies. And big sister Carolyn is your most favorite person ever, of course!

Somehow I lucked out in the sleep department. You really are an amazing night-time sleeper. Once you go to sleep for the night you’re out for 11 or 12 hours straight. Day time? Not so much. On rare days (usually when we’re out and about and you’re stuck in the car seat) you take a longer nap, but most of the time you sleep for 30 minutes at most, 3 or 4 times a day. Hopefully you’ll become a better napper, but if not, I certainly wouldn’t trade my full nights of sleep for it!

The other day I was changing your diaper, and I noticed how much bigger you are on that changing table than you were when we first came home. And how much more interactive and aware of things you are. And I suddenly realized you’re not a newborn anymore, you’re officially a baby. I don’t know how I didn’t notice it sooner, I guess I’d better start paying closer attention!

Love, Mommy

Dear Anna,

Yesterday you turned three months old. Three months doesn’t seem like a long time, does it? I’m pretty sure I missed a month or two in there! But at the same time it feels like you’ve been here forever.

You are an interactive, smiling, giggly baby already. You and I have wonderful conversations, where I ask you questions and you reply “ah-goo!”, “boo!” or “ppbbblt!” I can get you to laugh if I stick out my tongue at you. You also love to gurgle at the dogs and smile at your big sister.

So far you aren’t rolling over, but you’ve got great head control and you’re willing to tolerate tummy time for at least a little while most days. You definitely prefer to sit up in a bouncy seat so you can see the world, rather than laying on the floor or in your crib.

And speaking of the crib, you are an amazing sleeper. Well, at night, anyway! You will put yourself to sleep if I put you in your crib with a full tummy and a clean diaper around 7:30, and sleep anywhere from 8-12 hours straight. During the day, on the other hand, you might take 3 or 4 catnaps that are only maybe 30-60 minutes long – I’d be surprised if it totaled two hours. The car also does not work the same baby sleepy magic it had for your big sister.

You still do that little newborn stretch when I pick you up when you’re not all the way awake – where you arch your back, pull up your knees, and put your elbows by your ears. I’m not describing it well, but I love it, and I know it won’t be much longer before you outgrow that…

Today I put away almost all of your 0-3 month clothes, in a box with the things we couldn’t use from Carolyn in that size. I’m going to miss some of your teeny-tiny little outfits, and I have to admit I’m hoping you’ll someday have a little sister who will wear them. But while I’m definitely a little sad over how fast you’re growing, I’m so excited for all the new things to come. Just think, today you’re holding up your head and smiling, in a few months you’ll be crawling, and then walking, and then you’ll learn to talk and we’ll be able to have even more wonderful conversations.

Love, Mommy