Dear Alyssa – Month 3

Dear Alyssa-

A couple days ago you turned 3 months old so it was time to sit down and write your monthly update. I’m actually writing this at 3:30am because we’re awake. You do not seem to love sleep as much as your brother did at this age. In fact, you’re quite a bit different than your brother was as a baby. And that’s ok!

First of all, you don’t sleep much. You started sleeping through the night when you hit six weeks. You would sleep from about 11pm until 6am. That was nice. Then about two weeks ago we moved you from the rock and play to the pack and play. You had one good week where you woke up around 5 most days, but this past week you’ve gotten progressively worse, waking up at 4:30, 4 and most recently 3am every day this week. Your mama is tired.

Once you’re up, you eat a lot and occasionally drift off to sleep…but not all that often. And you rarely nap. If I’m lucky, you’ll nap for a little while later in the morning in your carseat when we go to the gym and occasionally again in the early evening…but for the most part you’re just awake. All day.

The good news is, breastfeeding is still going well. While sometimes I feel like all I ever do is nurse you, I’m happy that it’s going smoothly and that you continue to grow like a weed. I’m not sure how much you weigh but my guess would be around 15 pounds? You’re getting longer and longer but aren’t quite as plump as your brother was (17 pounds at 14 weeks!). You’ve grown out of 3 months clothes and are now wearing some 3-6 month but mostly 6 month stuff. You also just moved up to size 2 diapers.

You still cry a lot. We tried probiotics, gas drops and me cutting way back on dairy. You had a couple of good weeks this month….where you actually just sat for an extended period of time (20 minutes) without screaming, eating or sleeping. The first time you did that (after 10 long weeks) I felt like I won a million dollars.

After a couple good weeks you’ve been having a bit of a rough week this week but still not quite as bad as last month. We’re getting pretty good at functioning while tuning out your screams. It’s been a long 3 months, but seeing some glimpses of a happier baby this month gives me hope that in the next month or so things will continue to improve.

You are so strong little one. You hold your head up like a champ and are getting better at tracking people around the room. Sometimes it takes you a while to lock in on people when they’re in front of you…but once you do, you often offer some smiles and coos (Although you don’t make nearly as many noises as your brother did, you’re starting to find your (non-screaming) voice a little bit).

Speaking of strong, you also figured out how to roll over from your back to your belly this week!! Your brother didn’t do that until 4 months so I was a little bit unprepared, but not surprised that you figured it out.

You do love your brother. You are best at tracking him when you hear his voice and enjoy watching him run around. He loves you too. He worries about you when you cry and quickly tells me to pick you up, change your diaper, wipe up your spit up etc. He also loves taking off your socks and helping me carry your carseat.

You hate lying down and are happiest when you’re sitting straight up when people hold you. You also like your various jumpers if you’re in the right mood. We have one that hangs from the doorway in the kitchen and at the gym and one that sits on the floor in the family room and you like to kick your legs and bounce around for short periods of time.

You also sit in the Bumbo sometimes and will tolerate the Ergo although mostly you just want to eat when you’re in it. You want to eat a lot. I’ve given up on keeping track and just feed you whenever you’re hungry. And you still want nothing to do with the pacifier. The past few days I’ve caught you working on sucking your thumb a few times and I’m really hoping that in the next month you’ll figure out how to do that consistently.

You’ve given me my hardest day as a mom, where you literally screamed at the top of your lungs from the second you woke up until 10pm that night and also some of my favorite mom moments in some of our early morning nursing sessions.

Since you and your brother are pretty much exactly 2 years apart, it’s fun to see his pictures from 2 years ago pop up on my timehop and then compare them to you at this age.

Mama loves you, little one…..my hope is that over the next couple of months you’ll outgrow this colicky behavior we’ve been battling and continue to eat, grow and be happy!

It’s crazy how much you’ve grown in just these first three months! Here’s your brother’s 3 month update for comparison.