Dear Grace {3 Months}

 Oh Grace, you beautiful little thing, you are a sight to behold. Three months have passed and you just keep getting betting: more beautiful, more smiley, more enamored with your world.  I am so in love.  I could hold you forever and it wouldn't be long enough.

You get so much attention everywhere we go.  Everyone is drawn to you.  Though you love your Mommy most right now, and are happiest in my arms, you're more than willing to flash a smile at anyone who comes your way.  Everyone comments on your eyes and it's not hard to see why.  They are expressive and beautiful, dancing and flashing as your face lights up with joy. Your father sits over you and tells me how beautiful you are almost every day.  And though I know it for myself, it delights me to hear him say it.  I hope you always know your value and that your beauty, though it is very much apparent on the outside, is merely just a manifestation of who you are on the inside bubbling up and spilling out for all to see.  You are so loved.

 We talked, as most parents do, before you were born, worried that we could never love another child like we loved your brother.  Well, my little one, you are showing us just how that happens.  I can't explain how perfect it is to have the two of you.  The love we feel for you is simultaneously so very much the same and so very different.  You are pink and bows, ruffles and patent leather mary janes (which incidentally, you wore for the very first time today), tiny cries and baby dolls, flirting eyes sweet tiny coos. You complete us, you complete me, in a way I never imagined.

Gracie Pie, you have grown a great deal this month, both physically and developmentally.  You were eating approximately every three hours, though you are still not on any type of schedule, until last week when you went through a growth spurt and started eating all. the. time. The doctor said this would happen and gave us the go ahead to give you cereal if you seemed to need it.  I said we would be waiting and that if you were hungry all the time then I would just feed you all the time. Well, you're making my put my money where my mouth is.  You still fit into size 1 diapers and 0-3 month clothes but you fill them out, and you fit into size 2 diapers and 3-6 month clothes well enough now.  A week ago they were all very big, it's incredible.

You and your brother continue your tango of love; namely, he very obviously loves you and you seem to be still deciding.  I've caught you flashing him some major smiles though and you seem to like to follow him with your eyes so I'm hoping these are signs of what's to come. 

This past month you found your hands.  You think they are very yummy and just about the best thing ever. You have started really sleeping through the night.  You very consistently go to sleep at 9 and then wake up for the day at 8:30.  You were making it until 5 in the morning without needing to eat before your little growth spurt and now we are slowly eeking our way back to that. We were amazed that you were going 8 hours through the night at two months old!  You are also  putting yourself to sleep at night.  You simply get swaddled, placed in your bassinet, and then just fall right asleep.  You still love to be swaddled and snuggled closed. You have developed this little habit of holding and gently tugging at the tufts of hair on the back of your head when you are tired.  I love to watch your little hand search for just the perfect piece of hair as you try to fall asleep. You still love to nuzzle your head by mine and I'm happy to oblige. 

You continue to be a dream come true, Gracie Girl.

We feel so blessed to watch you and aide you as you grow.

Can't wait to see what the next month brings.

To the moon and back,

Mommy