Three Months!

This girl. She is such a joy at 3 months old! And so adorably chubby!

Hallie is full of smiles and coos now. She absolutely eats up attention from anyone, and she makes you feel like you're the most special person in her life because she lights up when you talk to her. She looks right into your eyes and talks back to you in baby language.

She is showing her personality now and letting her opinions and preferences be made known!  Forget what I said last month about her sleeping 6 hours at a time at night, because she decided to stop that this month. Oh well, we enjoyed it while it lasted!

She has almost stopped doing it now, but I wanted to record it for my own sake.  Hallie has said her own name almost since birth. I've mentioned how she snorts, grunts, and makes other ladylike noises.  When she is really irritated with us, she furrows her brow, deepens her voice and growls "hallie hallie hallie" at us. It makes us laugh every time!

She is a happy and content baby most of the time, as long as you keep the bottles coming! She cycles through an "eat, sleep, snack, play, repeat" routine all day long.  She naps the longest in the mornings and evenings, and sleeps 3-4 hours at a time at night.  She loves being in the middle of the action and gets upset when she can't see anyone nearby.  She responds to the smell of food cooking, so mealtimes usually involve one of us holding her and feeding her a bottle while we all eat at the table.

She's learning to control her hands, and when she's hungry, she will put her fingers in her mouth to show us where she wants us to put the bottle. If that fails, she flails her arms and legs like she is possessed and inevitably bops herself in the nose and makes herself cry.

This girl can really eat! She loves to be held while she's eating. She also loves when we prop the bottle while she's in her car seat or stroller. Basically, she will accept milk from anyone or anything. She doesn't have the gas/tummy ache issues she used to have now that she's a little older, which is nice.

We picked up a play mat with music, lights, and hanging toys for $10 at a consignment store, and she and Emma both love it. Emma was trying to squeeze in and Hallie was shoving her head away. Ha!

My mom (Nana) discovered the best entertainment for Hallie. She wraps a balloon string around her wrist and when Hallie wiggles and jerks her arms and legs, the balloon jumps up and down.

So. much. fun.

 Emma adores her baby sister and loves to be a big helper. Hallie is absolutely fascinated by everything that Emma does.

Since Emma has a bath every night, it's easy to put Hallie in for a quick bath with her. Emma treats her like a bath toy and Hallie loves watching Emma play. I only put Hallie in for a few minutes, since I want to avoid baby poop in the water.

She gets her own bath sometimes, too. Check out her amazing tummy and thighs!!

Hallie's 4- and 5-year-old cousins, Josiah and Chloe, couldn't get enough of her and wanted to hold and feed her several times at our Thanksgiving gathering. 

When we're working at our new house, Hallie loves to admire our sparkly Christmas tree! 

Showing off her stylish hand-knitted socks from my coworker.  She's doing the cha-cha to show how much she loves them.

 Emma generally hates giving and receiving kisses, but even she can't resist Hallie's kissable cheeks!

I don't think I'm imagining that they have the same face in this picture! 

We are enjoying our little Hallie so much at this sweet age!