My 3 Month Old... (and other things)

Wow. What a difference from 2 months.

While sleeping and eating are still a large part of her day, she's spending more time now awake and looking around. Some of that time is spent doing tummy time, of which she is not a fan!

She likes to look out the window and still loves her swing. I love the swing too - it usually puts her right out at nap time so I can do things around the house. Speaking of nap time, she generally eats every three hours during the day, and I can count on her waking up from her nap an hour before she is due for her next bottle. Yes, bottle. We're still doing those, with formula about every other to every third feeding. I'm still pumping but have mostly dropped the overnight pumping in favor of breastfeeding Little One when she wakes between 3 & 5 AM which typically gives me the chance to catch a few more zzzz's before the day actually starts. She also gets another feeding most days in the late afternoon or early evening.

As far as my admittedly fuzzy memory can recall, it wasn't long after 2 months that she actually started to "get" breast feeding - the latch got better, the sucking got stronger, etc. etc. Now, if my production would just increase, the formula and pumping could stop. Since the diaper rash cleared up, diaper changes have gotten much more pleasant for both of us. Part of that must be from the formula usage, but I also think that part also comes from her maturation as poopie diaper explosions are much less frequent than previously (down to once or twice every few days from every diaper!).

Every so often I have to call her a rhesus monkey thanks to her tenacious grip on my hair when I'm holding her against my shoulder. Even when my hair is up! She's really good at finding the few straggling hairs which are too short for the ponytail. OUCH!

As of Monday (3 months plus 1 day), she weighed in at 11 pounds 6 ounces, and is comfortably wearing 3 month size clothing. I have found that top and pant outfits that do not include a snap-under shirt are not as convenient - otherwise the shirt rides up and I spend a lot of time making sure it is tugged down. Annoying! Bibs are becoming an important part of her wardrobe as well - mostly as residual spit up catchers (today she had on one with a waterproof liner and it saved my shirt and her outfit by catching a totally unexpected very, very juicy post-bottle burp).

I started back to work this week, very part-time, a couple of hours on Tuesday and Thursday. So far, so good. I'm not sure how long I'm going to keep it up - while I was convinced I wanted to keep working before Little One arrived, now that she's here - she's more important than the income. Thankfully, we are able to live on DH's salary, so I do have the option. And I am very grateful for that. My employers are okay with my bringing her to work with me, for now, so I'm grateful for that also. DH is dead set against day care, so if I couldn't take her to work I wouldn't have gone back at all. And both of us had stay at home mothers, so that's what we both know and hope to provide for Little One as long as possible.

If I don't get out of the house by 10 or so, the harder it gets to get out of the house. So, weekly schedule - Monday: breastfeeding group, Tuesday/Thursday: work, leaving Wednesday and Friday for other social activities or running errands or even staying home and attempting to get things done around the house (easier written than accomplished!).

Not so obviously, Little One being more alert and awake means that I have less time to spend composing posts (it's been several days since I started this one for example...) and commenting on others' posts when I do get a chance to read. So if you feel like I've dropped off the face of the earth, it's thanks to Little One demanding more of my time. I do spend more time on Facebook thanks not feeling like I need to write so much (or am grateful for character restrictions), so shoot me an email (found in my profile) if you want to connect that way...

Until next time: I hope your life is going great!