3 Months

Things have been a little crazy around here so I am a little behind on this. Brett took a trip to Japan to visit his brother and his family and was gone for about 8 days. Needless to say, I've been busy and trying not to lose my mind being home alone with the kids (especially a baby that has been battling some apparent bad tummy pains).

I thought Myelle had been getting better but her fussiness is back. I am now suspecting she has a sensitivity to something I am eating. She cries really hard when she is trying to pass gas or poop, still spits up quite a bit (although the quantity and frequency have decreased since she was a newborn), does not sleep long during her daytime naps, has dry skin, has had a runny nose for several weeks, and this last week I noticed she has some eczema on her arms. All of these things can be symptoms of an allergy. The most common allergen is dairy so I am trying to cut back and we will probably try a non-dairy formula for a few days to see if that helps before I cut dairy completely.

Other than that, Myelle is doing great. She coos and "talks" quite a bit and even uses facial expressions like she really is telling us something. She smiles often which helps me forget all the crying. And she has even laughed a couple of times. The first was last Thursday when I had to call my mom for back-up when she was being extra needy the entire day. While I took the dog out, Grandma played patty cake when her and I heard the very end of her laughing when I walked back in the door. Since then she has laughed once for me too. Dada hasn't heard it yet but I keep telling him how adorable it is.

In terms of sleeping, Myelle is pretty inconsistent on her daytime napping but I can't complain about her nighttime sleep. We are working on getting her used to an earlier bedtime (around 9:00 would be great). She was staying up until 11 or 11:30 but I now have her down most nights at 10:00, or 10:30 if she is having tummy troubles before bed. She normally only wakes up once around 4:00 and is then up between 6:00 and 7:00 in the morning. If it's still dark out I can sometimes get her to go back to bed until about 8:30.

Myelle has also gotten some use of the walker and jumper. She really likes to be upright. When we hold her it is usually her facing outward in front of us (with that hand on her tummy!) or on the shoulder where she can look around while we pat her back. She still likes the bouncy seat that vibrates and that combined with an episode of Yo Gabba Gabba can usually calm her down. She will grab at toys on her walker, mostly knocking them down for someone to pick up. Kyler is really good at picking them back up for her. She doesn't do much in the jumper yet but she likes the position she is in while in it so it gives my arms a break once in a while. Sometimes she will play really well lying on her activity mat on her back. She is getting more and more tolerable of tummy time but hasn't been rolling over lately. And her favorite thing is to get undressed on her changing table. The girl loves naked baby time and hates when I put a shirt on her. A warm bath might be her favorite thing. She is definitely relaxed in the tub.

That pretty much sums up Myelle right now. She is still in size 1 diapers but is quickly growing out of clothes. She seems to be a long baby since a lot of her bodysuits are pretty tight when I snap them and her pant legs are constantly riding up on her. She is mostly in 3 month and 3-6 month clothes now. And her eyes are still blue. We aren't sure if they will change or not but we're thinking they might stay blue like her dada's.

I hope that by next month I can report that she is a very happy and content baby (but I think I'm probably dreaming). I have heard that the 4 month mark is magical for crabby babies. Between that and experimenting with my diet I am hopeful!