AJ Three Month Update

We’ve reached three months. The fourth trimester is over and a quarter of your first year of life has passed. It doesn’t feel that long ago that AJ was still a newborn but you’ve done so many amazing things thing since then that I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Family Life

Well it finally happened, we moved. I have been talking about it for a while but it finally came and we made the move from Sydney to just past the New South Wales and Victorian border. Everything was amazingly smooth. AJ and I headed out to my parents place after spending three days packing up what we needed to before the movers arrived. 

Spending the week and a bit with my parents on the farm was amazing. I always love for home because where they love is such a beautiful place and not as isolated as we were then I was a teenager. It’s also going to be amazing when AJ is moving around as there is so much space.

My Dad and brothers were so excited that we were out. Dad has fully embraced the role of “Poppy” and proudly shows anyone who asks photos. My brother, J, already taking being an Uncle in his stride, dubbing himself the “funkcle” while my other brother, B, finally got to meet his niece. 

Finally being so close to family, for the first time in 10 years is so nice. We were able to stay at my parents due to the move but the restrictions due to COVID-19 are still strict where we currently are. Mum and Dad are already planning a trip down once the restrictions have been lifted however.

Feeding

Last month we were having some issues with a recent change in formula, this month we have discovered a little piggy.

The change to Novalac Reflux Formula was such a good one for us I can’t believe that we didn’t do it sooner. She’s gone from drinking 150ml and then purging a good 2/3 of it to drinking 140ml and having spit ups. It’s been such an amazing change that we’ve seen her getting chunky around her thighs and in some other areas - something I was not expecting to see happen to her.

She’s eating every 3 hours during the day and it’s so nice to see her thriving and not having to worry as much about whether laying her down was going to cause her to lose her last feed.

I have noticed that if she is sitting on me while I’m having something to eat that she is watching me, which is a sign of interest in food. However, until AJ hits all her readiness markers, we’re not looking to start solids for a while. Ideally, it’s not going to be until she’s about 6 months so we can make sure she’s nice and steady in her sitting and not a bobblehead.

Sleeping

I’m pretty sure this girl is my trick baby because at night she is an absolute dream sleeper. Day sleeps need some work but night time is amazing.

During the day she likes to catnap. Sleeping anywhere from 40 minutes to an hour and a half - and that is only if she is on me or her Dad. She will not sleep longer than 40 minutes off us. As the month has progressed it’s gotten to the point where she will just fight sleep and even on us she’ll only sleep for 40 minutes. It makes for one very tired baby. The thing is that I know that this has got a lot to do with her having developmental leaps and growth spurts all one after the other and honest as long as she keeps sleeping how she’s sleeping at night I’m ok with the day sleeps. Mama likes the night sleep!

At night we're averaging a good long span of sleep and then a couple of wake-ups. Normally she's down by 8pm and we'll hear her about 12am, 3am and then 6am. However since we introduced a dream feed at 11pm, she's been sleeping until 2am and then waking up again at 5am. We've had a few lucky 3am and 6am wake-ups as well. Overall I'm very happy with her nighttime sleep as I'm getting more sleep and she seems to be getting quality sleep as well.

We are, however, working on the day sleeps right now so that she does start sleeping in her bed more often. Ideally, I would love her to be sleeping in her cot for her day sleeps before we fully transition into it.

Development

This month has been filled with a lot of different developments in AJ's learning. We've really seen her come to life and her cheeky little personality has started to come out and after she was done with her second developmental leap she made that transition from infant to baby.

She smiles at many people now but we're started to see a lot of very serious looks as she starts to be introduced to people. If she hears something that interests her she turns her head to look at it and she has discovered her hands and arms. With that has come a lot of grabbing of things, so the introduction of her play gym has been her get a lot of enjoyment out of the things that we currently rotate on it. She still hates tummy time but she's getting stronger and holding her head up for longer.

She's loves being around people and will happily lay there and have "conversations" with anyone who is willing to talk to her. She spent hours talking to my brother J and his friend while I was helping Mum one morning and it was beautiful to see her interacting with someone who wasn't me or her father.

While she does grab things on her play gym, she hasn't started to make the conscious move to reach for things that are held out to her but that will come in time and with more options for things to grab. We're also starting to see the beginning of her being interested in food as she will watch you if she's sitting with you and you're eating.

There are a bunch of other things that have happened this month, but to list them all would require a longer post. 

Mum and Dad

This month has been busy for me and T. A lot of it was organising for the move and things like that but when it comes to AJ we're very much on the same page with a lot of things. T is starting to learn a lot more about baby development, which I love, and it means that when I talk to him about things AJ is doing he's starting to understand a lot more.

Ultimately there wasn't a lot that I can report here.

What’s Coming Up

This coming month is going to be filled with a lot of settling. Now that AJ is out of the fourth trimester we're going to be looking at getting her into a routine and working on getting her sleeping in her own bed, or anywhere that isn't on me or her Dad. We've also got a couple of big developmental leaps coming, a new growth spurt, and her four-month vaccinations.