Walter-3 Months

Weight: He is 12 pounds! I feel he is gotten big this last week.

Health: He is still throwing up a lot, however we did get him some acid reflux medicine. While it has not stopped his spit up, it has dramatically changed the consistency of it. A lot less cottage cheese vomit happening over here. He seems much happier this month two. Last month he just always seemed upset so hopefully we settled his tummy troubles!

Diet: I feel like this month we finally hit our stride with breastfeeding, which may be a big reason why it feels like he is gaining weight more steadily. I did drop all of my pumping sessions since I am back at work. I didn’t want to try to have to finagle those additional sessions especially since we are not giving him an extra bottle between his feedings anymore. Right now I am straight nursing him since I am working from home, which is such a blessing. Dropping the pumping has really helped with my mentality since I am not doing something every 2 hours now nor am I having to wash pump parts which is huge. As long as I can keep my supply up, we will continue this way on the days I am working from home. I have enough in stock to get us through a supply dip for awhile. Walt feeds 7 or 8 times a day, and on average it adds up to 3 hours of nursing. He is going about 2-3 hours between feedings. My app says that we have had 219 feedings over this last month, and spent 3.5 days feeding him.

Clothes: We did just size up to 0-3 month clothes. It was a bittersweet moment realizing it was the last time I would use those newborn clothes for my own kids. He is also in size 1 diapers.

Sleeping: He is fairly good in this department. He sleeps about 6 hours each night, so that has been a glorious transition. Naps during the day are hit or miss. He does some in his crib and some while someone is holding him. We really need to work on getting him totally in naps in his crib. He is still sleeping in a pack and play in our room overnight. Until we get this spit up thing completely under control, I don’t feel comfortable just yet having him by himself in his room overnight. On the plus side, I can usually just put him down while he is awake, and he will put himself to sleep within 10 minutes. He just lays there and grunts and wiggles himself to sleep without any fuss.

Likes: He loves being held, and his favorite place is upright on our shoulder with his ear next to mine. I think he loves being close to us and being able to watch around over our shoulder. He loves the 8pm hour. He is always so talkative and smiley during this time. One of our TVs always turns on to a static channel, and he loves it.

Dislikes: He hates baths and getting lotion on. We keep trying to make a pacy work for him, but I think he could do without. We never are successful getting him to use it to go to sleep so I guess that is a good thing down the road. Honestly there isn’t much that riles him up. His temperament has been really chill this month.

Nicknames: Walt, Wally, Wally Bear, Butters, Sweet Bean, and Stinkerdoodle. Daphne still has her own names that all include Baby in the title: Waltie baby, Cutie baby, Sweetie baby, Baby guy, and Baby Walter.

Milestones: He holds his neck up so well. His smiles are so big, and I feel like we are just on the verge of laughs. He has been cooing, but not perfectly repeating us just yet. He rolls to his side, but not quite all the way over yet.

Quirks: When he does tummy time, he kicks his legs so hard like he is trying to crawl already. He has almost hurled himself over the boppy pillow with his legs pushing off the floor. He has lost most of his hair on the top of his head. It’s all little peach fuzz now, but he has a nice ring of thicker hair at the base of his neck.

We parents are: doing much better this month. Month two was extremely taxing, and this month has been a breeze in comparison. I really have a love/hate relationship with breastfeeding, and a lot of the animosity does come from pumping. So removing that this last month has been so healthy for me. I have been working half time at work this month, and the transition back has been fairly smooth. I highly recommend any mom try to swing returning from maternity leave a couple weeks as part time, and even better if you can do it from home. This upcoming week is my last week at half time, so the next month potentially could be a doozy. I started working out a lot more this month, and I think that has also helped clear the fog that comes with newborn days. Tom and I also have been trying to be more intentional about having a meal together with just the two of us.

Big kids are: doing pretty good considering this was a cold month with very little time outside. George is really excelling at school, and I love hearing how he is creating relationships there. Daphne has had a difficult month. She has had some pretty severe tantrums that will last 30-45 minutes. And the girl is so stubborn; there is often no reasoning with her and we just have to wait until she is tired for it to wear off. We know it has a lot to do with wanting attention, and it is not lost on me that these awful tantrums have coincided with me going back to work. We just need to make sure we are giving her just Daph time. Being a middle child and big sister is hard stuff! As far as the bigs with Walter, they are still so good with him. George tries to soothe him by caressing his head. Most of the time, George does his own thing away from the baby. Daphne, however, always wants to be with him. She wants to hold him, snuggle him, sing to him, read to him, be on him…you get the picture. She is just the best big sister.

The dogs are: just enjoying their doggy lives. Crosby does like to follow Walter around. He is often at my feet when I am feeding him. Grace doesn’t give two hoots about him.