Ellie 3 months

Ellie is three months old now, and she gets more and more fun every day.
The best part of this past month:  she's learned to laugh.
I adore it.  At first, she'd laugh maybe once or twice a week.
Now, she's laughing at least once a day, sometimes more.
It always catches me by surprise; she laughs when we least expect it.
Like yesterday, I was buckling her into her carseat and telling Nicholas to come over so I could put his shoes on.
Every time I said "Nicholas!" in that mom-voice (you know), Ellie would laugh. 
It's pretty obvious these two are going to have some crazy fun as she gets older...

And she's very ticklish-the back of her neck and just under her chin get a good laugh out of her every time.

 She's still a champion sleeper-we put her down at 11, she sleeps until 5 or 6, and then sleeps again until about 9.  It's been really nice, because I wake up when Nicholas gets up at 7:30 or 8 and I get some time to study my scriptures and talk to Nicholas alone before Ellie is awake.

Plus, the sleeping through the night?  It's heavenly.  And because I had Nicholas (who didn't sleep like that until he was 9 months old) I am grateful every single morning I wake up after getting to sleep for a solid 6 hours or so.  I know exactly how lucky I am.

 She's discovered her hands, and most of the pictures I got this month had her fist in her mouth like this.  She doesn't try to reach out to things yet, but I'm sure she will be soon.

She's also started to be pretty snuggley, which we are loving.  She's very good about falling asleep on her own if I lay her down with a blanket and her binky, but sometimes when she's tired she just wants to be snuggled a bit before she goes down, and I love to hold her close like that and feel her squishy little body relax against mine.

She will smile at herself in the mirror--these shy little half-grins and then she'll turn away quick as if she's bashful about her own reflection.

She is strong.  Yesterday she actually sat up unassisted for a good two minutes--with just a little help balancing.  We can't leave her propped up on the couch anymore because she thrusts herself forward and topples over.

I've painted her toenails twice now.  I love dressing her up for Sundays in her sweet little dresses and her bracelets.

I think it's safe to say we are loving this girl more every single day.  She is perfect.