Month {3}

This month has been bittersweet for me. Bitter because I went back to work on December 9th and sweet because my baby girl turned 3 months on December 17th. The transition back to work wasn't as hard as I thought it would be - mostly because she has been with my mom for the past 2 weeks. There was definitely no shortage of Grandma lovin' - my mom took great care of her.

She'll do half days on January 2nd and 3rd and will officially start daycare full-time on the 6th. Still on the fence about daycare. I hear the first week is the hardest but, after that, we'll settle into a routine. That's what I'm looking forward to at this point.

Anyway, enough about daycare. Before I share milestones and pics from the past month, I have to tell you about our bottle feeding dilemma. While I was on maternity leave, I had become really lazy about pumping and bottle feeding. Nursing her was just easier. So about 3 weeks before I went back to work, I realized I needed to start pumping and storing....and getting a bottle routine down. Well baby girl wasn't having it. Initially, I thought she was refusing the formula (I occasionally supplement), so we put expressed milk in a bottle and she still refused the bottle. She would literally scream until I gave her what she wanted...the boob. I did what most mothers do in a pinch...take to the internet. I went to babycenter.com and read about a mother who was preparing to go back to work so she was trying to get her baby to take a bottle and he went a whole 15 hours without eating...15 HOURS! I went into panic mode...the thought of my girl being that stubborn and not eating for that many hours scared the crap out of me. It made the thought of going back to work that much harder. So I reached out to my pediatrician and she reminded me that I'm the parent, this was basically a battle of the wills, and I just needed to keep working with her. I started out giving her a bottle once a day and increased it to 2 then 3 bottles...and about a week later our bottle feeding boycott was over. And with a week to spare before I had to be back at work. THANK GOD.

Milestones

12.8 pounds

Still wearing 3 month clothes

Size 2 diapers

Eating every 2-3 hours

Sleeping well...6-8 hours a night followed by a long morning nap

Seems to recognize mommy and daddy and gets excited when we enter the room

When on her back, she waves those arms and kicks those little legs like no other

Holding her head up well

Brings her little hands together and opens and closes her fingers

Loves her playmat and is trying to grab at the little toys on it

Rolled over for my mom last week - she hasn't rolled over for us yet

Still quite the little chatter box - always cooing

Squints when she enters a bright room (random but it's kinda cute)

So smiley and happy...trying to get her first giggles out

And to celebrate her turning 3 months, my mom and I took her to get her ears pierced! Like the bottle feeding, it was a slightly dramatic experience. She doesn't like to be "handled" so holding her head still and having a needle stuck through her little ear lobes didn't make her very happy. Thankfully the screaming only lasted for a couple minutes. I couldn't imagine her being any cuter than she already is but the earrings make her doubly cute! 

I really couldn't ask for a sweeter baby. I love her so much!