Catching up: Kaelynn's first 3 months of life

I want to capture every tiny detail of Kaelynn's early weeks and months of life as it goes by much too quickly. I starting jotting down details of her life, things I knew I may forget, but just never got around to posting it until now. Kaelynn will be 4 months old (how did that happen?) in a few days so I figured I'd better get moving.

The first few weeks:

By the time you were one month of age, you were already giving me big smiles and cooing a lot. I know it seems a bit early but your first smile was around 1-2 weeks of age. You give me little smiles daily which makes my heart so, so happy. At about 3 1/2 weeks of age you discovered your tiny little hands. I think we are going to have a thumb sucker but only time will tell.

You are not that fond of sleep and prefer cat naps during the day. After you were born, you had your days and nights mixed up which doesn't surprise me in the least because during my pregnancy, you were always very active starting around 10 pm at night. I remember when I would get up every hour or so to use the bathroom in the middle of the night, you'd be active and moving a lot as I was going back to sleep. You are starting to sleep a little better at night but it's always a challenge to get you to sleep. At night you sleep best next to me which I find very sweet but I also wish you'd sleep in the co-sleeper. You prefer constant motion to help soothe you as well as white noise, either from running the vacuum cleaner, which on occasion I have turned on at 3:30 in the morning (knocks you out almost every time) or the heartbeat app on my iPhone. The Ergo and Moby Wrap also seem to work wonders. But then again, there

is no doubt about it that there are times when you want to be left alone to sit in your Mamaroo or bouncy seat to observe the world around you. At barely one month of age, I can already tell that you are going to have a feisty little personality and you definitely let me know what you want or don't want.
Your big brothers are doing well adapting to having a baby sister in the house now. I find that it is much harder on me though as I struggle to divide my attention among the 3 of you. Bedtime is the hardest since it has become a bit difficult to manage the bedtime routine of bath, pj's, stories,  prayer time, songs and snuggles while trying to nurse and soothe a fussy baby. I know this time will pass so quickly and that before I know it, we will be back to our normal routine, but it still remains a challenge for me because I thrive on routine.

~Ethan meeting Kaeylnn for the 1st time~

~Preston meeting Kaelynn for the 1st time~

2 months:

The day before you turned 2 months of age you surprised us and rolled over from tummy to back. You are very close to lifting and holding your head at a 90 degree angle. You love standing up, are very strong and can bear weight on your legs for longer than expected for your age. You amaze me! You are more alert than ever and give the biggest smiles that bring me so much joy! You still aren't a fan of taking naps and I'm lucky if you nap for 45 minutes at a time. I guess it's not so bad considering that you are starting to sleep for longer stretches

at night. You slept for 7 hours on one occasion (I slept for 6 and felt glorious the next day) but you are averaging around 5-6 hours at night. You will wake up to nurse and then sleep for another few hours. You still sleep best during the day when I have you in the Ergo.

You love taking baths, long, long baths and object when your bath time ends. I have also found that the sound of running water soothes you. When I give your brothers their baths, I will often have you in bathroom just to listen to the sound of the water.

You still prefer to be part of the action and love hanging out with your crazy big brothers!! You love watching them play. Maybe that's the reason you don't nap? You don't want to miss anything. Definitely the extrovert of the family!

You are cooing a lot more and squealing in delight when I talk to you. You give me amazing eye contact and I've heard you make sounds such as "a-goo." You are very active and love observing the world around you. You love going for walks in the stroller and I love to watch how you take everything in. It's so bittersweet to see how much you are changing and growing. I'm trying to soak it all in...

3 months:
This month went by entirely way too quickly. As I sit here writing this, you are 9 days away from turning 4 months. You went through a major growth spurt at around 3 1/2 months that lasted for about a week. You started waking up every 2-3 hours at night to nurse!!

Your smiles are getting bigger by the second and I love how you greet with me biggest smile when you wake up from your naps! You are starting to squeal with delight, too. You love when I talk to you about whatever and will communicate back with smiles and squeals. So fun!! You are turning out to be a pretty happy baby. In the beginning, you had me worried that you were going to be a big crank, which you were for about your first month of life, but thankfully you have proved me wrong.

You are close to rolling over from back to front. You are reaching and grasping for objects now and are starting to bring objects to your mouth. You can lift you head to a 90 degree angle. You love spending time on your playgym/mat. You are tracking well too and I love how you will follow me as I move about the room or turn when you hear my voice.

Your brothers are doing amazingly well with you. They are both so helpful and will bring me diapers, wipes and pacifiers when I need them. While both of your big brothers are very loving, Ethan is a little more protective and gentle with you than Preston. You are definitely mesmerized by your brothers. They are great at keeping you entertained for short periods of time, too. The nighttime routine with brothers has pretty much returned back to normal...yay!

You are still sleeping in your Mamaroo during naps and at night. I want to transition you to your crib soon. You are starting to nap for longer stretches during the day, too.

I am having so much fun with you. I am so thankful that you are a healthy and happy baby!