This past week our Annie turned three months old!
Annie doesn’t have to go back to the doctor until four months. We’ll get updated statistics at that appointment.
Annie’s big milestone from this past month is that she rolled from her tummy onto her back five times in one morning. She just did the one stint of it about a week before she hit three months.
There were also a couple of times this past month that we were waving goodbye, either to Jake in the morning or to a grandparent via Skype, and it really seemed like she was waving, too.
Annie gives us the biggest smiles every single day. She responds positively when she sees me, Jake, and the older three kids and loves interacting with us. Annie is also vocalizing constantly. She makes a variety of cooing noises and sometimes almost a laughing noise. Annie will test out her voice when she’s interacting with someone, or on occasion, when she’s playing in her activity gym or kick ‘n play. Annie still loves both the gym and kick ‘n play. When she’s in the right mood, she’ll do a 20-minute stretch with either of them. In the gym, Annie moves around all over the mat and sometimes grabs the toys. In the kick ‘n play, Annie kicks the piano keys consistently.
Poor Annie has been really stuffy, especially at night. She’s also been coughing and sneezing regularly. I’ve been running the humidifier in our bedroom for well over a month. I also give her a baby pillow to keep her head slightly elevated. She stays fairly comfortable during the night, but it’s not ideal. Personally, I’m experiencing one of the worst fall allergy seasons that I’ve had in years. I’m hoping that her symptoms are seasonal as well and will improve in the coming weeks as the weather gets colder.
Annie has also had very dry skin. I only give her a bath about once a week. I always give her plenty of lotion after a bath, but it isn’t enough. Annie needs lotion at least one other time during the week.
We did pretty well with breastfeeding for the first couple of months. This past month has been very hit or miss. Some days, Annie gets in a few good feedings that provide a real supplement to her formula. Other days, it’s a struggle to get anything, and I try to pump, so she has even a little breastmilk. I keep pushing through, as just when I think we’re done for good, she’ll have a better day again.
Obviously, there is a lot that I could say about this topic. But I do my best to leave my own commentary out of my baby/toddler updates. So I’ll spare you. I’m glad that we’ve been able to do as much breastfeeding as we have been. I’m also glad that she does so well with bottles and is able to supplement everything that she needs with no problems. Annie eats three to five ounces of formula in a single sitting.
Annie is still wearing newborn diapers and newborn and 0-3 month clothing. She continues to do so well wearing her Zutano booties and a hat when we’re out and about on cold days. I’ll be honest: I thought that the whole fear of headbands denting babies’ heads was a ridiculous paranoid parent thing. Olivia wore headbands almost every single day of the first year of her life, usually for hours at a time, with zero issues. But headbands start to leave marks on Annie’s head, sometimes almost immediately, even the wider fabric headbands. So I’ve been reserving them strictly for brief photo sessions and putting her in hats the rest of the time. I’m curious if it will get any better as she gets older.
For the past couple of weeks, Annie has been giving us longer stretches at night. She’ll go down somewhere between eight and ten p.m. and sleep through until two to four a.m. Annie still wakes up once during the night to eat. There have been a few times where it’s either been hard to get her to go down at first or hard to get her to re-settle after eating. But for the most part, Annie goes down pretty easily and then stays asleep. It’s very rare that the older three kids sleep past 7:30 a.m. On days that Tommy has school, the kids need to be up by this time anyway. So, Annie is almost always up for the day and has her first feeding before eight a.m.
As I’ve talked about in previous updates, I always strive to have babies get at least one longer nap, an hour or more, during the day. If Annie has a day where she doesn’t nap very well and only gets a few half-hour naps, she’ll make up for it the next day with a very long nap, sometimes three or four hours. The long nap can be in the morning or the afternoon.
Annie does better and better without being swaddled. Once or twice a week, she’ll get riled up, especially at night, and swaddling is the best way to help her settle and get to sleep. Otherwise, I don’t swaddle her. Annie has also done very well with minimal pacifier use. Again, if she’s riled up, a pacifier is often effective. But she doesn’t need one to go down every single time and rarely needs it during the daily routine.
Annie’s laundry has slowed down a little bit. I’m able to stretch the usual mixed baby/kid load of her items and more immediate washing items from the older three kids to every other day.
Outings with Annie this past month have included a couple of trips to the zoo and an excursion to an indoor play space.
You can find all of my baby/toddler updates for all of the kids as well as general family updates and other family-related posts in the family section of the blog.
