Grace: three months

My darling Grace,

You're three months old, sweet girl!  Time is flying by.

Here are your three-month stats:

Three Months at a Glance

Weight:  13 pounds, 15 ounces
Length:  ?
Eating:  5 ounces per feeding (at least you were before you got sick)
Sleeping:  6.5 to 8 hours at a time at night
Diapers:  size 2
Clothes:  3 months, 3-6 months
Things You Love:  your MAM pacifiers, cuddles, bath time (you've really started splashing around!), being swaddled, conversations with Mommy and Daddy, sitting up (propped up), your play mat, Daddy (it's already starting...), eating
What You Can Do This Month:  smile in response to our smiles, laugh, hold your head up even better than last month, watch Mommy and Daddy move around the room, roll onto your back from your stomach, really lift yourself up on your arms during tummy time, reach for things, hold your toys, drool

We had a lot of firsts this month!  You rolled over from your tummy to your back for the first time.  You went to the nursery at church for the first time.  You slept through the night for the first time.  You stayed overnight with your Mamaw and your Pawpaw while Mommy and Daddy went out of town.  You started daycare.  You held your toys for the first time.  You started reaching for things on your playmat.  And you wore your first ponytail!  You also got sick for the first time with a cold and an ear infection on Mommy's first day back to work.  Yucky...

Eating:  You moved up to the big girl bottles this month!  You're drinking five ounces at a time, every three hours during the day.  At least you were before you got sick.  Mommy's first clue that you weren't feeling well was that you started turning away from your bottle.  You normally drink every last drop and cry when I take it away to burp you. :)  You're still on a three-hour schedule, and I'm not planning on moving you to a four-hour schedule until you're consistently sleeping through the night.

Sleeping:  You kind of hit a standstill on your sleeping progress.  Occasionally, you'll go a full eight hours, but you're usually going down between 8:30 and 9:00 (with a dream feed around 10:30) and waking up fussy around 4:00.  We give you your pacifier, and you'll usually go back to sleep until about 5:00.  Dad's getting up for work around that time, so he feeds you and puts you back down until Mommy gets you up to get ready to go to daycare around 6:40.  After I put you in your carseat, you usually go back to sleep until we get to school.   So you end up getting plenty of sleep -- it's just very interrupted!  Mommy's plan is to start slowly decreasing the amount you take at that 5:00 feeding and going ahead and starting a consistent wake time and feeding at 6:15.  If that doesn't work, we're giving you until four months to try and figure it out on your own, but then I think we're going to have do do a little crying it out.  I'm dreading it, but I know it'll be best for you to develop good sleeping habits.

As far as naps go, if you're at daycare, you usually take one long nap (about an hour and forty five minutes) and one short one.  If you're at home, you'll take three long naps and then a short catnap before dinner.  I'm still sometimes waking you from naps to keep you on schedule, but I think I'm just going to start letting you sleep.

Other Stuff:  You hate having your clothes changed.  And having your nose suctioned (although I can't really blame you there...).  You've gotten super smiley, and you love kisses from Mommy and Daddy.  We started putting you in your Jumperoo, but you're not really ready for it yet.  You can really focus on things, even small things.  I've also started walking around with you on my hip.  It's so crazy to me that you're holding your head up like a big girl already.

You are still such a sweet, content, snuggly baby.  You're very easygoing, content to play on your own when I need to put you down, but happy to snuggle, too.  And that hair, girlfriend.  It's on another level.  But we absolutely love it and so does the rest of the world. :)

See how you've grown?



Keep growing, baby!

We love you more than anything in the world.

Love,
Mommy