Through the Eyes of Linz: Kaitlyn's Third Month

8 weeks was a huge turning point for us because we discovered: the swing. The glorious swing in which she will nap for hours. Hours! It's amazing how much easier the day is when I can actually take a nap with her and get a break. I actually discovered it on accident. It was a day my sister couldn't come and I was on my own. Usually, Kaitlyn would let me lay her on a play mat or in a bouncy chair for 5 - 10 minutes at a time (so I can get dressed, shower, go to the bathroom, etc). On this particular day, she was having none of it. No matter where I put her, she was crying. I finally had to go to the bathroom, so I strapped her in the swing. Within a minute, she had stopped crying. After two minutes, her eyes were closed. And she slept for two hours. You have to understand that she had never napped outside of someone's arms for more than half an hour. Ever. (Except a night) So this was huge!

I'm trying to wean her off the swing by slowly decreasing the intensity and will hopefully have her napping in her crib soon. So far, she wants nothing to do with that.

This month she has continued to interact with us more and more. She smiles and will lay on the bed and "talk" to you, especially in the mornings. She is starting to learn people, I think, and will calm down better for those she knows. She doesn't cry nearly as often, although sometimes she is fussy (but not the hours and hours of screaming).

At her 8 week appointment, she had fallen off her weight gaining curve she was starting to establish. The doctor has us offering her formula after every feeding, whether she acts hungry or not. This means a lot of wasted formula because she doesn't always want it (which is good because it means she got enough breast milk from me, bad because formula is expensive).

Halloween was in this month (she was just over 8 weeks). We went to my parents' so they could see her, then down to Stockton to Stephen's dad's church's carnival (his dad is the children's pastor and runs this huge event). She did great that night, I think there were enough lights and interesting things to look at. She only cried a little. Stephen and I went as Alaskan explorers/tourists and she was our polar bear. I had planned on being farmers and had a little pig costume (with a cute little curly tail in the back) that I got before she was born. But it was 3 - 6 month sized and she is barely fitting into 0 - 3 month, so that outfit was out. The polar bear is actually just an outfit, but it worked as a costume as well.

During the day

Our polar bear was "roaring"

The next day we went up to Tahoe with my family. This was our first trip with Kaitlyn, so it was nice to have lots of extra hands. She had a hard time going to sleep the first night, but she slept her two longest nights in a row while we were there. I guess we wore her out!

Nursing break at Apple Hill on the way up. Feels like I have that cover on a lot.

Family picture at Apple Hill

Happy girl

We all "fit" in our car. Megan's not happy about the lack of escape route in the back seat.

Eating the breakfast Megan and Evan prepared

At the lake

She seemed unimpressed by Tahoe's beauty. We'll work on her.

The newlyweds

Another family picture attempt...crying baby again. Kind of looks like she's smiling with her eyes closed, though. I'll take it.

My parents

Everybody

Kaitlyn also discovered that her hands are pretty tasty, particularly her left hand. Maybe she'll be a lefty? She's started to bat at her dangling toys, but still hates tummy time. She'll do it if it's on someone, but if you try to lay her on her blanket on her tummy (even with me down face to face with her, jangling toys, singing, everything I can do), she will last about 30 seconds and then scream. But she can hold her head up if you sit her up, lay her on your tummy, or hold her with her neck above your shoulder. I know tummy time is important, so we still try it, but it doesn't happen as often as it should.

The above was written about two weeks into the third month. Then all the good napping fell apart and then even her longer night stretches stopped. Hence why I never finished this blog. When she was taking longer naps twice a day, I would sleep during her first nap and then felt good enough to do other things (like blog) during the second nap. Now I try to sleep whenever she does because it doesn't happen very often.

Here's some pictures from the rest of the month.