Evie Brooke - 3 months

Age: 3 months

Height: no new measurement

Weight: 12 lb 13 oz

Head: no new measurement

What we’ve learned: Evie is a smiley, happy girl, and really social! She will give a smile to just about anyone and loves being around other kids. We've learned how to avoid getting overtired, which has helped our mood immensely. She doesn't need much sleep to reset her mood, luckily, since she still doesn't nap for very long. We are working on learning how to fall asleep without being rocked to sleep. It's slow going. I've also learned how to read her better and recognize which cries or noises mean what. It helps that she is learning different ways to use her voice - she now whines, squeals, and fuses in different ways to let us know her thoughts and opinions, and she's got plenty of them!

What we’re enjoying right now: We LOVE making her laugh! I could listen to that all day. We love going to play groups, and she's starting to interact with other kids through smiles. She watches them so intently! We go to a baby play group every other week and do other activities with the group at least once a week - a trip to the zoo, or a park, getting doughnuts, or maybe another play date at a house. She is JUST starting to really show interest in toys and it's great to see how excited she gets over them. 

What our biggest struggles are: Still struggling with the sleep. The naps affect us and are more difficult on me personally than the night time. I would love more than 30 minutes to maybe accomplish more than one thing - perhaps a shower AND breakfast? She has also shown some signs of separation anxiety very recently when apart from me, but this seems VERY early, so I'm not sure what is going on. She's had a meltdown once with my mom and once with Luke when I was away from her, either briefly or a more extended amount of time. We will see if that continues. Either way, once Luke returns from AT we are going to work on her being away from me more often so they can develop more of a relationship now that she's getting older. 

What has been Evie's most exciting milestone: THE LAUGH! Oh my heart explodes every time. She laughs the most over repetitive things - saying "boo", "eating her toes", and she also loves being tickled, especially if it's accompanied by piggy noises (don't ask me why I know that haha). 

What we’re looking forward to: we are excited to get through Luke's final AT and not have any more prolonged absences hanging over our heads! On a developmental side, we are so excited to see her start playing with toys and discovering more about her surroundings through touch!

Sleep: We have decided to start working on a better nighttime routine for her (I'm writing this a week after she turned 3 months). We haven't been great about a bedtime so that's changing. She goes to sleep generally between 7:30 and 8:30, in her swing. Then, when we are ready for bed, I pick her up and bring her to bed for a dreamfeed and she's right back asleep. She wakes around 2, 5:30, and then is usually up for the day between 7 and 8. She had a spell where she was waking every two hours all night, but I'm thinking that might have been our fault for not putting her to sleep early enough. Nap time is still 30-45 minute increments, about 4-6 naps a day. Ugh. First one is around 9, and I try not to let her be awake for longer than 1 hour after a nap (exception is in the evening before bed). We are trying to follow a sleep/wake time chart that has these recommendations and it seems to work for her  because she doesn't nap long enough. We are starting to extend the wake time a little now that she's three months. To nap, I swaddle her and give her the pacifier. I walk around a little or rock and shush her, depending on how wound up or fussy she is. Once her eyes start drooping I put her in the swing and leave the room. I try to do the pick up/put down method if she wakes and gets upset, or I'll put her pacifier back in if she spits it out. It seems to be getting a little easier. Maybe once day we can try this in a real crib! :)

Health: shes been doing well! She did have an eye infection right after her two month appointment but we got her in immediately and the ointment cleared it up really fast. Her three month shots (the Prevnar and Hib vaccines) went well, but she definitely didn't feel well the rest of that day. I think she's been in a growth spurt pattern this last week after turning three months, because she's been sleepy a lot and nursing longer. 

Eating:  Nursing patterns are still the same! She's getting better about being so fussy when she is done eating - sometimes she even starts smiling and talking to me, almost playing. It's adorable!

Other Highlights: 

- mama and papa got two date nights this month! The first was just for a family friend's surprise birthday party, but the second was a movie out. She took the bottle okay the first time, but much easier the second night, just a couple days later. 

- She found her hand! Her hand eye coordination is getting much better and she can be found chewing on her hand pretty often. She is starting to show interest in toys as well, which is helping to improve car rides :)