12 weeks

Our angel is 12 weeks today. This is a big milestone in the Broxterman household. Most of you who know me well know that the first 12 weeks of Jacob's life felt like 12 years. Then, all of a sudden, at 12 weeks he turned a corner. (As an aside, Mark likes to think Jacob's sudden change of behavior was due to a massive bowel movement that Mark likes to refer to as the "come to Jesus poop". For some reason, after that, the kid actually stopped crying all day long and seemed to enjoy this world he lived in.) Anyway, the first 12 weeks with Maddie have literally flown by and I have no idea where the time has gone! I wonder why it's so different this time around. Certainly, she seems to be an easier baby, but I do wonder if I knew then (with Jacob) what I know now about caring for babies, if Jacob's first 3 months would have been a little bit easier. After all, we have quite a few tricks up our sleeves now for soothing newborns. Who knows? But I'll take it! I hate that time is flying by, but I do love that we are enjoying every minute of it.

A little bit about Maddie at 12 weeks:

• She started smiling around 6 weeks but she is all about the big toothless grins these days. All you have to do is walk by and say "HI!" and she just breaks out into this enormous smile. We really can't get enough of it.

• She "talks" up a storm. We hear her "ohs" and "Ah-goos" all the time and if we don't pay attention, she seems to get louder with them!

• This poor girl only poops every 5-7 days and when it's time, it's a massive blowout. I mean, out of the diaper-all over the pants BLOWOUT. I just don't get it. She's only ever gotten breastmilk so what is it about this milk?? This leads to the second problem: GAS. She passes gas louder than her Daddy sometimes and it's just downright scary. And it's obvious that it makes her super uncomfortable because she screams like a crazy person and then "BAM", out comes a big ol' fart. I'm going to tease her about this someday.

• She is a hiccuping queen. Usually, after she eats, she spits up what seems like an enormous amount of milk and then immediately gets the hiccups. That's when you know she's done!

• Ugh, the car. Why is it that our kids don't like the car? If Maddie is recently fed (and I mean in the last 5 minutes) or if she is in that somewhat tired zone, she'll be content and fall fast asleep. Otherwise (which is 90% of the time), as soon as you put her in the car, she starts screaming. Thank goodness I put her carseat in the back on the opposite side. I can't tell you how many times I've driven around with my hand back there inserting (and keeping) the paci in her mouth.

• She loves her baths so much that she screams bloody murder when you take her out. I'm not kidding! The whole time she's in her bath she's smiling and cooing. As SOON as you take her out and wrap her in the towel, the whole world is coming to an end. I can't figure this one out. I thought it might be because she was cold, so I put a space heater on right where I lay her down to change her and that did nothing. This is one I'm hoping she grows out of fast. Because I dread bathing her!

• Much like her older brother, Maddie is not a fan of daytime naps. She is sleeping great at night. She goes down around 8 pm and sleeps until 4 am when she feeds and then goes back to sleep until 6:30/7 am. Not bad for 12 weeks! BUT, she refuses to sleep more than 30 minutes at a time during the day. Mark and I have decided that it's Operation Nap Time and we are going to try and start giving her all of her naps in the crib so she'll get used to it.
  

• She has zero interest in rolling over. Jacob rolled over at 12 weeks (even though he was close to 20 pounds!) so it's hard not to compare them. But, I don't mind. I like that she stays put wherever I lay her down! I think she's going to be more of a talker and less of a mover.

• She is amazingly patient with her big brother. The only time she ever gets upset is if he screams loudly near her and startles her (which is understandable) but she doesn't even bat an eye at the 100 a day kisses he gives her. In fact, I think she quite enjoys them.
  

• We are secretly praying that her blue eyes never change. They are the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. I know I'm a little biased but seriously, when you see them, you will absolutely agree.

Maddie at 12 weeks and the first time in a bow! (I'm strangely intimidated by baby hair accessories. I'm never sure if they are in right. But she looks pretty cute in this one!)