Dear Brielle: 1, 2, 3 Month Update

With each of my kids, I’ve written them a letter every month for the first year and then yearly after that (sometimes I throw in a random extra one). It basically describes what’s going on with them and how they’re progressing. I have actually used these quite often when I’m trying to reference something. As you can see, third baby has me a little more behind. I’m just gonna start these at 3 months and go from there.

Dear Brielle,

I’m sorry I haven’t written any updates since you were born, but life is CRAZY with 3 kiddos! I have to say though, you are my easiest baby so far and I am thoroughly enjoying you! The first couple of months were difficult as any baby is, but you are such a joy (most days…let’s be honest). The hardest part is having you born during basketball season when your daddy is gone most nights each week. But it’s almost over and I feel like I’m coming out of a fog somewhat (out of the newborn fog).

You are the most beautiful baby and I cannot explain to you how overjoyed I am to have a girl! I picture so many fun times in our future, I just cannot wait. I tell everyone you are icing on the cake. I thought I had it pretty good with your brothers and then I was so blessed to be given you.

I love putting you in pink, putting bows on you (when I remember), and making you smile every chance I get. You currently have those baby blue eyes, but we will see if they stick. Both of your brothers have brown eyes. You daddy (and most everyone in our families) have blue eyes and I have hazel. We’ll see whose eyes you get. You also have little hair and are starting to chunk up. You also take a paci thank goodness!

This was the outline I used for your brothers’ letters, so I’ll continue that and use this info to update each month (or every other) 🙂

Measurements: At birth you were 8 pounds 6 ounces, 21 inches tall. At your 2 week visit you had surpassed your birth weight (I can’t find the paperwork right now). At 2 months your weight was 11 pounds 10 ounces (60%), 23 1/2 inches tall (90%) and 85% head size. At 3 months, I weighed you at home and you weighed about 13 pounds. Next visit is 4 months. You are currently in 3 months or 3-6 month clothing and size 2 diapers.

My favorite thing: Oh my gosh, there is so much. I probably enjoy your smiling and laughing the most. You just started laughing but it’s not a hard laugh yet. And I love that you are a fantastic sleeper (more on that below). You favorite thing to do is take a bath. You are so happy. Therefore, it is by far my favorite time of day.
Daily Activities: Eat, play, sleep basically. You’re only up about an hour in the morning before you go back to sleep for your first nap. We are usually always in the car at some point in the day since Beckham is in school now, so you don’t have a set schedule as much as he did when he was a baby. You love to lay on your back. You have this infant seat and are slowly increasing the amount of time you’ll stay in there. In a nutshell though, your brothers’ activities are your activities. You have a very strict bed time routine (bath at 8:30ish, PJ’s, bottle, and in bed by 9:30 usually, with your noise machine on)…you tend to fall asleep after the bottle and transfer into your bed.

Eating: You eat about every 2-3 hours still. About 4-6 ounces per feeding. First feeding is around 8:00 and your last feeding is around 9:30pm, then we put your down for the night. You eat about 6 times a day. The first 2.5 months you were breastfed and did breast milk in a bottle too. Then my supply was not keeping up with your demand. I noticed it drastically decreased when I got mastitis at 5 weeks, but it never returned and you just kept eating more. I pump A LOT, but it seems to just be getting lower and lower. It is the most frustrating thing and pretty sad if I’m being honest. I’ve never had to do formula really (Maddox had a few bottles towards a year old), but I’ve already had to supplement for you. I’m trying so hard to at least make it to 6 months with mostly breast milk, but my body will not cooperate. You currently take about half breast milk and half formula each day. I’m assuming it’s more stress this time around and just hussle and bussle? I don’t know. Regardless, you took to the formula quickly.

Sleeping: You are awesome. You started sleeping 5 hours pretty quickly after coming home from the hospital. You followed a typical newborn routine of awake for 1-1.5 hours, then sleep an hour or so. And you did this every 2-3 hours. I wish I could remember the details of your sleep pattern as you’ve progressed, but I can only remember right now 🙂 You sleep from 9:30pm – 8:00am (sometimes 8:30). It was 10:30pm for bed, but I’m slowly pushing that back as you get older so you’ll eventually sleep from 7:30pm/8:00pm-7:00ish am….what your brothers do. Your daily naps could be better, but I’ll take the night sleep for now. You’ll nap roughly 45 minutes to 2 hours. Most naps are 45 mintues, which is frustrating, but I’m sure you’ll settle into a better daytime routine soon. You were swaddles up until 2 months or so and then we transitioned you into a sleep suit (you can see pictures of it below).

Special Events:
-First Thanksgiving (11/23/17)