3 Months with Zelie

She turned three months on St. Paddy's Day. I sort of thought this post would never happen because I kept procrastinating this photo shoot, but I did it! HUZZAH. Nap time is a finite amount of time, you know? 

So let's talk about little Zelie, whose personality has really come out the past month.

She's a screacher.

This is exactly what she does when she screeches. Over and over. And it. is. hilarious. (For now at least.)

I'm sort of nervous about this because we have some air travel coming up. Just me and the two kids. By myself. Please say a Hail Mary for me.

I guess I'm praying the jet engines drown her out. 

She's adorable though. I can always get a smile or a giggle out of her. When the camera's not in front of my face anyway. 

At her plagio appointment on March 7 (so, a little over two weeks ago), she was 14 lbs, 2 oz. (85th %ile) and 24 inches (83rd %ile). I prefer having her in leggings and onesies unlike her brother because she's too long for 6 month sized sleepers, but she's swimming in 9 month sized. Her size 2 Huggies diapers are getting a little snug, but I'm sure size 3 will be too big, too. 

She does pretty well in the car seat, as long as the car or stroller is moving. And she still generally hates being worn facing me in an infant carrier, Ergo or Moby, makes no difference. I am SO happy I splurged for the Ergo360. 

EATS. Ah, she is the sweetest little nurser. At the end of a feed, she will stare up at me and smile and coo. Vast difference from her brother who would just puke all over me.

I've seen a big uptick in spit-ups, which I think corresponded with the end of a growth spurt, so I'm hoping that slows down. 

She's definitely spaced out feeds to 2.5 to 3 hours during the day and she's gone 9 hours between feeds at night (just the once though). 

Haven't offered her any bottles this past month. Just out of laziness. Hope I don't end up regretting it!

Oh and still wearing boob diapers. You know you were wondering. 

SLEEPS. As you already know, she's crib trained! It's been really great. We use blackout curtains and a white noise machine in her room, put her in the halo swaddle, sometimes pop a pacifier in, and she's usually asleep very quickly. And she's pretty much never napped less than 45 minutes in her crib (unless she's had part of her nap in the Moby - which has happened and she transferred well), so it's nice to know that I can actually complete an entire task (like a blog post!) once she's asleep. 

She typically wakes at about 6:30 and needs a nap about one hour after waking for the day. If she wakes between 6 and 6:30 I'll try and get her to go back down, which is hit or miss. (Yesterday was a hit and she slept from 6-8am, today was a miss and she was up for the day at 6.) Her wake times are generally around 1-1.5 hours. 

She has about 5 naps a day, give or take. I try not to let her nap past about 6:30pm to have her in bed by 8, but sometimes I fail because it's nice to eat dinner while she's asleep. Bedtime is between 7 and 8, but I think that 7:30-8 seems to be a better window.

She wakes anywhere between 1 to 4 times during that 12 hour window. It's been pretty unpredictable which is a bummer, but I think it's usually twice. But on the rare occasion when I get a 4 or 5 hour stretch, it really is magical. Still no diaper changes at night which makes it all very bearable. When I hear her on the monitor, I zombie walk into her room, un-swaddle her arms, nurse her on the very comfortable guest room bed half-asleep, burp her, swaddle her arms back up, put her down, and shuffle back into bed (or hit up the bathroom if I'm feeling cRaZy). This usually takes about 10-15 minutes. It's really not so bad.

POOPS. We are back to cloth diapering, which is going fine. A couple of her diapers started leaking because the PUL broke down, so that's kind of annoying. I thought it was a fit issue, but the PUL is absorbing pee, so it's definitely just the 2-3 diapers that have been over-used. Otherwise, it's super easy and I can't wait until it's warm enough to just have her in a diaper and t-shirt. She still rarely poops (every 3 days or so), but when she does, she poops the poops of 100 babies. And it reeeeeeks. Little Will may have pooped all day err day, but at least it wasn't as dense and smelly. So he had that going for him. Props, lil' man.

This head doe. 

She's still rocking a cone head. And she's got the same weird rat tail that Little Will had. 

I call it her hair curtain. 

MILESTONES.

// Rolling tummy to back. She can crush some tummy time. I am certain that we will get to her PT eval for her neck and they will be like, Ummmm why are you here. 

// Starting to grip objects in her hand. If placed in her hand. Nothing superbaby status. 

// Lost 80% of her hair.

// Crib-trained.

Like don't you just want to squeeze that belleh?

LINKS.

Will at 3 Months. 

Zell-Bell at 1 Month & 2 Months.

Three Months

Baby Billy Brez is 3 months old as of Monday. They say the first 2-3 months are the hardest of all and I have to agree. Now that Will is 3 months old, we have a good sleeper and even better napper who is as happy as a clam and loves nothing more than just sitting and observing the world around him, with frequent conversations of pitchy babbling whether with himself, his parents, or his beloved dogs. And he notably no longer projectile vomits. There's that, too.

Will made it home from TDY at just the right time, as predicted. 

I know we are basically in a honeymoon period before the sleep regressions and teething or whatever, so just let me marvel in the happy baby phase that is the third month. Indulge me, will you? Without further ado . . . 

April by the numbers. . . 

Weight: 15+ lbs. No 3 month checkup, so I just used our home scale, which has always been pretty accurate. Will weighed 16.4 lbs with clothes on, so I'll call it 15+. I have no clue how long he is, but he definitely thinned out a little during his last growth spurt that took place a few days ago. 

My tub of lard. Thanks for the toned arms and quads, bebe.

Diapers: 334+. That's right. Still tracking those diapers with a passion. I can't kick the habit! I've noticed a huge change in this area though. Instead of a constant stream of poop, now we just have blowout after blowout throughout the day. Information you NEEDED TO KNOW.

He's on outfit #3 today. This obviously pleases him very much.

Pleased.

We are still rocking (and loving) the cloths, though I put him in a Size 3 disposable for these pictures, to accurately portray his stoutliness. 

Hours of nursing: ~29. He nurses about 7-8 times a day to total about an hour a day. When he was most distracted, we got down to 50 minutes or so a day, but I've been making an effort for him to take longer feedings. He's been starting to take both sides . . . some of the time . . . which basically means I am carrying a boulder in my bra on one side from time to time. Not good for my Chi running form, but whatever it takes to get him his calories during the day.

Those arm rolls come with time and effort, people.

Feedings per night: 1-2. He goes down between 7:30 and 8:15pm every night. I know that's kind of a large window, but it's never effected his night sleep, so it's basically whatever time works for us (the parents).

His bedtime routine (with me at least) is always the same: nurse, bath, lotion/massage, diaper and dressed, swaddle, owl book (relax - it's literally 4 pages; he likes the pics) in the rocking chair, lullaby, prayers, paci, sound machine, out. It seems like a lot when I type it out, but it really only takes like 30-40 minutes and nowadays he can be expected to go until at least midnight every night. When he takes two feedings, they are typically at 12am and 4am, when he will (alleluia) go only one feeding, it's usually around 1 or 2am. When I look at the clock for that first waking, I generally know how the night will go. Oh, and unlike the old days when Will was at JAG School and little Will would have two-hour long parties after night feedings, he now goes right back to sleep! Even if he seems wide awake during his diaper change, I am always back in bed within 30 minutes. 

He is up between 6 and 7am every day, without fail, sometimes crying, sometimes babbling in his crib.

EASY fo' life.

Naps per day: 4-5. His naps improve every day, and he can be counted on to go for at least one 1.5 to 2-hour stretch per day. Glorious, just glorious. Picking up his sleep cues gets easier and easier. He generally just goes from a happy baby, talking and giggling, to crying and fussing out of nowhere. And I know what's happening because he only does it when he's been awake for at least an hour. Then I swaddle him, pop the paci in if he's still fussy (sometimes he just passes right out), and leave the room. 

I'm really happy that I was so consistent with getting him to nap in his crib for the past six weeks. I've thankfully never had to let him cry it out. Sure, it probably took longer for him to consistently fall asleep easily, but it's what worked for us. 

Pairs of sunglasses tolerated: 0.

He loves his Bumbo seat so much. Unfortunately, I think it cuts off all circulation to his feet to sit like that. He has to be squished in with a bit of force, so I can't go about letting him hang out in it for long. That's okay because he is just as happy to lay in his pack n play and have a little chat with the ceiling.

Rattails: 1. There are just no words for this . . .

Dogs he is in love with: 2. Good old Daisy 'n' Ace . . . finally coming in handy with this whole parenting thing. Anyway, Will loves watching them play, getting licked by them, and observing them in general. They save me from having to wave the remote control in his face for thirty straight minutes again. (The buttons - so colorful!) 

Laughing at the dogs wrestle. Post-wardrobe change #1.

Other notable milestones include his first big trip, his dad coming home from JAG School, being wiped clean of original sin, attending his first major league baseball game, and our first family run together. It's been a pretty good month.

And in case you haven't been following along, the previous posts:

Two Months

One Month

First Days
One Day Old