11 weeks

Sweet Ava Jean is just a few days shy of 3 months old.

Wow. That seems like such a big birthday in the first year of life.

No longer a newborn, fully into babyhood.

I have loved these past 12 weeks with my 3rd little girl.

Despite the craziness of the move and the constant care needed for my two big girls,

somehow I feel like I've still been able to sneak away and enjoy my precious baby.

Ava's been a much happier baby this past month. After two months of tummy pains and constant spit up, we decided to start her on Zantac, for her acid reflux. I hate putting her on meds at such an early age! But it had made her a much happier baby! Her crying spells and tummy pains have lessened so much, its only a rare occasion. That means more Ava smiles and coo's and also now day time naps not interrupted by spit-up. As you can imagine, this has made everything so much happier! With Ava being my first "fussy" baby, it has sure grown my compassion and respect for Mom's with true colicky baby's!!

I have looooved Ava's smiles!! She has such a happy, yet intense disposition. It reminds me sooo much of Alathea! Sometimes I have to remind myself which one of my baby girls I'm holding, it can feel like I've rewound the clock 4 1/2 years! Ava will stare you down, focusing intensely on your eyes and facial expressions. She loves to "talk" and will let you know she's not happy about you walking away if she's not finished. She's got that awesome "full body smile" I love so much about infants...they smile with their faces and then the whole body wiggles. So cute, especially because she always startles herself when she does it. As an added bonus, she started laughing this week.

I'm so grateful for this precious girl. I'm really loving being a Mom of three. Life is busy, busy, busy. I never seem to be able to get "everything done". Even the basics, like laundry and dinner can be hard to come by. And there is not a drop of down time. (I'm hoping one day just a bit of down time will return :) But I've really felt a lot of grace to enjoy this short, sweet season of my girls being little. The Lord's really helped me to keep proper perspective on what really matters. I know these years will fly by faster than I can imagine.