SMARTicle: the 25 documents you need before you die

I was on pinterest and saw this as a post. thought I would share since it's really important for anyone really :) you can read the full article here.

lily's monthly updates – 3 months old

december – january : 3 months old

lily learned how to roll. she started to go to her side on christmas and two days later she rolled from her back to her front. she becomes stronger and stronger every day and almost has her head fully controlled. she laughs at you if you make funny sounds at her. she also grabs on to things tightly i.e. momma's hair and doesn't let go :( we think she is starting to teethe since drool constantly is coming out of her mouth. :) the sleeping thing (getting her down) has become a bit of a challenge lately. hope we stay sane!

lily vids – giggle monster

lily zofia: 3 months, 3 weeks

my apologies for being neglectful in the updates. mommyhood is wonderful but extremely time-consuming—so any free time I literally just try not doing anything but relaxing. writing should be relaxing but it's a task nonetheless so it's been difficult to keep up with blogging, esp weekly like I did when I was pregnant. but it's a new year so i'll try to be better!

a few weeks ago I did post lily's birth story—very wordy at first so there's a quick synopsis and then the fully story if you'd like all the details. :)

our little lily is almost 4 months old! I could hardly believe how time has gone by yet stood still. days are consumed with lily so weeks have go by slow, but then all of a sudden all the holidays went by and we're at a new year. being a mom changes your life completely, it's rewarding, it's a blessing, but also so emotional. people always told us you're life is going to change so much and trust me IT DOES. you never really think about how much time you have before kids (because there's never enough) and how much freedom you have to do WHATEVER you want, when you want, but let me tell you once you have a baby it instantly becomes all about them.

the major change we quickly had to get used to fast was we're now on "lily time". has lily been fed? has lily been changed? is she happy? does she need to take a nap? did you sing to her? did you rub her belly? did you burp her? where's her darn burp cloth?!?? along with a hundred others that will come up within a moments time. and the thing is you have to accomplish all of those things before doing anything further. at first it's overwhelming and you forget certain things but it becomes second nature by two months :) mommyhood and daddyhood are definitely learning experiences and you learn just have to go with it.

because we're on "lily time" everything usually takes about an extra half hour to do. want to pop out to the store to pick up groceries? hah. where before all you had to do is put shoes on, grab your keys and go, adding a baby to the mix deems going to the grocery store is now an event to prepare for. I work from home now and surprising to myself I rarely leave the house during the day just because of the anticipation that at some point miss lily is not going to be happy so i'd rather wait till dad comes home and I could just go by myself. :) I do have to say it gets easier. you prepare for the worst and sometimes she ends up napping the entire time so that's a golden moment.

my favorite time with lily are in the mornings she's freshly awoken from a long night's rest and is usually happy as a clam. she'll giggle and laugh at almost anything you do. her worst moments of course come right before bed... it's funny how kids know they're tired yet keep their eyes open to make sure you are still there. mark and I have learned that a well rested baby is a happy baby and if lily wants to sleep in the middle of the afternoon then she will sleep. we used to wake her up from naps worried that then she'd not go down at night... BAD IDEA. remember the lil line of advice of "never wake a sleeping baby." well it's true. let them sleep, they'll be more happy if they wake on their own versus you waking them.

overall, I really love being a mom. I love seeing lily learn and accomplish new things, even if it's just a smile or a roll. no matter how difficult times may get snuggling up to you baby and getting just one lil smile makes everything worth it and it truly brightens your life.