three kiddos

Elliott's a tough one to capture on camera. He's constantly on the move. Addy is too, but she's more willing to cooperate with my pesky requests to hold a pose so I can get the camera. And Rose, well she doesn't complain at all about all the picture taking except for when I go on too long and she'd rather I hold her.
Rose is oh so sweet. She is surely gentle on us, going easy, that is with her easy going ways and tendency to sleep, long and well. She is a mighty grunter. I love this about her. She grunts with the best of them when she's pooping. She's also a grunter at night which is why she spends more time in the co-sleeper than either Addy or Elliott did. In the beginning I kept her in bed with us because that's what worked with Addy and Elliott, but as the nights went on I realized that I was constantly waking up to her grunts and noises thinking she wanted to nurse, but no, she's just a noisy sleeper. So we moved the co sleeper to the foot of our bed and she sleeps for her long chunk of sleep in her co sleeper at the beginning of the night. Then I bring her to bed with us after that. She's still not all that interested in nursing, which has been a real challenge to my body to figure out how to regulate milk supply at night, but I love snuggling with her and having her close and it just feels wrong to my body, my heavy, rolly eyes, to sit up in a chair in the middle of the night and nurse when I can just as easily nurse lying down and catch some z's.
Rose is "talking" a little bit more now. My favorite sound is 'ohoh'. And she is really studying all of us intently and is oh so aware of who is in the room. She is enjoying lying on the floor on her back, not so much on her tummy yet and is starting to kick her legs up and wiggle to figure out how to roll over. She loves sitting in her seat, too. This is the first our babies who requests with cries to be set down. Completely unfamiliar to me. Rose loves to be carried in the Moby wrap and often takes her naps there if we are on the go. She's starting to express interest in facing out though craning her neck back and around when she's in the wrap facing me so she can see what's happening 'out there'.

She's fairly predictable. If she's crying she either needs to nurse, to burp, a diaper change, to go to sleep, to be picked up, or to be set down. She's not a huge fan of the car, but we just got a mirror which we hope will help and Addy the entertainer in the back seat also helps. We bought a choochie in hopes that she'll take it for our long car ride to PA for Thanksgiving. She doesn't seem so fond of it which isn't a surprise given that Addy and Elliott looooved their choochies and Rose seems to be clearly charting her own path. She does self soothe with her thumb or hand, but not consistently. Rose is out of newborn, out of 0-3 months, and into 3-6 months clothes. She weighs 12 lbs 4 ounces and is 24" long. Pretty awesome growing! I admire her neck and thigh rolls and plump cheeks hourly! Not that I want them for myself!

We are discovering that having three kids, for us, is pretty fun and feels just right. Finding a balance has been hard. Keeping up with the house, laundry, eating decent food and not eating out a lot, having time for ourselves individually, as a couple, with each child individually is soooo hard. There just isn't enough time. So we adjust. Let the laundry and dishes and piles of dirt pile up so I can have a sweet moment of gazing into Rose's eyes or to take some time to play firefighter with Elliott, or dance with Addy. And then freak out a bit when the piles become too overwhelming and try to tackle one or all of them figuring out along the way how to do it with the kids or while also playing with the kids or just plugging 'em into Caillou or Bob or Dora to have some peace and actually make dinner. It's not easy, but if it were it surely wouldn't be as rewarding and the growing and learning and changing that comes from it wouldn't be as meaningful.

Enjoying a cup of hot cocoa with marshmallows with my big girl. When did this happen???

At the fire museum.