3 Months

Dear Sam,

You are three months old today! That may not sound impressive to some, but you've lived one-quarter of your first year of life!

You are growing and growing! When we took Avery to the doctor two weeks ago, we weighed you to see if your medicine needed to be adjusted, and you weighed 11 lbs. 10 oz. with your clothes and diaper on. I'm guessing you weight at least 12 lbs. now. You seem long too, and I feel that your time is running out in some of you 3 month footed pajamas. You are in all 3 month clothing and will probably have to move to 6 month pajamas soon. You wear a size 1 diaper.

You still eat every three hours during the day and are eating 3.5 ounces at a time with oatmeal added. You suck your bottles dry each time, so it may be time to increase them a bit. We switched back to Alimentum formula 2 weeks ago to see how that worked with the Prevacid. We're not sure if it was that combination or something else, but your reflux seems to be much better.

Sleeping is going well. We are moving your bedtime up slowly, and now you have your last bottle between 8:30 and 8:45 p.m. You usually wake up once a night, and those times vary between 2 a.m. and 5 a.m. Once a week or so you'll sleep nine hours. I'm not sure why your night wakings aren't more consistent, but you wake up, get res-waddled, eat, and go right back to sleep. You seem hungry and not just waking out of habit so we'll continue to feed you. You wake between 6 and 7 a.m. regardless of when you ate last. You lay in your bed so quietly though that many times I have no idea how long you've been up. You squirm around and sometimes seem to doze back off, but most of the time I only know you're up after your sister has started serenading us and I peek at you on the monitor. You still need to be swaddled to sleep, but you are breaking out of them terribly, even the Miracle Blanket. We stopped elevating one end of your bed to see if that would help. When the crib is elevated, you often would end up at the other end by morning with your head down and your feet up. I think you and I both need you swaddled a little longer, so let's work on that.

Naps have just started to improve in the last two weeks, and Lolli might win the prize for that. You fight being rocked so much, but I had no idea how else to help you get to sleep. Lolli put you in your Rock and Play with the pacifier and rocked you until you dozed right off. Now that's how we do it each time. You're going to sleep quicker and usually sleeping longer. Hopefully this will help you learn to fall asleep on your own, then the crib for naps will be a breeze. I'm just thankful you're napping better. Some naps are still short, but most are 1-2 hours and sometimes stretch longer. You have no set nap times yet, but you're still ready to nap about an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes after waking. You are trying to catch an early morning and late afternoon nap in the car, but a certain sister makes that tough. I think if you had your own iPhone in the seat with the white noise you'd be set. We'll be home for the summer soon enough and things will be a little more predictable.

Sam, you are a content baby, and some have said more content than your sister. You really love to lie on your back. You wiggle all around and look at the toys above you if you're on your activity mat. You also like to hang out in your bouncer. You smile and talk to us, and your sister loves interacting with you just as much as you love the attention from her. She loves you to pieces and tried very hard not to "squish you like a pancake." Tummy time doesn't seem to bother you, but you roll over so frequently that I'm not sure if tummy time is doing any good other than getting rid of some gas. We often lay back with you on our chest after you have a bottle, and you'll hold your head up for long periods and look all around. The swing is more hit or miss lately but you'll take an evening nap in it if there's white noise. Car rides are so much better and you've done well in restaurants this month.

We aren't sure where these three months have gone, and while we're eager to see what the upcoming months have in store, we wish they'd slow down just a bit. We're excited to spend a summer of fun with you and introduce you to some favorite family traditions. You are a perfect addition to our family and we can't imagine loving you any more.

Love,
Mommy and Daddy