This post has affiliate links.

Ahhh there’s our sweet girl. Three whole months at this point, last June 2017. Less than a year ago. It was a beautiful time of day when I took these photos. She was in a playfully mellow mood, learning to wave. The sun was filtering in so nicely through the nursery window (room has since been rearranged). So I could place her safely in her changing table for photos from time-to-time. I documented on this day how she still had this funny bald spot across the back of her head where she had been moving her head from side-to-side when looking around in her crib. Her muscular arms and back developing from tummy time, like a miniature swimmer. Her wrinkly tushy in the newborn diapers – still seeming a bit too small for the cloth diapers we had bought (now I know how to fold them down for next baby!) – and still too small for typical sized diapers of her peers… long and lean. How her onesie with her month on it was just SO big in the middle for her… incredibly baggy (made for her by one of my friend’s as a shower gift – all from Carters bodysuits!). She loved looking at the shapes, animal friends, and colors on those soft muslin Aden and Anais changing pad covers (her latest fave is one with foxes on it).

I was still struggling with swaddling at this point, while Michael was a pro. I was successfully breastfeeding still, but as I noted in my previous post, had started to pump before bedtime so I could get a full night’s sleep without feeling too full due to my PCOS medication. Margaret’s three month ‘birthday’ came at an extremely hard time for me, as it was when my Grandfather, JAJ III, was finally laid to rest one year after his passing. It was just impossible to consider flying with a barely 8 week old, in Florida, in mid/late June. Just too much for me post-partum. So we didn’t go, and so that month is kind-of a blur for me. I know I went to the store and bought a bunch of his favorite flowers and filled our house with them (tropical ones you’d see in FL gardens). My brother JAJ V met Margaret on his way home after the services and his subsequent road trip afterwards. I discovered the fun of Snapchat filters when used with your infant. She really enjoyed chewing on things at this point – her hand, various toys esp. this frog that came with the Infantino play mat she was given. She was a sweet doll baby one day when M and I took her with us to the Lilly Pulitzer store so I could get a couple outfits for summer.

Baby MCVA laying on a blanket someone made her, wearing a bow from my cousin’s bow business, wearing my vintage Feltman Brothers gown [updated version here].

I really felt like the days were starting to melt together, especially since Michael had returned to work and Margaret and I were starting to learn what being together ALL DAY LONG was like. I got swept into Bravo and E! shows like never before – and that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. I tried to get back into cooking again. But breastfeeding was a lot more time consuming than I had ever anticipated – part of that was PCOS medication but also anatomically complicated. But I need to revisit that in another post later. Anyway, I wasn’t necessarily depressed (at least not yet) but I was overwhelmed but how days could run into another and I really needed to find an outlet. I think that’s why blogging fell to the wayside. I didn’t want to do the work at that point in time to blog, I wanted to do something quick and easy like Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat. Texting with friends. They were great outlets. Margaret was changing everyday and it was wild to witness the transformation. Here are some of the things that happened that month for our sweet girl:

• She started holding her head straight up while lying on her back
• Finally over 2 feet “tall” aka 60+ cm long
• Napping 1-2 times a day. But not really. Little cat naps throughout the day on and off. Not a reliable set napper unless she is in her Rock N Play.
• Can hold her bottle up some when she has it if she isn’t too sleepy!
• Enjoys peek-a-boo!
• Chewing on all kinds of things!
• Sleeping 10+ hours a night, sometimes 12 hrs with maybe a brief milk top off moment that makes her go right back to sleep. Surprisingly not leaking a lot, rarely ever spitting up.
• Rolls all the way around.
• Grabbed my phone and made her first accidental selfie – put my phone away more often after that – terrified me how easy it was for her to figure out!
• Opens and closes her fists.
• Grasps and shakes her toys.
• Loves spotting things from a distance (like Dada coming in the door after work) and imitating expressions/sounds/movements/arm gestures.
• One of my favorite things is hearing her amuse herself in her crib with new sounds and noises first thing in the morning or when she wakes up from a nap.
• Spots and fixates on small objects.
• She had her first laugh! Which for her is more of a high sweeping sound and a giggle than other kids who have a haha or hee hee laugh. Very cute.
• Pushed herself up onto her elbows while lying on her stomach.
• Rolled from front to back.
• Reached to grab her toy from Dada, Mama, and her grandparents.