Saturday, October 22, 2016

3 Months Old!

Sweet Eloise Jane, today you are 3 months old!

You continue to be such a joyful, alert, smiley little girl who watches the world with the biggest, most beautiful blue eyes. You love to make direct eye contact and smile/coo with people around you. You have a very even keeled temperament; you are a pretty chill, self contained little one EXCEPT when an external factor makes you mad. And those external factors are very predictable: car rides, stroller rides, and being in arms other than Mama's when you get tired. You generally calm very easily once these external factors are resolved, and if we get a day with NONE of these events, you spend your day happily cycling through eating, playing, & sleeping.

 

Here are your 3 month updates!

How big? We don't go back to your doctor for stats until your 4 month appointment, but geez you are still HUGE. When I see other people holding you I re-realize how giant you are. You are fitting very comfortably in 3-6 and 6 month clothes, and also getting more and more adorable chins and rolls on you daily!


Eating? By day you are like clockwork, eating pretty much every two hours almost to the minute. You are still a great nurser, and totally happy to take a bottle if one is offered.

 You curl your little arm & knead me just like Iyla used to! So sweet.

 Nursing at the Driskill Hotel

Sleep? Humph. This has been an interesting month for that! You'll recall that after your vaccinations your system seemed to reset itself, and we got TWO GLORIOUS WEEKS of pretty awesome nights where you would only wake 2, maybe 3 times. Then suddenly things went to s*** again- and I fully blame both a growth spurt and the 12 week "Leap" for this (I refuse to accept that you might just be a bad sleeper by nature!). Anyway... we were again up 6-7x/night, and you often liked to throw in a 2 hour leg thrashing session for good measure.

 This was about right

However... the last couple of nights have been pretty darn good. And Thursday night? The most AMAZING night yet. You went into a deep sleep at 9pm (I laid you in your Rock n Play at 9:30), woke to nurse at 1:30am and went right back to sleep, not waking again until 6:30am.

WHAAAAT?

You have never EVER done a 2nd sleep cycle that long. That was FIVE HOURS. Oh how I loved it. Oh how I hope hope hope we get more and more nights like this!

UPDATE: You did this AGAIN last night! Ahhhhhhh! Go baby Eloise, go!

Here are a few things I've done differently in your evening routine this past week, and I'm curious if a combination of these tactics has made a difference.

*Letting your bath salts SOAK in the hot water for at least 20 minutes before we get in. I heard from another Mama friend that the calming benefits of Epsom salts only occurs if they are able to saturate the hot water for at least 20 minutes, so we've been doing that the last few nights. I also am trying to keep YOU soaking for as long as possible to get the full restorative effects.

*Having a pumped bottle at bedtime. I had been doing this months ago and decided to reintroduce it. You've been taking one ounce right before bed and another at your first waking.

Naps haven't yet taken on any definitive shape or timing. You pretty much operate on a two hour cycle all day long: wake and nurse, stay awake to play for around 40-60 minutes, then nap until hungry again. You are still most often napping on me in your wrap (as you are this very minute!)- and I also try to nap WITH you in the afternoon, as I appreciate those naps too!

On some mornings after we drop Iyla off at school I take you to my favorite coffee shop, where you'll usually nap for about 30 minutes while I eat.

Haha. The good 'ole Merlin Sleep Suit was pulled out this week for a nap! You slept soundly for about 35-40 minutes, which is your typical nap MO right now.

New skills?

*You are SO good with your hand/eye coordination! Like, exceptional in the baby world. You rock manipulating the toys on your Baby Bjorn, and you also will systematically grab one finger at a time on my hand working your way from the pinky toward my thumb. You furrow your brow and really focus, and it's like watching both a mad scientist and a skilled pianist combined as those long fingers move along.

*Many more vocalizations! Today for the first time you were using a lot more intonations and longer coos, along with practicing being LOUD. You still make this hilarious sucking in gasp sound that is an expression of joy and happiness for you.

*Noticing your FEET.... these are one of your favorite "toys" to observe.

*Excellent tracking. You follow voices and if someone you are watching gets up you will completely turn your head to follow where they are going.

*Rolling to one side. When laying next to me in bed you can turn your body to face me. You still haven't rolled OVER yet, but that will come.


Favorite things?

*Your hands and feet

Intense foot studying session

*Ceiling fans

*When in the right mood, laying on your play mat and practicing grabbing the toys.

*Sitting in your baby bouncer in the kitchen. You LOVE this chair and use that time for serious foot studying or toy studying if I lay a toy on your lap.

*"Talking" with us. You love to make eye contact and coo back and forth with us!

*Your Baby Bjorn toy bar.


Not so favorite things?

*The car. Oh how you cry your little heart out in there! It's still so rare for you to be awake and content while driving; usually if you aren't sleeping you're crying.

*Tummy time. You do best on the big pillow in your room, but other than that we get maaaaybe 2-3 minutes before you start fussing.


Of note this month:

*You've had some pretty decent baby acne that comes and goes on a daily basis. It's mostly gone now and seemed to peak just after you turned 2 months old.

*After a month of 4x/day thrush med applications and NO results, we finally got your medicine switched. I'm happy to say after several days of the 1x/day Diflucan application your thrush has pretty much disappeared! Why or why didn't they START you on that medicine to begin with?

*Your eyelashes are really starting to grow. Like Iyla, you were born with tiny blond lashes. Iyla now has insanely long and dark eyelashes and so far it looks like yours are following a similar trajectory. Time will tell!

Eyelashes and baby acne

Your new nursery chair FINALLY arrived! Wahoo! Now we just need an ottoman and your room will be complete:


Here are a few more photos from your adventures this past month:

You went on date nights with Papa and I:

2nd Bar and Kitchen downtown

Visited your first pumpkin patch:


Went out to many family dinners, usually at Launderette or the Driskill:


Got dressed up by your big sister:


Got lots and lots of love and snuggles from your big sister:


Enjoyed lounging in the beautiful fall weather:


Tried out new baby seats:


Went to a weekly Mama Meetup group with me, where you made 9 new baby friends:


And overall were just a jolly little lady whom we enjoy every moment with!


We love you so much sweet Eloise Jane! Happy 3 months to you.

Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Sleep Miracle at 10.5 Weeks

I so hope posting this doesn't jinx me....

Remember how I mentioned that as a result of Eloise's vaccines we got an amazing night of sleep?

Well, that was one week ago, and- knocking on any and everything wood within a one mile radius- we've had great nights ever since! I'm talking about only waking to nurse 2x/night, and going up to 5 hours in her first sleep shift pretty much nightly.

Whaaaaaaat?

 Full of surprises, this one

It's nothing short of a sleep miracle. I don't know if her little system reset itself because she was SO tired and slept well those first two nights after vaccines, or if she matured to a point where she would have reset herself anyway, but whatever it is I LIKE IT.

This is a huge change from her waking to nurse 6-7x/night!

Our typical nights now at 10.5 weeks look like this:

Eloise will nap in the 6:15-7pm window. After she nurses and hangs out a bit (playing in her beloved Baby Bjorn chair) we get in a full bath together filled with lavender bath salts. After the bath it's pajamas, swaddle, pacifier, sound machine, lights out, and snuggling while I sing songs until she falls asleep. She'll nap on me usually from 8-9pm or so, then in the 9-9:30 window nurses again.

She loves this seat and has gotten pretty darn good at manipulating the toys!

From there the "long" sleep cycle begins, lasting this past week in the 4.5-5 hour window. Eloise will wake anywhere from 1:30-3am, nurse, and *usually* go back to sleep easily, and we've been getting a solid 2.5-3 hour SECOND sleep cycle, which is amazing! She usually goes right to sleep after that nursing session as well (which is in the 4-5am range)- then is up around 6:30-7am to nurse and go BACK to sleep until 7:45-8am when her little eyes officially pop open. I have been using that last sleep to shower and get ready for the day.

This is all just in time for the huge 12 week growth spurt and "leap" that is coming up, when I'm sure sleep will again go to h*** as it usually does during those periods.

But until then, I am going to savor every night we get of good sleep!

 
A happy, well rested baby = a happy, well rested Mama!

Saturday, October 1, 2016

Smothered

Last week when we returned home from Iyla's school pick up, Eloise was screaming in the car per her norm. I got both her and Iyla out and noticed the door to our studio apartment had been left open by the recent tenants. I asked Iyla to please talk with Eloise (who was still in her car seat) for a moment while I ran up to make sure all was well in the studio.

While I was up there, I heard Iyla making 'shushing' sounds to Eloise- it was the sweetest thing. And then Eloise's crying miraculously stopped.

When I came downstairs Iyla had her hand over Eloise's mouth and nose, evidently trying to smother out the crying. I quickly told Iyla that we are NEVER EVER to cover Eloise's mouth and nose, or put anything in her mouth or nose, as she could stop breathing and DIE. Maybe a little extreme, but I wanted to get that point across strongly lest she try something like that again.

A few days later while we were sitting on the couch Iyla put her hand over MY nose and mouth. I could tell she was "testing" to see how I would react. I calmly told her that I didn't like that, and that covering my mouth and nose could stop my breathing and cause me to DIE.

To which she replied without missing a beat: "Then I could be with my Buddy (what she calls BC) ALL THE TIME!"

Ah, the simple logic of a 3 year old.

Iyla Grace Lambert- trying to smother her way into Papa's affections one family member at a time.

Don't let her smile deceive you; this kid is dangerous!