Weight/Height: From her 1 month well checkup on August 6: she weighs 11.15 pounds (98th percentile), measures 21.5 inches (60th percentile) and has a big 'ol noggin like her brothers at 40 centimeters (95th percentile).
Eating: Our best intentions were to get T on a schedule. C was on a strict 3 hour schedule, E was more of an on-demand babe, and we felt like with our lives now we'd all function better knowing the schedule. Then T came along and decided that she was super laidback and easy so we're on what I'm calling a hybrid schedule. We track everything and try to keep her eating every 3 hours or so, but when little miss wants doesn't need to eat every 3 hours overnight, more power to her. We won't be waking her up and forcing it. And we decided that around her one week birthday when I slept through my 12am alarm and she was good until 2:30am. Her rough schedule is 6am, 9am, 12pm, 3pm, 6pm during the day. It can fluctuate by an hour or so, especially when she doesn't eat as much overnight. For instance, she could eat at 6am, but be hungry again at 8am and 9am then go until 1pm, eat at 4pm and around 6:30pm. She take a final feeding usually between 8pm and 9pm and doesn't eat again until around 2am to 3am. Then she's eating again between 5am and 6am. So again, hybrid schedule. We watch the clock and try to get calories into her, but we are not strict especially since sometime her flexible eating habits benefit us while the boys and I are at playdates or running errands. In terms of amounts, she's up to 4 ounce bottles. Sometimes she eats 2 ounces, but most times its a whole 4 ounce bottle. Her average this month was 23.5 ounces a day. She had a growth spurt around 2 weeks and ate 28 ounces and we were shocked! But our pediatrician assures us since she's so big she needs the calories to keep gaining as she should and not lose weight. She's been consistent at gaining around an ounce a day. Much like her brothers she can be gassy so we switched from her Enfamil in the hospital to Similac Advanced at home and now we're trying her on Similac Sensitive which is what E ate. RCWJr doesn't see a difference, but I can a bit. I think we'll be keeping her on the sensitive going forward.
Sleeping: As I mentioned above, T is a sleeping champ. From very early on she was able to sleep long stretches we discovered when I slept through a midnight alarm. Blessings in disguise! She typical is going to sleep between 8:30pm and 9:30pm, in the past week she is definitely preferring to be swaddled and going to sleep closer to 8:30pm though. She sleeps in the Nap Nanny in the cradle by my side of the bed all night until she wakes up with RCWJr around 5:30am - 6:30am. I hear her stirring usually between 2am - 3am and give her a dreamfeed. I call it that because she isn't totally awake, she's making grunts and trying to break out of her swaddle but still mostly asleep so I snuggle her up, give her a bottle and she's out again until the morning. It's been amazing! She also sleeps often during the day as well. I keep telling people and I'm afraid I'm jinxing it and I'm awaiting her to wake up from what I've been calling her newborn slumber, but a month in and so far we're still good. Depending on our day and schedule, she usually hangs out awake in the morning, take a mid morning nap until lunch, hangs out awake for a bit around lunch time and then naps in the afternoon (during the boys naps - all 3 littles sleeping at once!? Can I get an AMEN!?!), then she's awake during dinner and ready for bed and overnight sleeping starting around 8:30pm. While she wants to break out of swaddles, a tight swaddle does help her calm down and sleep. She's also our paci baby and uses one for self-soothe to fall asleep at times. She also enjoys a swing (we purchased a used one from my mom group) and she likes being on her side whether falling asleep on us all curled up in a tight fetal ball on her right side on my chest or being transferred into the bouncy seat on her side and wrapped with a muslin blanket to keep her tight. We also are using our trusty white noise machine which calms her almost instantly. She definitely likes her environment to mimic the ambient sounds and tightness of the womb to help her sleep well. She averaged about 15-16 hours of a sleep a day in her first month.
Diapers: Miss T's bum has been only in disposables except for photoshoots. Oops! Our goal is to get her in cloth starting off month two while she's at home. We'll be doing a hybrid cloth system of cloth at home, disposables out and about and overnight, much like we did with E. With 3 littles its all about ease for this momma! She could barely fit into a Pampers Swaddlers Newborn size in the hospital, so we quickly were in Size 1. But around her 3 week birthday we moved on to Pampers Swaddlers Size 2. She should be in those for a while now and month two will detail more about what size she's in for FuzziBunz - hopefully cloth will work for her as well as it did for C and E.
Clothes: Unlike her brothers, Little Miss had no clothes. We didn't buy anything and honestly I thought we'd be using the boys handmedowns for another boy. Her wardrobe has grown quickly thanks to gifts from family and friends and handmedowns from friends with girls. She went from about 6 onesies and 4 rompers to more clothes than we can count and we're discussing where to store all her lovelies since she currently doesn't have a nursery while she's staying in our room (and we figure out if we're staying in our current house, moving to a new house in KY or looking to move back to VA). The silver lining of not knowing if she was a girl or a boy is that we didn't have a ton of newborn and 0-3/3 month girl clothes she'd never wear because T is already rocking out in 3-6 months and 6 month size onesies and rompers from Target, Gymboree, Janie & Jack and Carter's. The only item she has in a size 3 month is her very first white seersucker bubble from Smocked Auctions. Oh and girl clothes - its a whole new world for this momma! I very quickly embraced it and have purchased T her first Beaufort Bonnet, bubble and Eleanor Rose dress and bloomers for next summer. Its a slippery slope and not so great for the bank account! But seersucker, bubbles, ruffle bums and mixed patterns are just too adorable and preppy not to love!
Social Butterfly: Being little #3 and a summer babe, once I was cleared to drive we were out and about to our regular routine. T has been with us to parks and playgrounds, Louisville Mama and Me playdates, errands to Kroger, Sam's Club, Target and we went back to church with her in tow in the Boba wrap at 10 days old. She's done great, mostly sleeping in the wrap on my chest with the occasional feeding out and about. She's waking up more and starting to lock in on me or RCWJr during feedings, seems to respond by turning her head at her name and is being very adored, loved and well cared for by her big brothers!
Playtime: I swear it seems like T is always asleep, but while awake she's usually hanging out in her bouncy seat or new to us swing. But if she hangs out in the swing too long, she'll end up asleep again. We just got her a new playmat, I was never a fan of the boys' and I found one I loved - Bright Starts Pink Safari with a pink elephant - on Craigslist for $10. #winning So, going into month two we'll start attempting more tummy time and utilizing the playmat. She loves being held and I adore snuggling her. She enjoys her head being rubbed, her pacifier and looking outside whether peering out the window from her bouncy seat or peeking over my shoulder while being held. She's trying to hold her head up more as the month has gone on during burps and being held and she grasps my fingers while being fed or when C or E is holding her as they proclaim, "She's holdin' my finga!"
Milestones: In T's first month, she didn't have a grand milestone, but lots of little ones. She stayed with her first babysitter, Miss C, where she slept the entire 3 hours foiling momma's grand plan to let Miss C and T get acquainted before Miss C is left alone with all 3 littles. She had a pool afternoon with the whole family, went to all our favorite stores (one day included 3 different Targets in one morning while I was on a hunt for bows to send a dear momma friend expecting a little girl), went to playgrounds, parks and splash pads, managed to go to church 4 weekends in a row and had one night where she slept without a dreamfed (it was due to a late feeding that night we went to church - it wasn't worth it to keep her awake when she wants to be asleep though!). And not so much a milestone, but worth mentioning - during month one T fought off a nasty infection from clogged tear ducts. She was on 2 antibiotics, with the second being very strong because our pediatrician thought it could be a staff infection. As I'm typing this Little Miss is much better, no more pooling of tears and waking up with green goopy eyes - praises!
