3 months

Our girl is three months old today. As someone pointed out recently, her "fourth trimester" has come to an end. My mom used to say that three months is a magical age, when babies have unfurled from their newborn cocoon and they start interacting with the outside world. Lucy is certainly unfurling these days. She's our bright eyed girl, and her smile lights up her whole face.
She's more independent every day, and now with better eyesight, she stares curiously at the world around her. She can roll over from back to front, and once she gets her arms free she likes being on her belly. Sometimes she ends up off her mat, on the bare floor, with dog hair stuck to her cheek, but she happily sticks her thumb in her mouth and hangs out, dog hair and all. She's a thumb sucker, this one.

Lucy is a sweet, cuddly girl. She loves to curl up on my shoulder and she will hang out like that for as long as my arms will hold her. She has started cooing and singing, and has a sort of half-laugh that cracks me up every time.

Sometimes I still can't believe she's here. She has changed our lives so profoundly, and yet, she also fits into our family's rhythm in a way that doesn't feel disruptive. After just three months none of us can imagine life without Lucy. When we were still on the fence about having a third child, someone told me that their third brought their family together in a way they would never have expected. This has certainly been true for us. Liam and Milo have never expressed resentment or reluctance about her. Liam will hoist her up onto his shoulder and walk around the house like a pro. Milo loves to make her smile - he makes faces at her endlessly, trying to elicit a grin. They both ask me when they get home from school, "how's Lucy?" and want an update on how she spent her day. Mostly sleeping, I tell them. My girl's a good sleeper.