Hellobee

I feel like I just wrote one of these posts, and here we are at 3 months!  I remember when Juliet was born and I dreamed of hitting three months.  According to Harvey Karp, author of The Happiest Baby on the Block, three months is when babies move out of the what he calls “the fourth trimester” and truly become little people.  The idea behind the fourth trimester is that for the first three months of life, babies really are similar to how they were in womb; they ought to have remained in the womb, but because of how humans evolved, they had to be born three months earlier to be able to fit through the birth canal. For those first three months, babies are still in their fetal stages which is why they mostly cry and eat and want to be held. But once the move past that last trimester, that start to become little people who can laugh, smile, connect, etc.  I remember eagerly waiting for Drake to hit this big milestone, and now it’s here for Juliet as well.

We didn’t have a check up this month so I don’t have any stats. I just hope she is heavier and taller. Drake had a 3 month appointment though since his weight gain was so poor, so I guess it’s a good sign we don’t have to go for a check up this month.

 No shots yippee!!

Night Sleep

We had been doing about the same with sleep for most of the month, waking up 2-3 times a night to eat and going back to sleep right away and sleeping roughly 3-6 hours per stretch. Then she hit her three month growth spurt a week before she turned three months and started to wake up 5-6 times per night, sleeping only 2 hours at a time and making for an exhausting five days.  Thankfully that seems to be behind us again and we are back to sleeping 3-4 hours per stretch again, and hopefully in a few more days we can lengthen that again to 5-6 hours.

Naps

We are starting to make breakthroughs with our naps.  Juliet wakes up around 5-7 everyday and is awake for about an hour or two before she gets fussy.  Usually by the time she is fussy she will either take a short nap while being held or eat a little sooner and then take a nap.  That nap is relatively short, longer if being held, but usually no more than half an hour.  Then she is often awake and happy for a little while after that, and the next nap  is her longer one, which can last close to an hour if not longer.  It occurs several hours after she has been awake though and stimulated for most of the morning.

Eating

We are starting to stretch our feedings out longer during the day now as well.  It used to be Juliet could go no longer than 2 hours between eating before having a meltdown if she wasn’t fed that moment.  These days it seems she has been able to extend that time to 2 1/2 sometimes even 3 hours now during the day.  She still feeds around 7-9 times per day and the feedings are on average around 10-15 minutes, but that extra time in between has been wonderful as it allows me a little more time to do stuff or go out before needing to rush back to feed her again.  I am so happy with this and the nap situations.

General Notes

The big milestone this month is the discovery of our hand.  In the early morning after breaking out of her swaddle I can see Juliet with her fist raised in the air marveling at this new discovery as she lays in her bassinet.  She has started to notice her feet too, but her right hand is her favorite these days. She loves it when I hold her hand or legs and wiggle them in front of her face.

This thing is amazing I could stare at it all day!

Along with her improved eating and napping milestones, she is also being better about being held all the time. Oftentimes now I can place her down in her swing for short amounts of time and she will be happy and content looking at her mobile.  She still likes to be held a lot, but even the short breaks she gives me now are welcome. Little by little I feel we are getting some breathing room with these small improvements and it just makes it easier for me, and in return everyone else in the house, as I can accomplish more.  It also is startling to realize how much can change in three months when you’re at the beginning and feel like you’re stuck in an endless cycle with no end in sight.

On another note I think Juliet is starting to become fearful of my camera.  Whenever I hold it up to take a picture she frowns or starts to look scared or want to cry.  When I take it down and she sees my face, she starts to smile again, so now many of my photos are off centered as I have to quickly whip my camera up to try to catch her smiling face before she gets scared.  I think it must be this age where they don’t realize you don’t disappear when they can no longer see you.  It’s funny and adorable except when she cries.

Juliet’s hair, which used to stand straight up in the front has started to lay flat now so I guess that means her hair has grown to a point where its getting to heavy to stand up on its own. But it’s strange to see it no longer shooting upwards like it used to.

Overall she is still very curious and loves to watch the world around her.  She smiles every time she sees my face in the morning, which helps make 6 AM look that much sweeter.  She also really loves Drake and smiles when he comes to talks to her or is just running around by her.  Seeing their friendship makes my heart melt and I cant wait to see how it grows as she gets older.

Here is her 3 month photos side by side with Drake’s at 3 months.