Hellobee

Lil Miss Wagon

I feel like I say this at the beginning of every update (and I probably do): “I can’t believe my baby is already X months old.” This month it’s 3 months. That’s so hard to believe! Time really flies and since Lil Miss Wagon is almost definitely our last child; it’s very strange to know that we’ll never experience that true newborn status again. In my current state of mind, however, I’m not sorry to see it go!

No well baby checkup this month, so no updated stats, but LMW is probably still hanging onto the top of the growth curve because she is just as chubby as ever. She’s transitioning in sizes from 3 months to 6 months. When she’s awake she’s almost always cheerful, cooing and “talking” to us and giving us cute smiles, especially when she has just woken up. She loves tummy time and has almost mastered head control. I can’t wait to break out the exersaucer and Bebepod chair once she’s got it down.

Eating
Since I’m working 3 days a week and neither of us has done very well with breastfeeding, I’ve pretty much become an exclusive pumper. I’ve built up a little stash in our chest freezer, which is a good thing because I’m barely keeping up with how much she is drinking lately. She usually has 4, 5 oz bottles during the day, then a 6.5 oz before bed, and usually between 6 and 10 oz in either one or two night feedings. So that comes out to about 35 oz a day. Lately she’s been having trouble finishing her bottles, getting extremely fussy towards the end even though she’s still hungry. We think she may be teething. Yes, teething at 3 months old… it happened with Wagon Jr. (and apparently myself and my brother, according to my mom), so I’m guessing that the teeth are the reason for her fussiness lately. It’s crazy to deal with a teething baby who is so young, but at least the whole teething thing gets over with a lot sooner than most.

Sleeping

LMW’s sleep has been a little crazy lately. On a good day this will be her schedule:

6:00am – Wake Up
7:30am – 10:30am – First nap (3 hrs)
12:00pm – 1:00pm – Second nap (1 hr)
2:30pm – 3:30pm – Third nap (1 hr)
5:00pm – 5:30pm – Fourth nap (30 min)
6:45pm – Bedtime
1:00am – Night feeding

Lately with her fussiness she will end up taking 3 very short naps and then one crazy long nap in the swing (up to 4.5 hours!), and waking up at 11pm and 3am for 2 night feedings instead of one. We have been trying to go to bed by 10pm (crazy early for us!) to survive on these 3-4 hour chunks of sleep. Usually we’ll get up together, I’ll warm the bottle as Wagon Sr. gets LMW from her crib, and he’ll feed her as I pump. She always falls asleep drinking her night bottles so putting her back down is very easy. As for bedtime, thankfully it has been better recently. We used to have to go back in 3 or 4 times to soothe her back to sleep because she’d wake up after just 30 mins or so. Now we only have to go back in once or twice, and on a great night, not at all.

She’s still swaddled (and is definitely too big for the miracle blankets we struggle to get around her now) and can’t keep a pacifier in her mouth, and she’s starting to chew/suck on her hands/fists whenever she’s out of her swaddle, so we’ll probably be ready to sleep train very soon. I remember quite clearly when Wagon Jr. was this age — just like him, she’s too heavy to rock to sleep for 30 mins at a time, so I’m looking forward to when I can put her down awake! (On the plus side, rocking her to sleep is a great workout. I sweat like crazy and I’m back down to pre-LMW weight.) She takes all her naps in either the Rock n Play or swing, but thankfully now she’ll fall asleep in the seat instead of having to be rocked to sleep in our arms before placing her down. I’m guessing that right around the time we sleep train her, we will transition her to the crib for her naps.

Wagon Jr. 

My little man is now 2 years and 10 months old. I am very happy to say that around 2.5 years, everything slows down a bit — they don’t change as quickly, AND they don’t grow as much, so for the first time I’m reusing clothes from last year! He still fits into his cooler weather clothing from last year, so it’s a strange (and wonderful!) thing to not have to unearth the hand-me-downs and go shopping for the things we don’t have. It’s also nice that we don’t have to worry about coats and things like that in the next size up. His feet, however, continue to grow so we do have to constantly be on the lookout for deals on new sneakers and shoes.

Wagon Jr. continues to be totally obsessed with music and instruments. He also loves imaginative play and is constantly putting on different hats and pretending he’s a captain on a ship, leading a parade, and other things. He is obsessed with everything birthday-related lately, since all of his classmates are turning 3 around this time, so he keeps begging for a birthday party and birthday cake. It’s so fun to pick him up from daycare and hear about what he did at school that day, along with which friends he played with, and whether he pooped in the potty or had an accident. (Lately, thankfully, it’s mostly the former!) He’s also REALLY amazing at puzzles (to my delight) and continues to love building with Legos (to Wagon Sr.’s delight).

Eating continues to be a challenge, especially vegetables, but he eats a good amount of nutritious food every day for his age so I can’t complain. He’s definitely still in his milk phase– he can easily put away a gallon on his own in a week. We try to limit it so that he has room in his tummy for actual food, but secretly I’m thrilled that he loves milk and I hope it will help him to grow nice and tall.

I think I can now safely say that potty training has been a success. He does have a few accidents per week, usually poop accidents, and they’re almost always because he’s too busy playing and forgets to go to the potty (or he remembers but doesn’t quite make it there in time). We’re constantly reminding him to “run to the potty” if he has a poop. But he’s getting really good at telling both us and his teachers when he has to go. Sometimes he’ll exclaim “I have a REAL poopie!” and then goes to the potty and proceeds to take a HUGE dump. I’m talking 4 or 5 logs. He has only ever wet the bed (crib?) once, on night 1 of potty training, and has been able to stay dry every night and nap since. I love his drawer full of tiny underwear and it still perplexes me to pull open the drawer that used to contain his diapers and wipes only to find a few tubes of lotion and some thermometers rattling around in the empty space.

We still deal with tantrums and meltdowns, and time outs have still proven effective both inside and outside of the house. Lately his big challenge has been to be a “big boy” instead of a baby. We’re applying this to his night wakings, reminding him that babies cry, and big boys call for Daddy instead. One morning when he woke up and we got him from his crib, he sat and smiled and said “I no cry. I’m big boy, not baby.” Advancements like these make ME want to cry– happy tears, tears of relief.

That’s it from the Wagon house this month! The Waggin’ Wagons say goodbye!