Cara is 3 months old!

 

I can't believe she's 3 months! Cara is a quarter of a year old. Fastest 3 months of my life, I tell ya.

Stats: We haven't been to the doctor yet (not until next month), but she feels like she's gotten more
sturdy. I'm guessing she weighs somewhere in the 13-lb. mark. She's getting long too!

Milestones: She can hold her head up straight now. She still throws her back around and tries to flop if you're holding her, but she's more solid and stable. She is really close to rolling over--during tummy time (which she hates), she gets her right hip working and sticks out her bum, but she just can't figure out how to drop her arm/shoulder to complete the flip. I'm in no hurry, though. She's close! Cara started laughing this month, and it is just about my favorite thing ever. I picked her up from daycare one afternoon, and as I was getting her strapped into the carseat, I was smiling at her and she just started giggling nonstop. It was like she couldn't figure out how to stop so it almost turned into crying. I wanted to do a happy dance around the room, it warmed my heart so much. It's just so precious to hear her sweet voice and see her so happy. I don't think it will ever get old.

Feeding: Her schedule is pretty good as far as feedings go. I nurse her at 6:30, she takes a bottle at daycare at 9, 12, 3 and sometimes 4:30 unless she's napping. Then I nurse her again around 5:30 and then at 7:30 before bed. She eats 18 oz at daycare if she does all 4 feedings. I'm pumping about 20-25 oz a day, so I'm able to stay ahead of her. The problem is that she nurses for 45-60 minutes at a time sometimes. This has gotten better this week because I think she was in a growth spurt. After lots of advice, I started ending her "feeding" early (at like 30 minutes) and giving her a pacifier right afterwards. That seems to be working nicely. I love our feeding time together, but an hour at a time was getting to be too much.

Behavior: She is such a happy baby! Whenever I pick her up, she just bursts into a giant grin. They tell me that she's just the best baby at daycare. She only cries when she's hungry or tired. One of the ladies told me that she likes to hold Cara when all the other babies are happy or sleeping because she's so snuggly. Good thing she's not spoiled or anything... :) In the mornings when she wakes herself (usually on the weekends), we hear her on the monitor just talking and babbling to herself. She does that for a few minutes before she starts crying, and we just love to listen to her coo and talk. She's really finding her voice a lot more lately. I love that she is happy and good and content. When she's not, she sure does let us know about it, but otherwise, she's just such a sweet girl!

Sleep: Cara is becoming her mother's daughter--she loves to sleep! Her naps have been a little off at daycare in the last week, but I'm guessing it was her trying to readjust after a week off for Thanksgiving. Bedtime is between 7:30-8, and she sleeps until I wake her up at 6:30 during the week. On the weekends, she wakes herself up around 7-7:30. She has been sleeping through the night every single day since 7 weeks. One night at Mom & Dad's during Thanksgiving, she woke up at 4 a.m. and wanted to eat, but that was a fluke. She usually naps in the 9:00 hour, around 12:30 and 3:30-4. At least one of her afternoon naps is usually for an hour or more. The others tend to be for about 45 minutes. This is the one thing I'm most grateful for--that she sleeps well and gives us those 2 hours before we go to bed and sleeps all night for me. She is still in her Nap Nanny mostly. We put her in her crib a few times and the pack-n-play at Mom & Dad's, but I just can't bring myself to commit to the crib. The NN gives her such great nights of sleep, I'm a little scared to mess with it!

Clothes: She is still wearing 0-3 month clothes. Her footie pjs are getting a little tight, so I'm sure we'll make the jump soon. And these awesome swaddlers are getting snug. They only go up to 14 lbs, so we'll either have to switch to a bigger size or a sleep sack or something else. Worried about that a little bit. Cara has tons of winter clothes in 3-6 month sizes, so I'm ready to change up her wardrobe! She has worn a dress that I wore as a baby (in the picture just above this one of us in her nursery before church) and a pair of pjs that Chance wore when he was a newborn. So sweet that we still have these to share with her!

Likes: Being held, talking, eating, going for a ride in her carseat or stroller, staring at lights or fans, being serious :), watching college football with Daddy, napping in a swing, snuggling, taking in the world around her!

Dislikes: being put down when she's still awake and alert, waiting too long to eat or get up, taking a bath sometimes, tummy time

Favorite moments: Like I said earlier, I love listening to her coo and talk and giggle when she first wakes up. It's like she has to get all her words in that she missed while sleeping! And I love love love the sound of her laugh. It's probably my favorite thing ever. It makes my heart feel full when she recognizes me and gets excited to see me again. And she's pretty cuddly, so I have loved snuggling up with her a lot more. She's a little doll baby!

Most challenging: Getting sick this weekend! I had fever, chills, aches, fatigue--it was really bad. Chance was hunting Friday night far away, and I had already put Cara to bed when it hit. I had to call the after-hours line at my doctor's office, and they called in a Rx for me. But I couldn't take Cara. Luckily, one of Cari's sweet friends lives down the street and came to sit with Cara while I went out to get it. Walgreens didn't have the Rx when I got there, and I may have cried in the drive-thru line. I'm guessing that inspired them to look a little harder and faster for me. :) I spent all Saturday in bed once Chance got home (after killing a doe!) and had the worst fever all day and night. I'm hoping it's on its way out, but I had tickets to see the school musical today and a bunch of errands to run, but I just can't. I'm hoping I'm better very soon!

Looking forward to: Christmas! We haven't decorated yet (that was the plan this weekend...), but I'm so excited to get in the holiday spirit. Cara won't really know what's going on this year, but it's going to be so fun to make memories of her first Christmas. I have way too many Christmas outfits and jammies already. It's been fun to shop for presents for our family and decide what to get her (a PBK kid's chair with her name on it--don't tell her!). Thanksgiving was such a wonderful time to spend with her and being grateful for her, so now I'm even more excited for Christmas to come! And we'll get to re-live the memories we have from a few days after last Christmas when we found out we were expecting her! Fun times ahead.