Personality: Nora is still a happy, pleasant baby. She loves, loves, loves to smile. At everyone! When we pick Joseph up at school every afternoon she usually just sits there and smiles at every single person who walks by. They all adore her. She will now let you know if she is unhappy, but it doesn’t usually last too long. She also laughs now which is so adorable—definitely one of my favorite milestones! It started as a little back of the throat extended “ehhhh” sound that is clearly her attempt at a laugh. Then midway through the month she added some real giggles! Usually they occur if you smile and laugh at her.
Also, as in the above pictures she is getting pretty attached to her giraffe and often falls asleep while cuddling it.
Physical: Yep. Another huge child. She is very, very chunky and has folds everywhere. She seems to get bigger everyday. She is probably about 15 pounds or so. I’m a little sensitive about this as the first thing EVERYONE comments on is her size—same exact thing that happened with Joseph.
Still hardly any hair and still grey/blue eyes, but they might have brown in them? Her belly button seems to have finally healed. Her skin is still a mess—eczema, rashes if her skin touches any material it doesn’t like, some cradle cap, and redness in all her numerous folds and very irritated under her chin where moisture from her constant drooling get trapped. Joseph always had skin issues so I haven’t worried about it too much. I tried going diary free for two weeks and saw no difference. Nora’s dr. however thinks it is bad enough that she is referring us for allergy testing in Burlington so I will probably give that a try and see how it goes (though I am not looking forward to having her blood drawn).
She continues to seem quite strong for her age. Her size and strength combine to make everyone think she is much older then she is (same as Joseph!). She can hold her head up during tummy time quite well if she wants to. Usually she just rolls over though. She is just starting to grab and kind of play with toys. Joseph was actually the first to see her reach for toys—on her play mat that she loves from “auntie” Jenn!
Eating habits: Still nursing almost every two hours a day, then about a 5 hour stretch at night, then back to every two hours. It really would be encouraging if she would start stretching out the time between eatings, but I don’t see any sign of that happening. Towards the beginning of this month I tried extending the time between feedings which worked fine during the day, but then she started waking more at night! So I went right back to about every two hours during the day because I would much prefer that.
She is also still an amazingly efficient nurser—just a minute or two is almost all she ever eats. I pumped once and got two bottles in no time (clearly that is another reason why she doesn’t have to nurse for long). She did not love the bottles though…I was finally able to persuade her to drink them but had to nurse first to calm her down. I haven’t tried again, and really should. I do feel that I waited to long on the bottles and am skeptical that she will ever take them. It is not necessary since I am not working right now, but it would be nice to know that this is an option (say, so mom could get a little break?). I am going to work one day next week at the library but am bringing her with me.
I am also getting A LOT of advice to start solids soon—since she is huge, interested, and trending towards waking more at night. My dr. even said that Nora seems ready, but she recommended I wait until after the allergy testing.
Sleep: Usually still pretty good, but not as consistent. The beginning of the month she woke a bit more, but then that settled down. Then she got a cold which seemed to cause more wakings. then that settled down again (2 wakings a night is good for us!). Now—we are actually a week and half past 3 months—it all seems to have gone to crap….hopefully it will settle down though. I NEED MY SLEEP and for some reason I am not very good at taking naps any more (something I did a lot when Joseph was a baby).
Nicknames: Bunky baby, Noni, Noranator, Baby, Zibby, Norabelle, Stinkerbelle
Mom stuff: Ughh. Right now I am feeling a bit stressed. A lot of it has to due with stuff totally unrelated to baby and it pisses me off that I have to deal with annoying crap when I just want to play with my kiddos and enjoy them! Honestly, even before a big issue came up last week I could tell my stress was building. Probably it is partly just too much going on and partly hormones/post-partum anxiety or something. Not too fun. I can also now see that all of our changes are really effecting Joseph—which was of course very expected, but still makes me a bit sad and worried. He’s always been very sensitive but I can see that he is not dealing with his emotions as well as he might right now. He is still amazing with his sister which is a blessing. I am pretty sure I had some mild post-partum depression with Joseph so it is not surprising that this is an issue this time around. Admitting it to myself a couple weeks ago actually seemed to help a bit and I am making every effort to prioritize and ask for help.
Thanks for reading. I write these for many reasons: to preserve the memories, to note the good and the bad, to share with others and even to maybe get advice—so feel free to share!
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