Holy hell my baybee is getting YOUGE! (Well, she’s 13 pounds. That is YOUGE to me.)
Emelia was in a spectacular mood for her three-month photos. She particularly loved her bow and by that I mean she kept trying to eat it.
I LOVE MY BOW!!!!!!!! MY MOM IS HILARIOUS!!!!!!
As you can imagine I was pretty excited about this because it’s proof she loves to smile. Until of course she doesn’t and we get The Lip which is the cutest Lip ever and OMG you guys. I don’t even care that she’s wailing 2 seconds later because I got to witness The Lip.
She will be Very Serious and there may even be a brow furrow, but you get close to her, smile and tell her how adorable she is and HOLYSMILES!
Nicknames: Meals, Melia, Mealie, MooMoo, Mealie Moo Moo Moo
Weight: 13 lbs
Length: 22 inches
Diaper size: 1
Clothing size: 3 months
Eating
She’s nursing about twice a night, sometimes three, but I don’t have a great number for the day time. I used to have an app for Olivia that I would put in how many times she was nursing a day, but I haven’t done that with Emelia since she was about a month old. But she’s nursing on demand so it can be anywhere from every 2-3 hours depending on how she sleeps.
I returned my hospital-grade pump back to the medical device company a month ago, and haven’t used my own pump. With Olivia, I pumped every morning, but with Emelia, I just don’t feel like it. I have quite a few bags stored in the freezer for her to drink for her meals once she hits a year old, but I made it almost to Olivia’s second birthday with my frozen milk. She didn’t start on cows milk until shortly before two. I want to do the same with Emelia, but that involves pumping. Which I don’t want to do. It’s a dilemma, I tell you.
Sleeping
Dare I say it’s going well? Must not jinx this. She’s sleeping from roughly 10:30-3:00 am and then will go anywhere between 5:30-8:00 am. I’ve noticed her grunts and squeals at night before she’s fallen asleep have gotten much quieter. I’ve been pulling her into bed with me to nurse laying down and that’s been helping me feel like I’ve been getting enough sleep.
She does pretty well if I lay her in her bassinet or crib with the white noise for naps. I’m starting to attempt more scheduled nap times, as in 2-3 times a day in her crib. Otherwise, she pretty much sleeps in my arms. She’ll be pretty good at naps during the day, until the evening when she generally fights sleep until the end and then when she’s finally asleep in my arms and Chris and I have a good conversation going, it’s time to go to bed and she wakes up getting in her swaddle.
Milestones
Month three has brought cooing and more smiling and it’s been so amazing. She’s so much more free with her smiles than Olivia was. Which means I try to get her to smile 3,724 times a day. She rolled from her tummy to her back the day before Christmas Eve in a fit of anger from being put on tummy time, but she hasn’t really consistently done it since.
She has learned she has legs and uses them to push up on them whenever she can. This means she is now able to shift her body around on the floor and couch, so our days of plopping her on the couch unsupervised for a bit may be long over before we know it. She moves her head around the room to follow us—me mostly because I have the never-ending milk buffet.
She’s getting so close to laughing, but it’s not quite there yet. She does this adorable “Oooo! Ooo!” thing where she sounds like a little owl while she practices her smiling. Best. Thing. Ever. I keep putting toys in front of her while she’s on tummy time, but so far she hasn’t made any attempt to reach for them.
Health
We had a little scare after she developed a dry cough last week. Chris and Olivia have both been sick with low-grade fevers and colds and I’ve been driving myself mad trying to keep the baby separated from them. When she started coughing, I started worrying. I ended up taking her into urgent care and they tested for RSV and flu, which she was luckily negative for both. They diagnosed her with an upper respiratory infection, and we increased the humidifier in our room that night. Luckily, she seemed a lot better the next day and has since been working this now congested cough out of her system.
I’m continuing to bring her for weekly chiropractor visits for the torticollis. She’s been a lot better at turning her head to the left as she should be, so hopefully, we can continue this streak.
I haven’t been keeping up with the probiotics for her gas pain and reflux since she HATES her bottles and was grouchier from being sick. I’m going to try to have Chris do them in the evening and see if she takes it better for him.
Personality
Things have since settled down, but for a week and a half around Christmas, we thought we really had the dreaded colic on our hands as evenings were spent walking her around incessantly while she wailed and thrashed and generally made life miserable for all of us. Add in her spewing her entire stomach 6? 8? times this last month… I’m glad things seem to be getting better and while she’s not happy in the evenings all time, she’s made it so we don’t want to stick nails in our ears.
Overall, she’s been a happy baby with a touch of the Drama. She cries a lot faster and longer than Olivia which is stressful because I’m a lot busier than I was with baby Olivia.
Likes
Her soft monkey rattle, lights, faces, being held, bath time. Her daddy. Olivia. Watching Toby. She likes her activity mats and bouncer for the most part and does pretty well if we put the bouncer on the table while we’re eating dinner. Sitting propped up on the couch. And ceiling fans.
Dislikes
Putting her down when she wants to be held. Probably sitting in her high chair during dinner time with us.
Undecided about
Tummy time. Her crib. Toys. Her car seat as evidenced by when she makes this face:
Looking forward to
Her first laugh! And watching these two interact with each other more.
Aww she’s just gorgeous! Good for you that you pumped so much to have stored milk until Olivia was almost two–that’s huge! I also pumped a lot more with my firstborn but not nearly as much with my second. I ditched the pump a couple of months ago and I sure don’t miss it. I’ll breastfeed her as long as I can (she’s ten months now) and that’ll be it I guess…I think it’s fine! xo
Author
I definitely don’t miss it, but there are days I think I should get back to it to get a stash going. Plus, I always have this thing where I think, what if worst case I can’t nurse anymore and she isn’t a year? I want to be able to supply her with breastmilk. Which is really weird thinking. Congrats on ten months!
Oh. My. Goodness. She is so absolutely adorable! I know that you’d like to do the same with Emelia as you did with Olivia, building up your stashed milk supply. I think it’s AWESOME if you are able to and want to. But don’t beat yourself up over it if you can’t/don’t! You are rocking this nursing thing, and will continue to do so. If she ends up drinking cows milk before Olivia, she will still grow healthy and strong! Who knows? Maybe you’ll end up nursing longer this time around? I’ve been enjoying catching up on all your posts! Keep them coming!
Author
I know. It’s been so nice not pumping. It was just nice with Olivia to have that supply. But I know she’ll be just fine.
Awww those smiles!! Please don’t beat yourself up about not pumping. In my opinion, pumps are devil machines and if you can stay away from them while breastfeeding, then you might as well!
Author
Pumps ARE devil machines. I think it was all the pumping I did in the beginning that makes me just DONE with it.
I ended up having to EP with my son and developed a pretty bad pumping aversion this time around. I’ve been able to build a pretty decent freezer stash this time by just using a haakka(well the knock off nature bond one) and it’s been fantastic. I stick it in a coffee mug to prevent spills and bring it to bed with me. When my daughter wakes up for a feed after that first long stretch, I put the haakka on one side and she nurses on the other and then when she wakes up after the next stretch I nurse her on the other side and out the haakka on the opposite side. I get anywhere from 2-4oz per session doing this. It’s really been worth it!
Author
Yes!!! I suppose I forgot to mention that. I use that one too and love it! I need to be better about using it, but I can get a pretty good amount while using it. And it’s so CHEAP!
haha, I’m loving the captions on the photos! Nice reading the update. Regarding cow’s milk, once my daughter turned one we started offering her water with meal times. Occasionally a bit of diluted juice. We don’t give her cow’s milk to drink, though she gets dairy in yoghurts, cheese and porridge. So maybe you might not need to pump. (And she was still being breastfed too)
Author
It’s true. There’s nothing wrong with not giving cow’s milk. I think I weirdly felt pressured to by her doc.