3 Months

This week I said goodbye to my newborn baby. I joyfully and thankfully waved farewell to the "4th trimester" but looking back at the last three months I already miss the tiny babe I could easily carry with one hand and all the strangers who stopped to look at my teeny tiny baby. Charlotte will never be a sleepy newborn baby again, she has grown into an active and chubby little girl who loves to smile and "talk" to me. 

As I watch her struggle to roll over, hold her head up like a pro and see her kick her feet I realize before long she will be independent and won't want me to hold her for hours every day. 

However, when I see her still packaged sippy cup, her unused baby spoons, her little hair clips (waiting for hair), her summer swimsuit and her new little doll I am excited and antsy for the little person I am about to get to know. I can't wait to see her chubby little hands hold a cup for the first time. I am so excited to paint her little toenails and am anxiously awaiting the day she holds out her arms for me to pick her up. 

Truly, I love newborns and love all the little noises the faces and itsy bitsy clothes that come with them, but I am so happy to be through the first 3 months. I am much more excited for the next 3 months, where she will start to eat big girl food, sit on her own and maybe even start to wiggle across the floor a bit. 

Updates on her 3rd month of life:

(November 24-December 24)

Eating: It's going better than ever. My supply is more than enough for her. We have not used a drop of formula since the end of November! That was my goal. I am hoping we don't need to use any more, until she is at least 9 or so months old. (if ever) So, if anyone wants some unused formula. :) I still have a few bags in my freezer, and am working on adding to it. I get at least a bottle of pumped milk every day. It is nice to always have some in the fridge in case something comes up and Matt needs to feed her or something. I feel more able to take a nap on the weekends, or run an errand by myself, etc. She is up to 5 oz, per feeding now and I think that has helped stretch out the time between feedings a bit. It is much more consistently 3 hours between feedings now. There are obviously exceptions, at least one or two a day. But, I am loving the 3 hour stretches that we get. 

Sleeping: Well, there goes that schedule. Naps are hit and miss, mostly miss. I try and help her get at least one substantial nap a day, but that only happens maybe half of the days. It is a very rare day if she takes 2 naps. We are working on it. At night she does pretty well. She is a little less predictable than she was a month ago. She was sleeping 5 hours straight, than 2 or 3 more hours every night. Now she sleeps 7 hours straight some nights and some nights she does a couple of 4 hour stretches. She gets a decent amount of sleep every night, regardless but I am never sure how long she will sleep at a time. She is also going to bed earlier than she used it, and it may have to do with the no nap thing. She usually goes to sleep around 9:00 and is up for the day around 7:00. The biggest downside to the night is the fact that it never takes less than 1.5 hours to get her back to sleep if she does wake up. We take turns dealing that with those fun times. 

Pooping: Lots of poop explosions. Lots of outfit changes. Ask my sister Emma about the worst poop explosion in the history of all babies. She was there, and she even got to catch it in her hand. What a lucky aunt she is. (It was coming out like lava. :)

Growing: She is gaining weight and getting longer. We weighed her on the 21st and she weighed 13 pounds even, according to our fish scale. I am not convinced it is super accurate, but it shouldn't be more than a couple ounces off. That would mean she gained a pound in 2.5 weeks. I don't know how tall she is, because measuring her is just not worth the effort. But, she has definitely gotten longer because about a week ago all of a sudden everything was too short. She is now wearing 3 month and 6 month clothes. She wears 3 months onesies and shirts, but her legs are too long for the pants and sleepers so she wears 6 months of those. I think we will probably be in all 6 months stuff in another week or two, especially since we got some cute clothes for Christmas. Still in size 1 diapers. We have been using some size 2 ones for Christmas though, because they are elf diapers. We have about 2 small packs of size 1 though and we will finish those up and move on to size 2 after that. 

Nicknames: sweetie butt, little lovie

Charlotte's favorite things her third month:

1. watching the Packers finally win a couple of games

2. meeting Santa at the mall and taking pictures with him

3. playing at 3am, for 2 hours

4. opening her presents on Christmas eve (her 3 month birthday)

5. learning to play with toys and put them in her mouth

Mama's favorite things during Charlotte's third month:

1. buying Christmas presents for Charlotte, and everyone else in the family

2. showing off Charlotte to extended family

3. daddy being home for 2 weeks to finish the semester

4. decorating the house for Christmas

5. the fact that Charlotte can entertain herself for 20 minutes at a time with her toys

6. The first snow storms of the season

Charlotte's least favorite things during her third month:

1. tummy time

2. getting held by too many people in one day

3. taking naps

 4. not wanting to take a nap 

Mama's least favorite things during Charlotte's third month:

1. no nap days

2. not fitting into any clothes

3. running out of money because it is the end of the year and not being able to buy more Christmas presents

Charlotte's New Skills

grabbing/playing with toys (Dec 4th was when something clicked)

putting things in her mouth

holding her head up perfectly

talking with more extensive sounds

This was the funnest month ever. The Christmas season with a baby was the funnest Christmas ever and I am already excited for next year when she is running around, playing with things and ripping open presents. 

As I said in my last update 3 month old babies are my favorite. I just LOVE them. I will try and take in as much as possible during this next month. I am very excited for more visits with family, working on scrap booking projects, date nights and playing with my little girl. 

To end with, here are some pictures.