12 weeks

Molly turned 12 weeks old yesterday. That's a big milestone. It's the point all the baby books talk about as being the end of unexplained fussiness and the end of the "fourth trimester," the phase where the baby is adjusting to life outside the womb.

It's amazing how much easier life has gotten in such a short period of time. Molly has been sleeping through the night, with only one exception, for 11 nights in a row. Lately she's been going to bed around 9:30 or 10 and waking up around 5:30 or 6. (With the time change it's suddenly an hour later). That's not just a full 8 hours. It's also a normal adult time of night to be sleeping!

Also, Molly has completely changed her opinion on car rides and trips out of the house. She used to cry every time we put her in the car seat, especially hard when we fastened the buckles. Now she smiles. In the car she was always either sleeping or crying -- usually crying. We often had to turn around and come home or feel miserable about the trip. Now she sits there looking around, content. Often she drifts off to sleep after 10 or 15 minutes. In stores, I used to have to take her out of her car seat and carry her around or she would fuss. Now she sits happily in the car seat, looking around. She even fell asleep once as I was pushing her around the grocery store and stayed asleep through the checkout and everything. We went out for lunch Saturday and she sat happily in her car seat until about half way through the meal, when she fell asleep.

One of my books on baby development says 3-month-old babies are typically so full of smiles that it looks like they're perpetually high. That's a perfect description for Molly. She gives us huge grins that just grow and grow as you look at her. She kicks her legs and waves her arms like she's ready to crawl away. Last night she was looking at her left fist and trying to control it, when she smacked herself in the forehead. She's so fun to watch! She gets excited when she sees her Daddy and follows him around the room with her eyes. One time this weekend she screamed when I picked her up out of his lap.

She still gets fussy sometimes and we still spend hours and hours rocking her, swaddling her (she can get her arms out easily now, but she still has trouble sleeping with her arms free), putting her down, picking her up again and trying to get her to sleep. That's as frustrating as ever. But most of the time she's just fun.