Mister Miles | 3 Months

 

 

  

 

 

 

I’m a week ahead of myself, but I figure it’s better than months behind!

Life is utterly amazing right now. I’ll probably get a little more into it when I focus on the Mister’s Milestones but we are finally settling into what I am going to call a routine. The days/afternoons are still a tad unpredictable, but the nights. The nights are AMAZING. I’m not sure if I mentioned this yet, but we’ve been co-sleeping exclusively for the last couple weeks. We had tried it a night or two before that but while on vacation to visit my family in the country, we discovered how much better we all were with this method. I know there are mixed opinions about it and I didn’t plan for it to happen, but I feel more and more strongly every night that it is at least right for us, with this baby, at this time.

Steven and I will head to bed around 10 or so. Miles just curls up as close as he can get to me, sucks happily on his pacifier and passes out within moments. I sleep deeply and comfortably and wake up when baby stirs, which is typically anytime between 3-5 a.m. with a few exceptions. After eating he’s back to sleep immediately, with another waking around 6, which is perfect because that’s usually when Steven gets up to get ready for work. Some days he’ll fall right back to sleep, most days he’s awake and super smiley for 30-60 minutes, perfect for daddy to get in some Miles time before leaving to work. Then Miles and I sleep in until around 9. Then we’ll wake up and he’ll feed and we’ll play in bed a bit. I get to stare at his adorable face from my comfy pillow perch. Then it’s diaper change, playtime and up for the day. The days, like I said, are not solid, but he will usually have 3-4 naps that are almost always 45 minute long. I mean exactly 45 minutes. It’e almost eerie. We typically get one good, long 2-3 hour nap in the mid to late afternoon. This is when I’ll try to get the bulk of my housework and “work” work done. If I can even call it that. Motherhood itself is serious work. Lol. Sorry if explaining his schedule is boring, it’s just so miraculous to me these days haha.

His fussiness for no reason has died down a bit. I can usually tell why he’s fussy and more and more it has to do with him getting enough stimulation or needing to get sleep, although he still has his gassy issues now and then. But I’ve been using the bicycle legs trick and it works like a charm! Except on the days when I have a lot of milk products and he’ll have trouble pooping and it seems pretty painful. Then he’ll poop green. Poor sweetie. I’m pretty sure now that he has a sensitivity because one day it was really bad and I even had digestive issues that were super painful and, well, I’ll spare you the details but it was not fun! The exact same day he cried a lot and seemed to be in pain and didn’t poop all day. When he finally did it was green and mucusy. This was at the end of a day where I had two milkshakes. I think that was a pretty good clue. I’m still not certain it’s a cow’s milk protein sensitivity, but it seems likely. We both also had this happen about a week later when I had tacos. With sour cream. He seems ok with me having cheese though? So odd, but we’re dealing. Ahhh how important poop as become.

Development

Strength
He absolutely hates tummy time. I’m able to force him into about two 5-minute sessions a day, if I’m lucky. He doesn’t mind it as much if I prop him on the boppy so I’ll so that the rest of the time so he at least gets something. He’s super strong, my little man. His head and neck support has been pretty great since month 2. I feel safe holding him up under his arms and sitting him up on my lap. He still leans if I try to sit him up independently, but he sure enjoys it. Now what is his new favorite thing to do? Try to STAND. Inside I’m like “No! you’re still a baby! Sit!” haha. He loves it so much and looks extra proud of himself every time. Most of the time he’ll cry if you try to set him down. In fact, I crack up because I’ll let him stand in my lap then my arms will get tired so I’ll try to rest him on my knees in front of me and he’ll start to lean forward so I’m forced to pull him up again. Crazy kid! I’ve also tried the thing where I slowly pull him up from a laying down position and he keeps his head up just fine. He loves that, too. Once I try it he won’t let me lay him back down without trying to sit up again.
We’ve also switched from the cradle hold to the hug hold on the moby wrap. He’s still not quite big enough for the Boba carrier’s usual position (and too tall for the infant variation) but the moby works great for this stage. He can come with me while I do minor tasks and he seems to enjoy it. He’ll get bored after about a half hour and want out of it (mostly I think he gets tired and can’t seem to fall asleep in it?) He looks so freaking adorable all cuddled and propped up in the wrap! We bundled up in it the other day to run our rent check to the office and I tied a scarf around his legs and put his fuzzy bear hat on and we struck out on our mission. He couldn’t decide what to do. It was a little chilly so he’d bury his head in my chest for a moment, but then he wanted to look around so he’d try to  look, but it was also bright and he would squint. Poor boy definitely has my squint. It’s cute on him though.

Grasping
He’s certainly found his hands this month! He’s been shoving his fists in his mouth since day one and I’m fairly certain he’ll be a thumb sucker if he can ever figure out how to get just the thumb in there. Otherwise he just smacks until he gets frustrated and I’ll give him his pacifier. Now his hands have found another purpose. That purpose is to punch mommy’s boob when he’s nursing and scratch my face and bat at his toys. One of his favorites is the dragonfly toy I received at my shower. It is a very popular toy and was from my Amazon registry and had such high ratings. Now I see why! It has so much going on and can keep him busy. I’ll tuck the body into the crib slats and he will bat at it and the last few weeks he’s been able to separate his fingers quite a bit and will grab onto the wings and crunch them and move them back and forth and will grab the rings and pull the toy loose from the crib slat. When I really have to get something done at my computer I’ll put him in the crib with it and listen to him crunch the wings and kick his legs with glee. I think he actually has a genuine fondness for the toy. He’ll stare at it with a smile while he falls asleep and he’ll hold it in his car seat and fall asleep with it. (Not that he really has much choice. I put it in there and it stays, lol, but I can tell he appreciates it).

Sleep
We touched on this already, but things are finally looking pretty great! We might try putting him to bed in his crib at the beginning of the year, but we’ll see. :)

Visual
I read that he’ll be more interested in colorful objects, which has just started happening. He seems to see pretty far away now. He can spot me or Steven and you can tell he recognizes us. He’ll check to see if I’m there when he’s trying to fall asleep sometimes. He still loves lights. This has been fun with the Christmas season and all the lights on the tree.

Memories

Some of our outings will be memorable, like the trip to the office. It’s been really great to focus on getting the apartment clean and the Christmas decorations up. It took me more than a week to make a dent in everything but it has been a great time since. It’s wonderful to wake up and plug in all the lights and get Miles dressed and cozy. Then we’ll play and I’ll give him tummy time in front of the tree. We’ll run errands together in the evening when he takes his long nap, if I need to.

He’s been growing out of his clothes this month. Already moving into 3-6 months. I think there are still some 3 month clothes he never wore. I’m basically rushing to get him to wear them before it’s too late. I try to remember to photograph him in my favorite outfits but it doesn’t always happen. I’m trying to focus on the excitement of a new 3-6 month wardrobe instead of the fact that my baby is growing up and out of his infant clothes.

There are so many tiny memories that I’m sure to treasure, but they’re just the normal every day life. Seeing him grow up and develop his features and personality even more. Evenings when daddy is around, weekends where we can all be together as a family and Steven and I can smile so much our cheeks ache from it.

And here is one of the most amazing memories I’ll have about this month: My bestest friend in the universe had her baby this month! Natalia Marie Docea. She was 7 lbs 6 oz and 19.5″ long. She has the most incredible features and an abundance of dark, feathery hair. Every new photo I see sends my heart fluttering with joy for Lizzy and Mike. Having only recently been enlightened to the wonders of motherhood I love to share this time with her. It’s brought us so close and it’s great to have someone who understands so well our mutual life changes. I seriously can NOT wait for the memories our babies and our families will make together as we share our parallel journeys. :)

Other Photos

Between 2-3 months: