Happy Three Months!

Dear Sailor,

Happy three months!  As promised, here is your monthly birthday letter!  Oh my goodness gracious have things happened!  First, just so you know, you are getting way more fun by the day.

Yesterday morning (your official 3 month birthday) started out with your dad and I in Washington, D.C. on a trip provided by your dad’s hard work and the awesome company he works for.  It had been five nights since we saw you, and baby girl, YOU HAVE GROWN!  You are practically a different baby.  Your head, arms, legs and eyes are bigger.  You’re longer and you definitely weigh more.  Even your chatty noises are a little different!  Oh, and I’d like to mention how ridiculously chatty the morning makes you.  You MUST be trying to communicate with the neighbors.  Or aliens on another planet.  Grandma calls it hitting your Mariah Carey notes.  She also says you have the Happy Gene because you are SUCH a good & smiley little thing.  I agree.  You only fuss when you want something – namely food, sleep or a new diaper – and once you get it, you’re all good!

One of my absolute favorite things in this world is when I come in to get you in the morning or after a nap, you’re laying there sucking away at those poor little fingers, staring at the side of your crib, and I say, “Hey Bear.”  And, without even looking at me, you know who I am and you get this gigantic smile on your face (you actually give your fingers a few gasping seconds of breath).  Then, I flip you over (because, yes, you do all  your best sleeping on your tummy and I am a horrible mommy for that) and you smile and STRECH - you are an expert wakeup stretcher with your hands over your head, your face scrunched up, stretching out your mouth in a frown.  And then more smiles.  Oh, it’s so incredible.

The things you have done in the past several weeks are so amazing and so much fun to witness!  I think a list is most appropriate here:

• You have begun grabbing objects, and are pretty damn good at it now.  And, you’re NOT QUITE putting everything you see into your mouth, but you have the hunger.  You’ll focus on an object in front of you with your whole body, eyes locked, legs stick straight and hands up on either side of the toy, shaking slightly as you figure out the best way to ensure your hands’ contact with the toy.  Once you’ve got it, you try to bring it to your mouth, which is usually only mildly successful.


• In terms of sleeping, you had your first night out of your rocker and in your bassinet and THEN, your first full night in your crib!  In fact, you’ve been sleeping in your crib now for about 10 days!


• Oh, and this is so funny to me.  You like to curl your hair around your fingers with your left hand, just like your daddy!  (Well, when his hair was long enough.)  And we know you’re sleepy when the right hand shoots to your mouth and the left goes to your hair.


• MAN is that hand slurping loud!


• You are NOT a fan of Tummy Time.  You never have been, really.  It seems you think of it as chill time – a time to, shockingly, put your fingers in your mouth and observe the world sideways.  That’s okay, though, because you get what Tummy Time is supposed to provide by laying on our tummies.


• On your Grandma’s birthday you watched Sesame Street for the first time.  Up until then, you had only glanced at random HGTV shows that happened to be on.  Oh!  And MY GOODNESS, did you love Sesame Street!  Your Grandma and I were CRACKING UP at you CRACKING UP!


• Speaking of cracking up, you smile and giggle all the time.  We’re not at full-blown laughing yet, but the reward of a smile and a giggle keeps your father and I making the most ridiculous faces and noises.


• You have also started sleeping all. night. long.  And by “all. night. long” I mean ELEVEN and TWELVE hours.  And if that isn’t the most brilliant thing ever, I don’t know what is.  You met your Great Aunt Lynn, too, and she mentioned her mom (your great-grandmother) always said that 11 pounds is the magic weight for sleeping all night.  I’m pretty sure the day you hit 11 pounds was the night you hit 11 hours.


• And, at night, you enjoy scooting yourself around in your crib.  That’s actually the reason we went from your bassinet TO your crib – we had to get up about every two hours after hearing a little cry of, “Hello!  Kind of stuck here!” and we’d pull you away from the corner that you had scooted yourself into.


• Everyone said your hair would fall out, but it’s getting longer.  And it’s so soft.  And there are the beginnings of curls!

Today, ON YOUR THREE MONTH BIRTHDAY, you not only started using a medium flow nipple on your bottle (no problems, I don’t even think you noticed) BUT YOU ALSO ROLLED OVER!!!  Front to back.  I had heard other stories where babies’ reaction was one of WTF, but yours was more WHY, HELLO!  HEY!  SO NICE TO SEE YOU!  The ridiculous part, though, is that your dad and I were standing over your crib as you were waking up and I had witnessed earlier HOW you were going to roll over once you finally did it because I saw you when you went down for your nap start pushing off with your legs.  So, what does your know-it-all momma do while your dad and I are standing there? I GET ON THE FLOOR to show your dad how you were moving your legs and all of a sudden your dad goes, “Liza.  Come here.”  And I was like, “NO WAY.”  YES, WAY.  You rolled over as your mother was on the floor demonstrating how you were going to roll over.  So, thanks for that.  But, dad is SO HAPPY he got to be the witness.

I can’t wait to see what month four brings!

Love,

Mommy (say “mama” first, okay?)

Comments

[shelly (greyandvismom)]

cute.

[Candice]

Wow, Sailor sounds amazing! Nate used to sleep from about 11pm to 8:30am... and now this week he decided to start getting up around 4 or 5am for a fresh diaper and snack. :-/ Not sure what the deal is... and now I'm EXTRA dreading the crib transition, as if I wasn't already. Blargh.

Do you have her sleep on her tummy? When you write how you flip her over that made me curious. Tummy sleeping terrifies me. I have Nate nap on his tummy (for his whole 15 min naps) and I either sit and just watch him or check every 45 seconds.

[Liza]

Yup, she only sleeps on her tummy. It's the only way she'll sleep for any decent amount of time. Pretty sure she thinks that being her back equals playtime. I was horribly anxious about it for a while, but not anymore. I've just decided to let it go. Pretty much every person on the planet over the age of 16 slept on his/her tummy. I slept that way. So did my husband and my parents and my friends. I mean, I guess you never know, but you never know with ANYTHING. Loralee's baby was in his swing. My friend was freaked about SIDS and did a lot of research and said a lot of cases were in preemies and/or babies who showed signs of respiratory issues. Like I said, you never know and maybe it's stupid of me, but she's a happy baby because she sleeps so well and thus we've got a happy mommy and daddy.

Is Nate still in the sleeper? Sailor got to the point where she was just so squished and then she moved like a crazy lady in her bassinet (co-sleeper thing) so we pretty much had to move her to her crib so she'd have room!

[Candice]

I commend how relaxed you are. Nate bumped his head, I was sure for four days he had an aneurysm that was going to blow any time. He sniffles once, I'm sure he's suffocate on snot sleeping on his stomach. A friend even told me about how breathing the "rebreath" when they sleep on their tummies is harmful. I just cannot relax even though Nate also sleeps much better that way.

He's still comfy in the sleeper. We swaddle him, which helps him sleep b/c he doesn't startle himself awake... but I wouldn't want to swaddle him in the crib b/c what if he somehow rolled over and was face down with no free arms? (Nevermind trying to figure out how he would've rolled over in the first place in the swaddler - I'm just that paranoid.) And he still fits in the sleeper just fine. It goes up to 25 lbs and he's not there yet. His butt goes in the little nook and his back up the back and his legs kind of cross, which is how he sleeps even when not in the swaddler (which is like how Tom sleeps).

My sibs and friends and I ALL slept on our tummies and we're here. I know it's fine but... I also know I wouldn't be able to sleep. I already don't sleep well, worrying that he's stopped breathing for no absolute reason. I sit up, listen for breathing, and lie back down. It's crazy. (I.e. I'm crazy.) I was going to say earlier that I wish Sailor and Nate could have a playdate - but really, I think I need the playdate with you. LOL

Do you have the Angelcare monitor? Does it work?

[Liza]

OMG, a playdate would be so much fun. No, I don't have the Angelcare. I looked at it and decided it would make me even more paranoid. Kind of the same way having a house alarm would. The previous owners had a house alarm and just setting them freaks me out, like I'm preparing for disaster. See? I'm crazy, too! I read a lot of reviews for the Angelcare, though, and people seem to like it. Occasionally, though, people get false alarms, which would freak me out.

I know this sounds ridiculous, but one of the things that calmed me down was a comment from one of my readers. She just said, "Don't worry. Sailor will be fine and she'll grow up fine." (Something like that.) And, duh, she doesn't know this for certain, but I was like, "You know, I need to have that outlook or I'm going to drive myself nuts. I need to do the best I can and enjoy what I've got as I've got it." And I've been basically calm ever since. Not that I don't worry and not that I don't do things to make sure she's safe, I just had to let go of the anxiety. It kept me from being present with my daughter.

[IfByYes]

Congratulations on surviving the fourth trimester!

[The Thirty-Something Bride]

WOW! She's grown so much!

[Liza]

Thanks! It started out pretty rough, but definitely got better!

[Liza]

She's a big girl. She started college last week.

[Amy]

Can your three month old come over and show my almost 24 month old how to sleep through the night? That is truly awesome!!! And she just gets cuter and cuter too!

[John]

dear god, someone please tell me why i am so fascinated by this stuff. that and crossfit. i am fascinated by both and can't explain either.

[Liza]

I read on your blog that your little one is having trouble getting through the night. Ugh. Have you tried any of Supernanny's techniques? She is awesome. I pretty much do whatever she says. There's a ton of info on her website, which I think it just supernanny.com.

[Shana(PunkinP)]

Hi Liza,

Haven't been here for a while die to an-about-to-die Mac at home. I just wanted to say how beautiful Sailor is(she looks just like you!). I'm so glad you're enjoying mommyhood(ain't it fun?). And like everyone always says, it just gets better and better. Cheers!

[Liza]

Hi PunkinP! Missed you!!! Sorry about the Mac on its deathbed. That sucks. You're one of the few people to say Sailor looks like me - everyone else says my husband - so I'll take it! Mommyhood is fun. I am really enjoying it, actually. Although, at the moment Sailor is in her rocker fussing at the things hanging above her because she hasn't napped in over 4 hours and usually naps every 2. :)