Nora: 3 Months

Weight/Length: 5.6 kg and 59.5 cm; 12 lbs 5 oz and 23.4 inches

Medical Issues: During the first part of our trip home, Nora had her first cold. We ended up going to the doctor in Norman.  I was hopeful it was just a normal cold that would pass on it’s own, but it started with a scary sounding cough, and we (Newbies) just wanted the reassurance that it wasn’t something more serious. It was obvious that she really didn’t feel good for about a day or two, but after that it was just a super snotty nose. We did our best to keep it clear with saline and the nose Frieda, but she sure hates that thing! It seems to have finally all cleared up, and I’m crossing my fingers we didn’t pick up some other yucky germs on the plane ride back.

At her 3 month appointment yesterday, she got her first round of vaccines. Luckily, they combine several of them, so she only got 2 shots. I was able to hold her while they poked her, and she cried so loud but stopped pretty quickly. Then she was asleep before we even left the doctors office and took a nice little snooze all the way home. She took it like a champ, and it definitely wasn’t as bad as I anticipated.

We are so thankful to have such a healthy baby girl.

Sleep: She’s such a good sleeper! Even moving across time zones didn’t phase her, and she pretty much slept through the night the whole time that we were home (usually waking once for a quick snack and then straight back to sleep.) Since she was sleeping so well over our vacation, I was worried that she’d be up all night once we switched time zones on her again, but so far so good. For the last 3-4 days now, she’s been going down for the night around 11 pm and sleeping until 11 am the next morning waking just once or twice to eat and going straight back down. 12 whole hours of consolidated sleep! When we returned to Spain, we started using white noise while she sleeps, and it seems to have made a huge difference. I think it just blocks out most of the noises that we make around the apartment as well as the neighbor’s noises that you can sometimes hear in her room. Since being back, we’ve only had one night where we’ve spent hours going in and out to calm her and help her fall back asleep (knock on wood), and that was before we got wise to the white noise.

The late bedtime is actually working quite well with our normal schedule right now because if she were to go down much earlier, Luke might not even see her some nights. This way he’s here to help with bedtime, and I have a couple hours to myself in the mornings to get things done. It also allows us to go out for a bit in the evening for a drink or a couple of tapas, and still get home in time to put her to bed like normal. Also, if the later bedtime sticks around, it will make the move back West less traumatic come April. (Now that I’ve written all this; it will change tomorrow. )

Clothes: 3 month clothes are fitting her best. We got so many cute 6 month outfits that I can’t wait for her to wear, but I don’t want her to be that big yet either! I just started packing away the newborn clothes yesterday and definitely felt a little sentimental about it.

Diet: She’s still breastfeeding and all is going well. She’s eating 5-6 times per day and going about 4 hours between daytime feeds. We’re still working on taking a bottle, but she’s super finicky about it. There really seems to be no rhyme or reason to when she’ll take it versus refuse it. We have a bottle that I know she’ll take so the nipple isn’t the problem. I’ve tried different times of day, different temperatures, freshly expressed milk versus frozen. She’ll take it super easily one time, and the very next scream like crazy when I do everything the same as it was before. I guess she just knows what she wants. I’m going to keep trying the bottle just because I’d like her to be adaptable like that, but now that she’s going so long between eating and I can usually predict right when she’ll want to eat, I can still leave her for a bit when needed.

Baby Gear Love: During month 3, we didn’t use much baby gear since we were traveling, but she did love the swing that my mom has at her house. She’ll also sit in the Bumbo for a bit and watch a whole Baby Einstein video every now and then if I need 20 minutes to get something done. She still loves her play mat. Sometimes she lays on there and kicks like a little Ninja baby, and other times she’s much more thoughtful about it, and you can tell by looking at her face that she’s starting to figure out that she has control of her hands and feet. While we were home, she spent a lot of time in her car seat. For the most part, she did okay in it. On our long road trips, she’d always fall asleep though sometimes it took some crying to get there. Now that we’re back in Spain, she’s been in the stroller quite a bit, and she seems to love it. Although Bugaboo recommends to use the bassinet until 6 months old, we’ve already switched to the seat. There’s no way she’d lay in that bassinet now. Even in the seat when it’s sitting up, she still tries her best to lean forward and look all around. When she’s ready to sleep, I recline the seat to the flat position and put on her blinders (aka the sun canopy) to help block out the stimulation. Sometimes it also helps to put a blanket over the top so that she really can’t see out, and it also blocks the chilly wind.

Milestones: She’s so fun right now! She smiles all the time, and it melts my heart every time. A smile takes over her whole little body, and she’ll usually kick or squeal in excitement. She’s also talking so much and has even started to say “ah-goo” or something similar where she’s trying to put two sounds together. I think she’s working on rolling over but seems to be more interested in learning to sit up. She is so strong, and when lying flat on her back, she works so hard to pull herself into a sitting position. She can lift her head and shoulder blades off the ground all by herself; it’s crazy (and getting more difficult to change her diaper since she’s trying to pull herself up the whole time!) I think she’ll be sitting by herself sooner than later. Also, this week we’ve been working on reaching, grasping and holding on to things. Sophie the Giraffe is just the perfect size for this!

I caught her trying to pull herself up. She can lift her head and shoulder blades off the ground! I think the planks I did during pregnancy transferred to the baby. She has incredible core strength!

Likes: Mirrors, books, warm baths, white noise, bouncing on the exercise ball, swaying, dancing or movement of any kind, being serenaded by Dad and his guitar, sucking on her hand, silly faces and noises, seeing new things, sitting or standing up so that she can see everything around her!

Dislikes: Getting too tired, lotion after bath time, bottles, pacifiers, having her nose cleaned out with the NoseFrida, laying flat on her back for too long when she’s awake

Nicknames: Chicky is still my favorite. I’ve also been calling her Nori a lot lately, and though I think of Kim K and Kanye’s baby every time, I kinda like it. We still say The Niña, Neeny, and a few others some, but not as much as we did in the past.

Mama’s Thoughts: I’ll probably say this from here on out, but Month 3 has been the best so far. Nora is getting so much more interactive and responsive, and her little personality is starting to shine through. And I’m gaining more and more confidence as a Mom, though I still need to work on relaxing a bit. Month 3 was also the best because we spent the majority of it surrounded by family and friends in Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. She did great on both plane rides, and even though we really had no type of schedule or order while we were home, she was pretty adaptable and happy most of the time.

I think being a Mom changes the way you feel things. Just recently I’ve heard several heartbreaking stories about families who are dealing with severe illness or losing loved ones way too soon, and my heart has never felt so heavy. It also definitely brings you down a notch or two and puts things in perspective. Whatever little challenges we may be dealing with, we have been so blessed with our health and a healthy baby (and pregnancy) and try to give thanks for those things (and so much more) every single day.

I love my little family so very much! 2014 is our first year as 3! How great it will be!