Sophia’s 3 Month Update
Dear Sophia,
At 10 weeks you weighed 10 pounds 1.4 ounces (12th percentile) and were 21.65 inches long (8th percentile). You may be tiny but you sure are mighty! You have started to grow out of your newborn clothes and your thighs are finally chunky enough that you don’t leak out of your cloth diapers as much. You still spit up a lot, but you don’t pee on us all that often anymore.
This month, you received your vaccinations. You got an oral one and 3 shots in your thighs. We didn’t even cry because you did so well. Sometimes when you cry so hard your face gets bright red and no sound comes out because you’re so upset. That happened immediately after the first injection for about 10 seconds. Then you actually made crying sounds and once daddy picked you up you quickly started to calm down. I gave you your favorite thing, aka the boob, and you were just fine afterwards. I hate to admit it, but we were naive and should have been prepared by having baby Tylenol on hand, per the doctor’s suggestion.
You were inconsolable for a few hours that evening while daddy went to multiple stores trying to find you some medicine. Because of the pandemic we were experiencing, some of the stores were sold out. Our friends went and bought us some, a neighbor offered some, and we ended up finding some. We have such good people in our life to help us out. Once you had the medicine you started to calm down, drank some milk, went to bed and slept till the morning. The following day you were back to your normal self, although a bit more tired and not as hungry.
We moved out of your room and we are sleeping better by not hearing your every grunt and groan. We think the feeling is mutual. We’ve noticed that you’re starting to recognize when we are in the room or not because you will start to cry immediately after we put you to bed and leave the room. You will be completely fine being laid down and swaddled, but once we leave, you cry. If we come back, you stop. It’s so hard for me to hear you cry. I torture myself by watching you on the baby monitor because you’re also so cute when you cry. Watching TV and taking a shower help me tune it out because I know you need to learn to self soothe and put yourself to sleep.
At 11 weeks you started making different noises, which is a development that happens during your 3rd leap. It is entertaining listening to you find your vocal chords. You are also getting much better at opening and closing your hands and with grabbing your hanging toys. You even will pull them towards your mouth.
Additionally, we have been practicing sitting up (you love this!) and rolling over. Pretty soon you’ll be doing both on your own! You are so much more alert and your neck is so strong. You love to look around our home and observe everything. Looking at yourself in the mirror is also a fun activity you enjoy. Your sucking reflex is still going strong. You will suck on anything; your arm and hands as well as my arm and fingers. Pretty soon you will be a thumb sucker, you just haven’t quite figured out how to only get your thumb in your mouth.
Your favorite thing is when I kiss your hands back and forth. You give us the biggest smile and you’re so close to giggling! You really enjoy naked time and inclined tummy time. At every well-child visit, your pediatrician gives you a fun high-contrast book, so we like to prop that up so you have something colorful to look at.
This month, you’ve been on a bottle strike and only want the boob. This is very frustrating for all of us because dad can’t feed you and mom has to. Something “awesome (insert eye-roll)” you sometimes do is show us you’re finished drinking and then when we are putting you to bed you decide you’re actually still hungry.
At the end of March, we started phasing out your 11:30 PM feeding with the goal that you’ll be able to eat your last meal at 8 PM and sleep till 7 AM. We started doing this by making your 11:30 PM feeding 11 PM instead for a few nights and then moving on to 10:30 PM. What actually happened was that we both fell asleep one night and didn’t wake up for the 10:30 PM feeding and you slept the whole night. We then decided to just phase out your late feeding cold turkey. This is all fine and dandy, except you’re still really picky about taking the bottle. It has only been about two weeks of doing this, but it is so painful for mama to witness. Forget being quarantined in the house, I’m quarantined in the bedroom so you don’t hear, see, or SMELL me. We now know to use ear plugs for every bottle feeding.
Because you haven’t been drinking very much from the bottle, you’ve woken me up a few times around 5 or 6 AM hungry, but overall, you’re still sleeping very well. After one week of the bottle refusal, we started breastfeeding afterwards to make sure you didn’t go to bed hungry. We are praying that this is just a phase and things will get better shortly.
On a lighter note, you often poop while breastfeeding, and it has become a very noticeable procedure. You stop eating, you grunt, and then you crunch your belly and legs in. I’m not even mad about you not drinking because it is so comical. We have many videos of this to show you when you’re older.
Mid-March, Grandma Barbara came for a visit and you just loved her. She has a lot of experience caring for babies and it was no different with you. You two shared snuggles, feedings, and conversations. We are so thankful she was able to meet you before we all became quarantined. Now we just need to visit Grandma Joyce!
Some other milestones that happened this month are signing you up for daycare at my work. Due to the presence of COVID-19, we don’t actually know when you will start going. Hopefully you’re a bottle champ by then. ;) When we remember (which actually isn’t that often), we’ve started doing some sign language with you. This is more for us to get in the habit of doing it, so that when you’re ready to learn we are consistently showing you those signs. We are working on: mommy, daddy, diaper change, milk, and love. My favorite thing lately is when I walk in the door / room from being gone and your eyes immediately find me. You make me feel so loved, even when your expression doesn’t show it. Ha!
Unfortunately, Coronavirus kind of took over the world and right when we were feeling pretty confident about taking you out and about, we became quarantined to our home. Daddy started working from home and I have been putting in a few hours a week. It is so nice having daddy around to hold you and change more diapers. You love spending time with him!
It has definitely been an adjustment caring for you while also finding time to work and keep up with the household. I have been experiencing “mom guilt” and trying to find a good balance between giving you undivided attention and giving my work undivided attention. We are still working on it and things will again change when I start adding more work hours. You’re such a chill baby as you don’t mind lounging on your Boppy pillow and playing with your play gym.
Before official “quarantine,” we went to the Waterfront to see the pretty blooms. We ran into a few of our friends, but sadly had to keep our distance. Now that we are stuck at home, we try to go on a few neighborhood walks a week.
Despite being stuck in our house during this strange pandemic, we are so thankful that we are stuck there with you. You bring so much joy to the sometimes stormy days. Despite there being challenges, seeing you smile at us, without a care in the world, warms our hearts. We love you so very much and can’t wait to see what the next month brings!
Love,
Mama and Dada
