Pierce is THREE Months

 I am THREE months old!

I like: Playing "head, shoulders, knees, and toes" or "if you're happy and you know it..." songs with him, when we talk to him and ask him to say words, when we wag our tongue, when I do my breathing quickly and ending with "hi!" when we mention he has stinky diapers haha. He's actually really easy to make smile, he loves when anyone is interacting with him so much, and I love that!

One nap in the pack n play

But naps on mom are still preferred

I dislike: being hungry (even a tiny little bit), being put down and having us walk away, going to sleep on his own (but once he's asleep he's usually good).

He didn't hate the grass

I am now: Before I went back to work he was about 13 lbs according to our unofficial check (I was pretty proud of that). He is growing out of strictly 3 month clothes and so we mostly put him in 3-6 month ones. He's in size 2 diapers, but I'm almost wondering if he should be more in size 3. He's a growing boy!

A Typical Day looks like: We're still working out the kinks since my return but it typically looks like this:

Wake up between 7 and 8, get his first 6-6.5 oz bottle around 8 AM. 

He'll usually last until around 9:30/10 when he starts to get fussy. Dad walks around with him until he falls asleep and then puts him in the pack n play in the office with the fan on.

He'll nap for about an hour, on the long end right now (if we're lucky)

He'll get his next bottle around 11, another 6-6.5 oz. He almost always poops during the feeding or right after so we don't change him until he's done.

He usually takes his next nap around 12 ish. Same thing where dad walks around or just holds him until he falls asleep, then puts him down. Again, it's an hour if we're lucky (we try and extend it with the binky, sometimes that works, sometimes not so much).

Next 6-6.5 oz bottle at 2 and diaper change. He'll then nap around 3/3:30, this one is usually only about 45 minutes. 

Next 6 oz bottle at 5. We sometimes run an errand or go for a walk around 6 to get him a last nap of the day, otherwise he'll fight it SO hard

Bedtime at 7:45: diaper change, lotion, owlet, pajamas, and a 6 oz bottle. Burp and put down. If he's not passed out we give him a binky to help him go to sleep

Check out the eyebrow action

Play usually just consists of mat time, reading, talking to him, singing to him, and maybe a little bit of tummy time. It's pretty sporadic right now as far as that stuff goes. 

This Month: We started getting him to nap independently (thanks to dad). The first day was REALLY rough. Both of us were still working (Larry started his two weeks off the Monday after I went back) and so he had a hard time with it and I had to listen to a LOT of crying that broke my heart (we joked I cried more that day than my whole leave). We know it's important for him to learn so we have to just power through, but it's not always easy. The weekend after the first day was good, and then Monday was bad. Tuesday was when he started to kind of get into a rhythm. He has to be held to go to sleep, but then once he's asleep we can transfer him and he'll get a nap by himself. It's always a short nap, or at least shorter than it was when he was napping with me, but I know that's pretty typical of this age. I'm hoping he'll learn to nap longer, if not he'll just be our baby that doesn't nap much.

Not sure the fascination with my neck haha

I will say ending nursing and switching to bottles was emotional and relieving at the same time. My last nursing session was his feeding at 4 in the morning on Friday, the 24th. He only got up twice that night to nurse and I made sure to snuggle him for a bit longer than normal after he was done because I knew it was our last. I was SO okay with it at the time, but by the afternoon that day I was getting very emotional over not nursing him or snuggling with him anymore. I mean I can still snuggle him, but not the same way. I thought I would be so happy to be done and never look back, but it's been a bit sad for me. I've made sure to hold him as much as I can during the day. Also, Pierce really didn't know what to do with bottles at first. I knew he'd figure it out eventually, but it was a bit stressful for me at first. Luckily, once he figured it out he took to it so well. It also helped him figure out taking a binky as well so that's been nice (I figured that would happen). I think he just didn't like the silicon/plastic taste in his mouth, but once he figured it was his new food source he didn't mind it. 

Future Packers Fan!!

Napping was a rough go at first, like I mentioned. I'm hoping he'll figure it out better as time goes on, but he's definitely our most finicky napper. Luckily, it hasn't impacted his night sleep in any negative way. So far he's been sleeping through the night since Monday, the 27th. Saturday to Sunday night he only got up once (at 2 AM) so it's been improving each night. Getting him down for bed has also gotten a bit easier. Dad was super brave and took away the swaddle, the snuggle me lounger, the gas drops, and the nose sucker (that I always did before bed to help keep him clear throughout the night). I was so nervous he changed the routine too much and that Pierce would be confused, but he figured it out quickly. Now it's just me who needs to figure out the new routine haha.

Our first day away from each other...Snuggles
Were needed

But he's still really happy

Update on last month's goals:

• Figure out how to get him to sleep on his own and lengthen the morning wake up: He's definitely sleeping on his own at night and does pretty well. Still usually has one wake up after we put him down, but usually by 9 PM he's down for good (so we just have to rock him a bit when he has that wake up). And with bottles he's better at sleeping until 7:30 at the very least. Sometimes he'll sleep from 8/9-7 AM and we'll just start his day early if he went the whole night without a feeding.
  
  
• Figure out a good gas solution to help him sleep at night: We stopped the gas drops and he seems to be doing okay. He poops a lot at night, because of the formula, so Larry mentioned he'll do hafl the feed, have to change him, then finish the feeding and get him back down.
  
  
• Read to him: I've done this more, but not a lot, so I'd like to do this a lot more this next month.
  
  
• Tummy Time: ugh, sad to say we've dropped the ball on this one. I'm putting this at the top of the list for next month because I know he needs it.
  

Goals for next month:

• Tummy Time/Rolling Over!!
  
  
• Napping better
  
  
• Finding ways to play with him and keep interacting with him