My happy little boy is getting so big!
Z at 3 Months
Z is so sweet and fun. He loves to be held, sit and stand (with assistance), and coo, babble, and giggle. His hands are busy, and he is a smiley little thing.
He is very alert, and loves to look around. He likes to look at your mouth when you’re eating or talking, anything outside, ceiling fans, moving swings, high-contrast images, and faces in general. His favorite thing to look at might be C. He always seems fascinated by her, even when she’s inflicting sisterly torment on him.
He’s great at tummy time and sometimes rolls onto his back from there. He often seems surprised, though, so it might not be wholly intentional just yet. And though he’s about halfway to rolling from his tummy to his back, he seems much more interested in trying to get his legs up under him and crawl. We might have two very-active little ones on our hands.
Z kind of hates being in the car most of the time. I’d have told you it was 50-50 a month ago, but he’s probably mad about 75% of the time in the car now.
Much like his sister, he’s long and pretty lean. His 3-month clothes have plenty of room around the middle, but he’s already outgrown some of his 3-month sleepers because he’s so long.
And very unlike his sister, he’s started being a little picky about taking a bottle. Jack had mentioned that a few times when I’ve been out with C, but Z likes to give his dad a hard time. He used to take a bottle of pumped milk for me most nights as a supplement to nursing. When he stopped needing the extra calories, we got out of the habit. Last week, my mom tried to give him a bottle and he gummed at it till I came back, at which time he nursed like he was starving. So, we’re working on that.
I’ve found he takes a bottle pretty well if I give it to him in the baby carrier. Which is actually really convenient when we’re out and about with C, but it would be nice if he wanted to just let someone sit on the couch and feed him.
Sleep
I can’t complain about Z’s overnight sleep (though I absolutely do on rare bad nights). Most nights, he’s asleep between 6:45 and 7:30 and he might wake up once or twice in the first hour after that. But then he generally sleeps till somewhere between 3 and 4. I nurse him and he either goes back down very easily or doesn’t, so I let him sleep on me for a little bit. And then he’s usually up for the day between 6:30 and 8. I’m inclined to say he wakes up happy because a few times I’ve come into our room when he’s awake and smiling but silent. However, I usually experience his waking as a little bit angry because that’s how he alerts us to his wakefulness. He smiles as soon as I start unwrapping his swaddles and he gets to do his big, dramatic stretch.
Naps are a little trickier, and I can’t say if that’s because of him or his sister. He usually takes one or two naps in the bassinet a day, and often one of those is 2 hours. However, as Jack is getting back to work, it’s becoming harder for me to find 10 or 20 quiet minutes to put Z down. So, he’s been taking a lot of 45-minute naps in the baby carrier while we’re outside or out and about with C. He’s a lot less likely to just fall asleep on me on the couch than he used to be. And I am less likely to have the time to just sit on the couch while he sleeps on me. We’re adjusting, but he’s handling it well.
I will start trying to put him in the crib more often for naps when I can set him down just to familiarize him with the nursery. I’m not in a huge hurry to move him to the nursery, but I’ll want the option by the time Daylight Savings Time starts since we don’t have blackout shades in our room.
Schedule
Our days go kind of similarly, but I’m not sure I’d say Z has much of a schedule. He gets up between 6:30 and 8 and goes back to sleep a little over an hour later. His naps are between 45 minutes and 2 hours along, and usually has 1-2 hours between naps. He eats right after most naps and then nurses briefly to fall asleep when I’m not wearing him for a nap. And then he goes to bed close to 7.
I’m not particularly looking forward to how all that will change with his 4-month regression and when we stop swaddling him and all that. But also we just go with the flow as best we can. He’s such a sweet, fun little guy, and we’re so lucky to have him.
Things We Use and Love
- Pretty much everything from his 2-month post.
- Lovevery play gym. Z loves this (and C loves laying in it with him). On mornings he gets up early, I usually lay him in here to look at contrast cards and the mirror for 20-30 minutes while I drink my coffee and read nearby. It’s also where he usually hangs out when I’m getting C ready to go outside.
- L.L. Bean Bear Suit. We were gifted this when C was born, and didn’t use it. Even though we have the 0-3 month size, initially, it was just way too big for her. I just used the little coat that attached to our baby carrier if I took her out in the cold. But Z is a little older in the worst of winter than C was, and we’re outside a whole lot more than I ever was with her. This is great. We were out in cold, cold winds this weekend, and he was still toasty warm when we came inside. Also, he looks like an adorable, silly teddy bear in it. It’s the best.
