Happy 3 Month Birthday Jack!

Jack is 3 months old today! I realize I've said this on all 3 of his month birthdays, but I can hardly believe it's true! He's changed so much this last month and seems to be changing everyday. I feel like 3 months is a pretty big milestone, for me especially. I realize it's a gift to have as much time with him as I do and up until this point, I truly haven't wanted to be separated from him. That's not to say I want to be the one holding/caring for him the entire time, but I have genuinely wanted to be near him during this time. While my daily life will still be filled with Jack, I am finding that I am now ready and wanting time to myself. This was most apparent to me during my last photo shoot. I was sitting in Central Park waiting on my shoot to get there and I realized just how free and available I felt in that moment without Jack...and I liked it. I also really loved the feeling of "coming home." Separation is an important thing (I know this), I'm just so thankful to have been the one to decide that I was ready to separate.

Other 3 months thoughts...
*We're working on our 10 minutes a day of tummy time and Jack's getting pretty good at it. You could even say he likes it some of the time. He'll hold his head up and look all around, smile when he sees your face, then as soon as he's finished he'll face plant into the ground and start to cry. Next step...rolling over.
*I read a lot during pregnancy, but truthfully I haven't really touched any parenting books at this point. I'll look up specific things I'm interested in and maybe check in on the monthly progress checklists you can find online, but even that is rather sporadic. As I was thinking about my lack of reading recently, I asked Alan if I was a "bad parent for not reading parenting books?" His response was "yes." Can you believe it? (He did also say that we both should be reading books and trying to be more "in the know", but his first word of response was "yes.") I went to Barnes 'N Noble that night.
*Jack is still a little night owl. Maybe if I read more parenting books I would know how to fix this:). His late night tendencies only make mine worse. In needing more time to myself, I'm finding that I get the most "me time" between the hours of midnight and 2am after he and Alan both go to sleep. I suppose that will have to be the first thing to go if I'm wanting to start rotating his schedule a bit.
*We love to hear Jack coo! It really is the sweetest little noise you've ever heard. Sometimes he talks to us as loud as he can and sometimes it's more like a whisper. Regardless of the volume, we encourage every minute of it. It's typically accompanied with a whole lot of smiles, so talking with Jack is one of the best parts of anyones day.
*We started to learn this around 2 months, but it's even more true now. Jack needs a little time on his own throughout the day. There are times where he's just a little fussy at a time when you know he should be happy and then you put him on the floor and he starts smiling and talking and kicking his legs. He just needs time to stretch and move around on the floor, so we work really hard to give it to him. Sometimes this stretching is done on a table at the restaurant we're at, or in the park, or on his playgym at home. It doesn't really matter where he gets it, he's just happy to be "free."
*So many smiles...we really can't get enough!
*He definitely recognizes faces now. Not to break Alan's heart, but he does know mine the best. He'll follow you around the room and when you lock eyes with him, he'll just light up!
*He loves his hands! Most of the day you'll find him holding them together. Sometimes he's just happy to be holding them there, other times he's shoved them in his mouth..he just loves his hands.
*The boy loves to kick. This is part of that "need to be free" and put down. His little legs will kick as hard as they can, especially if there's something in front of them to kick on. We'll put our arms, our bodies, or toys in front of those little feet just to see how hard and fast he'll move them.
*Jack does have an opinion about things he doesn't like too. Here are just a few...
- He hates it when you wipe off his spit up or drool (really...he starts to cry).
- He cannot stand the second strap of the car seat. You put the first one and he's fine, but as soon as the second one gets placed over his other arm he starts to squirm and get upset.
- This might be the wierdest thing, but he will only take a pacifier from me (Jenny). I can get him to take the pacifier at any moment of the day, but if someone else offers it it honestly makes him angry. This is something we're working on because it really does pacify him instantly with me, so we'd love to have that be an option for other people holding him to use too (like Alan for instance).
*Jack is not terribly into toys at this moment (not that we put a ton in front of him at this point), but he does have one favorite...his cow. On his little playgym are different barnyard animals, and the cow definitely has won his heart. He'll stare and talk to it more than any other toy and I swear sometimes get a little bashful look when he sees it too:)