the end of the fourth trimester

hey, mr. man!

first of all, it occurs to me that i should 1) explain why i've called you "van" up until now and 2) i should stop calling you "van". so, when you were still inside my tummy, daddy and i had made the decision that your middle name would be van trawver in honor of your late pop-pop. his middle name was van trawver. so, we kinda in-the-tummy nicknamed you van. well, when you were born and we saw that your hair was red, we made the impromptu decision that your middle name would be "rusty"...also after your late pop-pop. you see, he also was born with red hair. he had beautiful red hair t/o his life and was called rusty his entire life (though it was not his official name). later in life, he had beautiful silver hair...it happens to the best of us. so, your full name is quinntin rusty anderson.

now, i've been calling you mr. man for a while now, and i think it might stick as your nickname. we'll see. you smile pretty big when i greet you for the day by calling you mr. man.

so, down to business. on wednesday, 2/4, you will be 3 months old! you are doing really well these past couple weeks. your tummy issues are settling down. you actually started eating better just in the last couple days. you are growing so fast. you have blown straight thru your 3 month clothes and even your 3/6 month clothes. you are full-on into your 6 and 9 month clothes now. you are just about 26 inches tall and you are around 15 pounds. you are wearing a size 2 diaper pretty comfortably, and despite my love of all things bulk, i am restraining myself from buying you too many diapers in size 2 b/c i imagine you'll be in a 3 in no time.

in the past couple days, you've started doing a couple of big-boy things that are bitter-sweet for me. you have started napping in the afternoon and sleeping the first part of the night in your crib (you still pretty staunchly refuse to sleep more than 20 minutes in the morning). we have your room nice and dark and you have a noise machine, and the combination seems to help soothe you. lord knows it's quieter and calmer than hangin' out in all the daylight with your dancing, singing sissy....though she is all kinds of good entertainment. you also have begun to have times when you want to be put down to play/look at stuff instead of just being held. this one's a little hard at first, but very liberating. the whole sleeping-in-your-room thing is much harder. i have a hard time sleeping when you're not near me. i like for you to be just 3 feet away, but i know it's best for you to be in your own room. i'm going to have to do something about your squeaky door so i can come in and check on you without disturbing you.

another big-boy thing you've been doing is settling very happily into a night-time routine. prior to just now (i'm making a decision on the fly, i think), i've been giving you your bath every other night. but, seeing how fast you relax, how well you eat, and how well you fall asleep on bath nights, i'm going to move you up to a daily bath routine. you do have pretty sensitive skin, so i think you will be soapy every other day and warm/lotioned every day. i am guessing i will not get any arguments from you since bath time is always calm and happy (with a chance of splashes) for you.

i love you, buddy. i am so blessed to have you in my life and can't imagine life without you. in some ways these three months have just flown by and it's like you just got here, but it also seems like you've always been here.

love,
mommy