Finally Blissful: Happy 3 months Khloe!

I will never forget the first few nights home from the hospital with Khloe. She was perfectly happy all day and when it came time for the exhausted mommy and daddy to sleep, she wasn’t having it. She screamed ALL night. John David and I took turns trying to soothe her and eventually found the only way she was happy was when she was held. Everything I SWORE I would never do as a new mommy went out the window. Those first two nights, she slept curled in either of our arms IN our bed. I know, I’m a horrible person, but at that point, whatever she wanted I was willing to give just so I could get a few minutes of sleep. By the third day I knew we were doing something wrong. She slept on her own perfectly during the day, it was just at night that we were having the problem. It didn’t help that we were on a very strict three hour feeding schedule since she was preemie.

I desperately began trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. I began torturing myself by trying not to hold her nearly as much and not letting her sleep in my arms during the day. I know people thought I was crazy when I would get upset that she had been held all day, but no one understood what I went through during the night. It was especially hard since John David was rarely ever able to help me because he was working nights. It took about 3 weeks to get Khloe on a routine sleep schedule. We think she had her days/nights confused.

Swaddling was a must for Khloe. Nearly 80% of her cries could be cured by wrapping her tighter. John David was the best at swaddling. He proudly taught all the grandmothers how to do it “correctly”. One of the first things he would do when he came home from work was make sure she was swaddled right, which she often was not. She was so little and so fragile that most of the time, without knowing, I covered her too much. It wasn’t until she developed a heat rash on the back of her neck that I realized I was keeping her too warm. I was reading a baby article one day that said dress your baby in no more than one layer more than an adult would use to be comfortable in the same environment. Oh! That makes sense! That was one of the best tips I learned as a new mom.

During Khloe’s 2 month check up, her pediatrician finally took us off the strict 3 hour feeding and said we could let her sleep through the night. HALLELUJIAH! The first night that she slept 5 hours felt like 24 for me. This was the beginning of a much happier/ less moody mommy.

January 1^st was Khloe’s three month birthday. As you can tell by the MULTIPLE videos I have posted of her, I am having the most fun with her this month. It seems like everyday she learns something new.

A few new things she’s doing this month:

Laughing- not giggling- laughing. I really have to get this on video the next few days because it is the cutest thing EVER!
Cooing/talking much louder and more often
Copying more facial expressions and sounds. She can pant like a dog, smack her lips, open her mouth very wide and say “Ohhhhhhhhhh” when mommy asks her to.
Attempting to roll over. She has rolled over once, but was slightly propped so that doesn’t count. We are very jealous that cousin Grayson has already conquered this task. : )
Scratching. She scratches her bed while going to sleep, scratches my chest while holding her, scratches her bottle while feeding. Basically, anything she can get her hands on, she scratches.
Watching (and still LOVING) TV for longer periods of time. I prop her up in her boppy pillow on the couch and turn on cartoons (the educational kind, of course!) and she will watch anywhere from 10-20 minutes.
She now really enjoys the Bumbo seat. Her favorite place to sit in it is on the countertop and she has become quite the helper while Mommy cooks (ha). She still can’t sit up completely by herself so I think this seat really helps with those muscles.
She is a professional scooter! She can go from one side of the blanket to the other in ten minutes tops!
DROOL!!! I haven’t figured out if this is a sign of early teething, or if it is just the baby not having control of those muscles, but I have to keep a bib on her (AND ME) these days. I really hate this because they are hard to match and bibs take away from the cuteness of her fashionable outfits. LOL.

Her daily activities include: watching baby Einstein & cartoons, playing in the Einstein Activity jumper, playing with the hanging toys under the fun playmat, swinging, facebooking, modeling for pictures, videoing, and entertaining Mommy & Daddy. We try to get out of the house at least a few times a week. I am very ready for spring so we can start back our daily walks at the park! : )

I think she weighs around 10-13 pounds. She’s in size 1 diapers and still wearing 0-3 month clothes; although I often put her in 3-6 month even though they are big just so she can have some variety. Let’s be honest, no girl likes to wear the same outfit more than a few times.

She naps for around an hour, sometimes more, 3-4 times a day. She loves listening to the lullabies her baby monitor plays as she falls asleep. I finally started the CIO (Cry It Out) method that Baby Wise teaches about a month ago and it was the best thing I ever did. At first it was super hard listening to her cry, but when I realized she would only cry for about 5 minutes and then completely fall asleep on her own, I knew it was going to work! She goes to sleep on her own now for nap and bedtime. She cries sometimes, but it’s never for more than 10 minutes. Bedtime is usually about 9:30 but if it were up to her, it would be 8. Mommy likes to sleep later in the morning, so I try to make her stay up a little later. She sleeps anywhere from 6-8 hours at night and usually only feeds once early in the morning and then goes back to sleep until around 10:30-11. I look back on those first three weeks of restless nights and thank GOD we learned good sleep habits. We thank God AND Tabatha for sending me the Babywise book! Hopefully it stays this easy the older she gets.

She’s napping during the day in her crib in her room, but I still have her in the bassinet next to me at night. When she wakes for her morning feeding, I have started putting her in her room to sleep for the rest of the morning. I just recently found a noise machine for her room and she sleeps much better when it’s not so quiet. The “running stream” seems to be her favorite. I have a firm deadline for sleeping in our room and it’s January 31^st. Makes me so sad, but there again, teaching good habits early on is key. (I think Babywise wants them in their own room earlier than this, but I wasn’t ready.. and, I don’t follow the book EXACTLY. You have to figure out what works best for you and your baby.)

She is a super happy baby. People always brag at how well behaved she is when we go places. One friend told me the other day that she didn’t think she ever cried. Oh, believe me, she does. LOL! Most days when she cries, there is a reason. I am truly thankful for this. I think God really knew that I needed a good baby after going through such a horrible pregnancy!

I am loving Khloe Brooke’s third month. She is truly the love of our lives! I would go through another 9 months of a terrible pregnancy just so I could hold her in my arms and have her say “Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!” Every day I try to teach her new things, but at the same time get sad that she’s growing so fast. I am so thankful and LOVE that I am able to stay at home with her. We are praying that I can continue to do this.

We have a few things that we are looking forward to in the next two months:

Khloe & I are visiting the Grandmas and Aunts for a couple weeks first of February.
John David’s one week vacation
Khloe’s Baby Dedication
Khloe’s 4 month baby pictures
John David and I will be celebrating our fourth year wedding (eight years together) anniversary.

I hope everyone is having a happy New Year! Stay tuned for updates, pictures & videos. Thank you for all the sweet comments and messages! I love that even though we are miles away you can watch Khloe Bear grow up! Here are a few new pics!

I stole the picture frame idea from one of the blogs that I stalk. She used a super cute chalkboard every month; I didn't have a chalkboard so I improvised. I wish I would have thought of this sooner! I love it!