Nora - 3 months

The last month certainly flew by, especially since we spent a good solid week celebrating Christmas!  At Nora's 2 month appointment she was 13#14oz, making her a few ounces smaller than the boys were at 2 months. Our nurse laughed and assured me she was no runt and she certainly has the rolls and chins to prove it. She also got shots at that appointment and obviously she was not.a.fan. I don't recall the boys being crabby after shots but she was a disaster the rest of the night. Between her screaming all evening & Levi & Erik not feeling well it was a lovely night at our house :)

She is wearing pretty much all 3-6 month clothes. I think girl clothes might vary in size even more than boy clothes do.  I just couldn't get enough of taking her picture in her Christmas outfits and she sported red for a majority of December. She only gets a bath when absolutely necessary (meaning she has a blow out) which is 1-2x a week to help prevent dry skin. Her hair is starting to come in and her cradle cap is gone. I think right now her eyes look more like Charlie's so we'll see if they stay a blue like his or get really light blue like Levi's. She is also drooling a lot already.  I am not ready for a teething baby so I'm hoping it's not that quite yet.

Trying to accurately capture those chubby legs.

 

And those wrists. Or lack of...it looks like she has rubber bands around her arms and her teeny little hands will pop off at any second.

We're still not on much of a schedule around here but I'm hoping to start working on that now (we are done watching the extra 3 kids now!). Hopefully it will be much quieter around here in the mornings and I can focus on getting her down for naps and she won't get disrupted so much.  I think the boys started sleeping through the night at least somewhat frequently around this age so I'm getting antsy for that but as of now she's not doing that. And there really isn't much of a pattern either - she will get up anytime between 2-6 but usually only gets up 1 time during the night. Still sleeping in the bassinet by our bed and after she gets up she goes back into the bassinet...unless I fall asleep first ;).  As far as naps go, there's really nothing consistent, but her longest nap is usually in the afternoon. If I put her in the carseat, she will sleep for hours. As a matter of fact, she spent a few nights sleeping in there recently. She was such a mess and we couldn't get her to settle down. Finally Erik buckled her into the carseat and she immediately passed out and slept all night (well it was almost 1am by that point). I think she slept in the carseat 4 nights in a row.

Nora is a mellow, smiley baby. But something gets into her sometimes around 8-9pm and she is just impossible to console until she finally goes to sleep. I can't figure out what it is but my best guess is that she is just overtired. She will not take a pacifier and wants to nurse to sleep but isn't actually hungry which makes her so upset.  Most nights she is going to bed between 9-10pm but some nights it does get to be way after 11pm before she will give in. I am so thankful that other than that she is a happy baby. I can't imagine dealing with a colicky or fussy baby 24/7....UGH!!!!

 My girl is just happy as can be as long as she is being held. She likes facing outwards or just lying on her back. Sometimes when she's being really cranky she just wants to be left alone lay on my lap and stretch out. She has taken a couple of naps in the swing and has put herself to sleep a few times in the bouncy chair too. I can tell she notices the toys, etc hanging from there and focuses on them.  Too bad  most of her naps are cut short by screaming children!  Speaking of those brothers of hers, they continue to be pretty good helpers around the house. They always want to hold her and complain that it's their turn or that they never get to hold her. Charlie is really good with her and loves trying to get her to stop crying. Levi wants to be in her face all of the time and is always rubbing her face with his hair and just invading her personal space. she doesn't appreciate that quite as much. Whenever she cries they will break out in "baa, baa black sheep" and she does stop crying almost every time ;)  Levi loves picking out her diapers and they are generally both good about helping set the table, cleaning up from meals, etc which is so helpful. Charlie also has been awesome at helping Levi get his boots & coat on, too.  Of course it's not all butterflies and rainbows around here...they both know how & when to push each other & my buttons and Levi especially gets into plenty of mischief while I'm tied up with Nora.

picture perfect

Reality...

I have not been good about tummy time (partly because I'm afraid she will get run over) but when I do remember she holds her head up really well and a couple of times I thought she was going to roll over (more like gravity would take over).  She is making all kinds of noises and I can't wait until the day she busts out the giggles. I know the boys will love it and they will really get her going!

I can never think of a good way to end these posts so....that is all :)