The Hiller Happenings: October 2014

Look who turned three months old on October 17, 2014!

This past month just flew by. I feel like I blinked and Natalie is now three months old.

She is doing great! In the past month, Natalie:

Rolled over for the first time, from her tummy to her back! Natalie squeezed this milestone in just in the nick of time, the day before her three month birthday.
Hasn't rolled from back to front yet, but she is really close. She gets about 3/4 way over and then gets stuck. I think it will happen in the next week or two.
Loves to talk! This girl is very social. She can carry a whole conversation on with you and has varied cooing sounds and inflections. I am hoping this means she will be very verbal.
She legitimately laughs. It is this adorable little chuckle that she does at least once a day. Sometimes if you tickle her, but also if she is just really happy with what you're saying. I feel like that's advanced for her age.
Weighs about 14 pounds. Natalie is still a chunky monkey. I feed her about every three hours during the day. She must be really efficient, because she rarely eats for more than 15 minutes, but she is obviously gaining weight.
Is solidly in 3-6 month clothes. She can even wear some 6 month onesies if the brand runs small.
Is tolerating tummy time better. She can push herself up using her arms when she is lying on her stomach, which I think makes her like tummy time more because she can look around.
Sat in the bumbo seat for the first time! Natalie is so antsy and such a busy baby that I figured she would enjoy sitting up and looking around. She does appear to like it, but her head control is a little less than I think is optimal for the seat, so I don't keep her in it for long periods of time.
Has started relaxing her hands more. She used to keep them in fists all of the time, but now she will stretch them out some. Her favorite thing to do is to grab her dresses/shirts and pull them up with her hands. It makes me nervous for her to sleep in a shirt or dress because I worry she will pull them over her mouth, so if she's alone I try to put her in a onesie or tuck the shirt into her pants.
Sleeps great during the night! Natalie now goes about 5.5 hours after her last nightly feed. I aim to have her asleep by 10:15 or 10:30, and she will sleep until about 4:00. A couple of times, after she hasn't slept well during the day, she has gone 8 hours without waking! I, of course, wake up before then a few times to check on her because it makes me nervous, but it's pretty awesome to get such a long stretch of sleep. I don't think Henry slept that long until he was 9 or 10 months old.
Is still exclusively breastfed. I didn't plan very well and didn't attempt a bottle (because I wanted to store as much milk as I could for when I go back to work) after the first time she had one until a couple of weeks ago. Unfortunately, Natalie refused to drink from it. We tried a couple of different bottles and several different people feeding the bottle, but she wouldn't budge. I've attempted a few times since, and she is getting a bit better. She doesn't cry when you try to give her the bottle any longer, and she lets it move around in her mouth, but I don't think she has swallowed any milk. So, we are going to have to step up our game before I head back to work in three weeks. I am hoping that with my stash of frozen milk and pumping at work, we will make it to 5 months or so without any formula.
Is not a great napper. Natalie doesn't nap well, as a rule, unless she falls asleep in her carseat while in the car or on a walk. If that happens, she can take 3 hour naps. If it doesn't, I am lucky to get 1 hour stretches during the day. It doesn't bother me too much, because I would much rather her sleep well at night, but it is hard to get things done at times because she tends to be fussy when she doesn't nap (shocking, right!)
Loves her big brother! Natalie loves to watch Henry and gives him smiles. Henry loves the attention and sometimes asks Natalie to watch him as he does something. He also loves to "cuddle" with Natalie when she is on her playmat. While cute, it is nerve-wracking because I am constantly worried he will either get her sick or crush her. But I try not to discourage it because I want him to like her and not resent her. And it is adorable to watch!
Seems to enjoy music. Hoping she will be musically-inclined like Henry is!
Is just the sweetest. I am very attached to her, because I am the one who has spent almost all of the time with her since her birth. I love just to hold her and nuzzle my face into her neck. It's going to be hard to leave her to go back to work.

And, because everyone loves photos, here are some more recent pics of our three month old.

She found her thumb. Yikes! Hoping this doesn't become a habit.

Oh, hey Mom! Just looking around like a big kid.

I'm starting to like this tummy time stuff!

Better late than never, right?

Our sweet girl turned two months old on September 17! Here is a lengthy summary of the past month's happenings, mostly for my own benefit when I want to look back down memory lane. Feel free to skip to the end for more pictures!

The month between one and two months was a big one for Natalie. Most happily, she became a much happier baby! At her one month appointment, our pediatrician told me that at around eight weeks, Natalie's digestive system would even itself out and the fussiness would decrease. I tried not to get my hopes up, but the man knows what he is talking about. At around seven weeks (ahead of the game--yay, Natalie!) Natalie started spending more of her awake time happy rather than fussy. It was such a relief.

Now, I rarely give Natalie gas drops prior to feeding her. She settles after feedings and often falls asleep while eating. I am able to have a glass of wine after her night feeding, because I know she won't fuss and demand another snack in ten minutes. In fact, Natalie's night time sleeping is pretty awesome (knock on wood, cross your fingers, do anything else that does not jinx this trend!). Most nights, after I feed her at around 10:45 or so, Natalie sleeps 4-5 hours, waking at around 3:00 or so. She then eats and I change her diaper, and she is back asleep within a half hour, give or take. This is nice, because Henry took forever to eat at this age. Then, Natalie will sleep another 3.5-4 hour or so stretch, waking at around 7:00 or 7:30. I really can't complain too much about this schedule. If she is sleeping consistent 5 hour stretches by the time I go back to work in a month, I should be well-rested and not feel like a zombie during the work day.

Natalie is sleeping in the rock n' play at night. No more baby in the bed! Woo hoo! Now, I just need to transition her into the mini crib. I don't think this will be a problem, but I keep putting it off because Natalie has been congested a lot over the last several weeks (see below for more details on that fun). As for daytime feedings, I am keeping Natalie on a three hour feeding schedule, starting with the end of her last feeding. Although, she is a little fussier in the evenings, so I will sometimes feed her more often during this time to keep her calm and happy.

Natalie is napping much better, too. She prefers to nap on the go, either in the car or in the stroller, and she will stay asleep after we get home. But she also will sleep in the swing, usually only if she's asleep when I put her in there, and also in the rock n' play or bouncer. The best and longest naps come when we have been in the car and Natalie can stay in her carseat. I know that's not great for her, but it's what she likes, so I am letting her stay there for now. Sometimes swing naps can also reach a couple of hours long. But if Natalie is in the rock n' play or bouncer, she often won't sleep for longer than an hour or so. Because of this, she takes a lot of cat naps during the day. I would like to get her onto more of a schedule taking three or so naps of 1.5-2 hours each, but I think this will take time.

As you can see from the photos, Natalie is quite the chunkster! I knew she was getting heavy just by the difference in how she felt in my arms. Plus, the girl is rocking some major neck rolls. I never had to worry about those with Henry. It can get quite gross, though, as milk and gunk get trapped under her chin. Ha! Despite this, when Natalie had her two month appointment, I was surprised to learn that she weighed 13 pounds! That is over a pound more than Henry at the same age. Her weight puts her in the 86th percentile! Natalie is 23 inches long, which is the 75th percentile. And her little head is lagging behind--15 inches, which is the 25th percentile. I was a bit concerned about this, but our pediatrician assured me that her head is growing and is growing at a steady pace. Henry had a fairly small head when he was this age, too, and it caught up as he got older.

The other concern we have following the two month appointment is that Natalie is developing a slight flat spot on the left side of her head. Apparently, she prefers to turn her head to this side when sleeping. I never noticed, but after the pediatrician brought my attention to it, I did see that Natalie turns her head to the left in the car seat and when lying down. The flat spot is very slight, and the best thing to do for it is to be aware of Natalie's preference and encourage her to sit/lie more evenly. I put a rolled-up blanket in one side of her carseat so she can't lean her head to the left anymore. And when she is in the bouncer or swing, I use a head cushion that has a cut out for her head to kind of sit in, so she can't turn it to one side. I also am trying to put Natalie on her right side propped with pillows when she is awake and on her activity mat, but she is not much of a fan of lying this way, so it doesn't last long. The biggest concern is when Natalie is sleeping, because I can't use the cushion for fear of SIDS. I am hoping that correction during the day will be enough to prevent any worsening of the issue.

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a germophobe. I obsess about washing my hands and washing Henry's hands and keeping him away from super germy areas (indoor playgrounds, anyone? Ugh, just the thought of Henry playing on one of those mall or fast food playgrounds nearly gives me hives). Well, enter preschool. Of course Henry came home after the first week of school with a cold. All of those two year olds in one area, sharing toys and germs, I knew it would happen. And I knew I would get it, too, which I did. But I was hoping Natalie would be spared. Unfortunately, she wasn't, and she had her first little cold at 7.5 weeks. She didn't have a fever, thank goodness, but she was congested, spent most of one day sleeping, and projectile vomited once because of post-nasal drip. But it was very short-lived, and she was back to normal within a couple of days. Then we went on vacation for a couple of weeks and Henry was out of school. First week back in school--Henry is sick again. This time I was spared but Natalie was not so lucky. She was more congested this time, sneezing and coughing, and threw up three times--and when I say threw up, I am talking about the entire contents of her stomach all over herself and me or Mark-- in less than 24 hours. The doctor wanted to see her because of her age, so I took her in. Luckily, it's just a cold and her chest is clear. I am telling you, though, that Henry may be the youngest preschool drop-out if this keeps up! I am living in a constant state of anxiety that Natalie will get RSV or something worse. At least she is building up her immunities at a much earlier age than Henry did.

Natalie hasn't rolled over yet, but she does turn herself to the side when lying on her back, so I think she will go from back to front first. She is not much of a fan of tummy time, so I am hoping that doing tummy time will motivate her to learn to roll from front to back!

Socially, Natalie is doing great. She is a smiley baby and pretty much always smiles in response to your talking to her. She also coos and is fairly chatty, more than I remember Henry being.

Ok, so enough of my wordiness. Here are some more recent photos of our girl!