A Few of My Favorite Things...

Time is passing so quickly...it's hard to believe that Preslie is nearly FOUR MONTHS old! I have been trying to write this post forever, it seems, and I seem to get interrupted in some way or another every time I get started. Oh well. So maybe, just maybe, I can pound this out quickly with 'bullets' and just hit the high points.


*PJ is still as cute as ever (duh! ;p) and I still can hardly believe that she's mine!


*At 3 months, she weighed 11lbs, 6oz...a 34oz gain from her weight at 2 months. She has filled out a lot and looks like a completely different baby now. I'm looking forward to seeing how much she weighs at her 4 month appointment.


*We are still BFing and following some nursing sessions with the SNS (if she still seems hungry). At the most, she's taking around 5oz of supplementation (sometimes EBM, sometimes formula, sometimes a mix...depends on what I time to pump or if she leaves me anything to pump). The herbs are obviously (and thankfully) working for us! Yay!!


*P has put herself on a schedule of sorts. She eats about every 3 hours, plays for an hour or more after eating, and then naps (sometimes) til it's time to eat again. She is still not a great napper but that's okay because...



*She has become a better sleeper. Most nights. ;) Usually, she averages 6 or 7 hours, then wakes for a short snack, then sleeps for 2-4 hours more. On a few glorious occasions, she has slept 9-10 hours without waking...which was wonderful once I stopped having a heart attack upon realizing the time and that she was alright. :) I'm looking forward to those kind of nights coming with some regularity.


*She is still incredibly gassy, regardless of what I eat or don't eat, which contributes to that middle of the night wake up. Whenever I pick her up, the first thing that she does is pass gas in one way of the other...several times. Then, while she nurses, she toots up a storm, like the filling of her belly is pushing the air right out of her. It would be kind of cute...if it weren't 4:00 in the morning. :)


*Her reflux is getting better. I hope that we can get her off of the meds sooner rather than later...especially since our insurance has decided that they don't want to cover them anymore and it's about $100 a month. Whoa! I'm fighting them (and kind of winning...more on that later) but at I am looking forward to the day when she doesn't need them at all.


*She is a smiley girl. :D She's generally happy, smiles a lot and loves to laugh. She blows bubbles and 'razzes' and sticks her tongue out to mimic us. She 'talks' to us all the time, too! She's ticklish under her arms and it is a sight to see her respond to that! She already has some favorite toys, which she chews on constantly, and is always delighted to see a familiar face. She, like most little ones, is fascinated with her feet and will spend lots of time trying to grab them. She hasn't quite mastered that yet but it won't be long! She is also still enthralled with lights and ceiling fans and has just noticed the TV and computer monitor and likes them, too.


*On the flip side, she has got a temper to be reckoned with! Of course with me as her Mama, she comes by it honestly. ;p Seriously, she can go from happy to furious in no time at all, especially where nursing is involved. She is the boss and she knows it! When 'let down' doesn't happen quickly enough for her liking during nursing, she will grunt and 'talk' around my breast and hit at it til things get going. It is kind of funny to see now but I hope it won't develop into a bad habit later. She also gets irate if I move her off the breast to burp and she doesn't think she's had 'enough'...even though she'll burp like a champ as soon as I put her to my shoulder. She'll wail and flail and try to climb up my chest like a little monkey 'til I lay her back down to nurse again.


*She loves tummy time and sitting up ANYWHERE...her high chair, on the couch, propped up in the boppy...as long as she can see what's going on. Heaven help us if we lay her down for any length of time...that temper will start showing (unless she's in the bathtub, which she still absolutely loves). :) She wants to be right in the middle of the action and does surprisingly well in crowds. I think she's afraid that she's going to miss something! She has great head, neck and shoulder strength and can hold herself up quite well unless she's getting tired.


*She is trying her best to roll over. One side of me loves this, as of course, I want her to reach this milestone. The other side of me knows that when she rolls over, it will be the beginning of the end of 'infanthood', you know? Then she'll be scooting and rocking and crawling and pulling up and cruising and walking and going to school and graduating from college and getting married....AGH! ;) Seriously, she is hardly ever still when she's awake now, always, squirming and kicking and such, so once she gets the hang of turning herself over, I am gonna be one busy mama.


*Along with not taking a bottle, PJ will also not take a pacifier...which is just fine with her as she has found her hands. She started out sucking on her fists and has now graduated to her finger...the index finger on either hand will do but she does seem partial to the left one most of the time. We call it her 'Happy Finger' because she grins like a fool every time she puts it in her mouth. Me? I'm not quite as happy about the finger sucking but what do you do? She's a baby, so...I guess she's gonna suck her fingers instead of a piece of plastic. The only downside I can see is that when she's older, I can't just take her fingers away like you would a pacifier. Hmmm.

*P already notices us when we eat and will mimic us moving our mouths while chewing. Hmmm. I was hoping to hold out on solids til 6 months but I'm not sure she will make it. She is WAY too interested in what we're doing already! :) I have given her a sippy cup to play with and she loves it. I even put a bit of water in it the other night and she had no problem sucking it right out!! She gets excited when I put it on the high chair tray, so I think food may come sooner rather than later. Guess we'll see what the doctor thinks. I'd rather wait...


*Remember when I told you that I might regret letting P sleep in the swing in this post? Well, I can't say that I really regret it, per se, as it allowed for me to have some much needed sleep at a desperate time. Now we're in the process of moving her out of the swing into the bed or the crib. So far, it's not been the easiest thing I've ever done. I'd have no problem with her co-sleeping with us, but she doesn't seem to like it (and if she smells me, she wants to nurse all night...and will stay AWAKE to do so...and I'm not exaggerating). We're at the beginning stages of the transition, so I'll let you know how it goes.

*The only other 'negative' type of thing that I can think of is that she absolutely does not like to be in her car seat. It's not the seat itself as we've loosened the straps, readjusted all that can be readjusted, provided toys...even tried another brand of car seat. I think she just doesn't want to be confined. She'll do okay for a little while if someone is sitting in the back to entertain her but all in all, she's not a very good rider for any length of time. She will NOT just fall asleep in her car seat while riding, either. If she gets tired, she will fuss and cry and graduate to all out screams, but will not just close her eyes and sleep. It makes for some very stressful times for Mama when we have to go out alone...which, because of that, we don't do very often (and if we do, they are quick trips). I don't see any road trips in our near future. Here's hoping she grows out of that soon or the holidays are gonna be a trial.

*And me and Mike? We're making it! He is slowly learning how to deal with P, though it has been much harder than he anticipated. As an only child, this is a whole new world for him but he is starting to adjust. :) He loves P so much but just doesn't know what to do with her sometimes. He and I hardly have a moment to ourselves alone, much less when we're together. There are no worries that there will be a Preslie, Jr. anytime soon (if you get my drift)! As for me, I'm fat and tired and my hair is falling out. My house is an absolute wreck, we have no clean clothes and I desperately need to grocery shop. None of my clothes fit, I have acne like a teenager and I am growing chin hair like an adolescent male. Sounds like my PCOS symptoms are getting worse. Boo. The dog needs a bath, the lawn needs to be mowed and there are bills to pay. But, I have the cutest little blonde-haired, blue-eyed girl in town to snuggle on, a good man who doesn't care what I look like or if the house is clean and lots of family and friends who love us dearly. All things considered, I think life is pretty good!