3 months

Can you believe she's 3 months old already?

Let's see.  At 3 months old, Elizabeth is, I think, a pretty typical baby. 

Let's start with sleep.  Her sleep is still regulating.  She goes to bed between 6:30-7:30 most nights.  I try to get her down closer to 6:30 or 7, but sometimes it's later.  She'll typically sleep from then until around 1am.  Sometimes midnight, sometimes 2.  And then she usually wakes up once more before morning - usually around 3 or 4...or 5.  It really just depends.  It's not nearly as consistent as Abby was at this age, but when Abby was this age, I had nothing to do other than work on her sleep.  Now?  We can't just stay home all day, so E's naps are here and there too - which directly impacts night sleep.  

As far as naps go, she takes about 3-4 naps a day.  The times, again, are inconsistent, but most days she takes one around 9ish and then again around 1 when Abby naps, and sometimes one or two more in the afternoons.  Just depends. 

She loves being swaddled for the most part.  She tries to get her hands out sometimes, but I'm pretty good with wrapping her up so that she keeps them in.  

Last night, I let her cry for the first time (happy 3 months, sweetheart).  I was sick and rather exhausted from being up with Abby for the past two nights.  I tried for nearly an hour to get her to settle back to sleep and she just wouldn't.  So, I tucked her in and closed the door.  She cried for an hour and then slept till 6:30.  That was awesome.  I mean - I don't *like* hearing her cry, but in this instance, it didn't bother me either.  I knew she was fine, and I knew I wasn't doing her any good.  It's better to let her cry than for me to get too frustrated with her.  We'll see how tonight goes I suppose. 

Stats? I don't know how much she weighs.  I'll probably find out at her next doc appointment, which might should have been this week.  I have no idea.  I need to call and find out.  She's not small though, and I'd imagine she's well within the average range, or maybe just above it. She's still in size 1 diapers (for at least the rest of this pack) and she's starting to fit into her 3 month clothes pretty well.  Newborn clothes are still wearable, but snug. 

Temperment.  She's a happy baby. She really is, and her smiles are so great.  She cries when she's hungry or tired or, just recently, when she'd rather be sitting up than on her back.  She smiles most for Abby.  And Abby just loves on her, constantly, all day.  We were driving somewhere the other day and E was crying.  She cries in the car a lot because if she's tired or hungry, there's just nothing to do.  Abby is used to it and it doesn't really bother us.  We got home and I opened the back door to get the carseat out and I see Abby has been letting Elizabeth hold her finger while she cried.  Abby said "I just trying to make her happy"  I'd never stop typing if I tried to document all the sweet things Abby does to and for her little sister.  

Nicknames.  Obviously, "E" is the most common just for simplicity's sake.  E-train is still a big favorite.  Abby likes that one a lot.  Kyle calls her E-biscuit, which always makes me laugh.  Little Miss Mae and Mae fly get used as well. Lizzie and Lizzie Mae are being used more too.  We've got tons of them.  

Nursing.  We've had quite the journey.  To recap - we started nursing, and then I got really injured from it and I turned to exclusively pumping.  I pumped for weeks with no nursing at all.  Eventually, I got brave enough to try again and we started trying to nurse once a day.  It was probably more like once every few days...but it was something.  Sloooowly, we added more nursings.  As I started to exercise more and eat healthier to lose some weight, my supply plummeted.  That was annoying.  I started taking Fenugreek to help up my supply.  

Right before we left for vacation, my supply was at it's lowest point.  I was afraid I wouldn't be able to keep nursing.  I was also very worried about traveling and vacationing and not having our fall back frozen stash to pull from (which we had been doing at home) if I couldn't produce enough.  Well, we planned to bring a few frozen bags with us for peace of mind and we left them at home.  

During that vacation week, I went from my lowest supply to going home with 3 extra bags of milk.  Since then, we've been exclusively nursing.  I pump less, but I still try to do it once or twice a day.  

I'm pretty proud of our turn-around.  I didn't know if we'd make it here or not.  I have no goals for how long I want to try to nurse, I'm just taking it one day at a time.  My next big challenge will be when I return to work...but let's not think about that now. 

Tricks. At 3 months, E's tricks are limited.  She is able to roll from back to side, but hasn't really made it all the way over yet.  She can sit for short amounts of time in the bumbo seat and is getting better controlling her head.  She is starting to grab things more.  It's a simple life. :)

Ok, I guess that's all for now.  I feel like this was pretty scattered, sorry if it was.  Just wanted to try to document a few moments about E before these things fall out of my head.