3 MONTHS!!!

This last month (let alone the two before) has flown by! I cannot believe our baby girl is already three months old! She just continues to grow and develop and it's definitely bittersweet---we LOVE watching her grow and develop a greater personality but she's growing too quickly!

She began rolling the day after her two-month birthday and thinks she mastered it. This last week, she decided she's done rolling and there's surely a faster way to get where she wants to go! She's begun to lift her hips up and try to pull forward on her activity mat. I'm afraid she may be entering the first early signs of crawling.

She also likes to grab her bottle! She tends to keep her hands near her mouth when she eats anyway, but she will hold the bottle on her own for a few seconds. Each time I see Steve letting her do it, I tell him to stop because she's too little for that, ha.

We're adding more and more to the 'outgrown pile' each week! She's wearing mostly 3 months clothes but some 3-6 month pj's. She still needs the extra length but has a little extra room in the width---our skinny girl.

Eating---  Breastfeeding is still going great! We've been on a 3 hour eating schedule, beginning around 7am for the last few weeks. She began to only eat about 10 mins max at each feeding though, sometimes as short as 6/7 minutes, so this weekend we're working on extending her time between. My short-term goal is to move to 3.5 hours, ultimately making it a feeding every 4. Keeping her naps in line with this is our best bet. I tend to keep her awake for about two hours at a time, making the most of naps and holding her off for the next feeding more effectively. We try to give her a bottle (pumped milk) each day as well but will likely be taking a time-out on this as Steve pulled his shoulder out of socket yesterday morning for the third time and will be in recovery for a little while (potentially surgery); poor Daddy is struggling without holding his baby girl. For me, it's more laziness than anything else. I don't feel the need to give her a bottle if I can just feed her myself.

Nighttime routine--- We also began a nighttime routine with Ellie a couple weeks ago and she seems more set on it than us sometimes! We give her a bath about 9 and let her have a little play time; she loves to splash. She's such a wiggle worm that sometimes I fear she's hit her head on the tub but more than anything, it's a great time for Steve and I to spend together with Ellie. After her bath, I nurse her then we read with her and snuggle. She seems to be very interested in Dr. Suess so we've been reading those mostly. It doesn't hurt that we're big fans as well. She typically falls asleep while we're reading to her, which is always a nice bonus.

Sleeping--- We've been blessed with a baby who began giving us 9-10 hours at a time around 7/8 weeks old. Well, after about a month of that, this last week she decided to begin waking up around 3/4 again. We'd try to rock her back to sleep but ultimately, nurse her for about a half feeding and she dozes off again. We think it may be a growth spurt and are hopeful it doesn't last!

Speaking of sleeping, the doctor wants us to start some sleep training. She says to wake her up before we lie her down at night and for naps to allow her to put herself to sleep. We tried the 5-10-15 one night and it went horribly. Miss Elizabeth does NOT like this and naturally, would much rather fall asleep with her mom and dad. After a little researching and discussing, we've decided to abandon this tactic for now. She still seems a little young for it and to be honest, I don't terribly mind my little girl falling asleep in my arms. I have a feeling someday too soon, we'll be wishing she'd let us rock her.

We're taking a few 3 month pictures with a friend tomorrow and will post them as soon as I can!