Emerson is Three Months

I know, I know. As per usual, I'm a little late on her update. I've literally started this post 6 different times and haven't been able to hit publish yet. I feel like she's changed so much this month and we've just been enjoying her growing personality.

She is getting bigger and bigger. Now that she's started "school" (we'll get to that later), she's gained a lot of weight. Prior to going to daycare, she was primarily only nursing. Now that I'm back at work and not with her all day long, I nurse her in the morning and evening but all of her other meals are pumped breast milk from a bottle. Because we know exactly how much she's getting now and we can control it, I feel like she's plumped up a little. I am thankful for that because I do know that she is getting enough but I still enjoy the bonding experience of nursing her when I can.

At her last appointment, she weighed about 10.5 pounds. Oh, and she loves looking at herself in the mirror!



E's first day of school. I took her for half days the week before I started back and I am so thankful I did! I got myself in a routine and "practiced" getting ready so that my first day back wouldn't be so difficult.

 

My first day back to work. We had so much crap to load into the car that I had to snap a picture because you can barely even see her with all of the things around her!

She's enjoying her baths much more than she used to. She loves the warm water and splashing around but does still hate getting out of the bath and getting cold.

She's "talking" and smiling so much. She's always been a happy baby but the older she's gotten, she's become much less fussy. We don't have the 5pm-7pm witching hour anymore thank goodness but I think she is so exhausted after school that she just crashes. I love hearing her babble, coo and laugh. 

She's been sleeping through the night since 9 weeks and has only woken up once. She sleeps so well in her crib and is still rocking the Merlin Magic Sleepsuit. She sleeps in this at her crib at school as well and her teachers say that as soon as they put her in it, she falls asleep. Still following the Moms on Call schedule, her bedtime is 8:30 and she's usually asleep within 5 minutes if that. In a few weeks, her bedtime will move up and I am not looking forward to it because that just means that we get less time to spend with her after work. 

Speaking of work and school, this has been her biggest milestone this month. Things are going great, and I think she is really enjoying it. I just finished my third full week of work and it is nice to be back. It's nice to have adult conversations and be on a set schedule. Although I miss her during the day, I enjoy stalking her through the school's app. They note every diaper change, feeding, sleep and even post pictures throughout the day. I enjoy seeing her hanging out with her new friends during Spanish class and Music class. Yes, that's right. She has Spanish class on Tuesdays and Thursdays and Music class on Fridays. They also have already started doing arts and crafts as well. It makes me happy that she is busy throughout the day with lots of activities. They have bouncy seats, swings, activity mats and boppys that she enjoys playing on during the day. Her teachers say that her favorite is laying on her back and playing on the activity mat.

Emerson celebrated her first Easter. We went to church and then to brunch as a family of three. It was sad not to see my family on Easter this year but I'm glad that we had this little girl to celebrate with.



We went to Cashiers, NC with friends this past weekend and E survived her first hike! She loved looking around at all of the pretty scenery.



Here are several pictures curtesy of school. Thank God for that app or I would go crazy not being able to see this smiling face during the day.








Arts and Crafts at school




Music class!

Spanish Class with her friends





We were tasked with E's first homework assignment. Can you tell that I am not crafty at all? I guess I need to work on that..

Speaking of the activity mat....she rolled over for the first time yesterday!! I hated that I didn't get to see it since it was at school, but she rolled from her back to her stomach and then stomach to her back. I literally started crying when her teachers told me...I know, I know. They said that at 15 weeks, that is impressive and pretty early. Andrew and I tried to get her to do it again last night and then this morning and nada. But, of course, she did it again at school today. I guess she only cares about impressing her teachers and friends.

We transitioned her to the level 2 nipples this month. Now that she is 3 months old, she can take a faster nipple on her bottle. She is up to about 6-7 ounces per feeding in a bottle and can drink it in less than 15 minutes. I'm still nursing her for about 30 minutes total. Breastfeeding has become a complete 180 degrees from where we began and I can proudly say that it is something that I actually look forward to. I know that in that amount of time, it's just she and I.

And, just some more pictures because I can't get enough of that smile.