Working Mom Fail– wrote this on time, but didn’t publish because I didn’t add pictures. Whoops!
One of the mom bloggers I follow described babies at three months as being “alert but immobile” and I have to agree! Nadia now has long wakeful periods where she is so happy to explore her surroundings. She loves looking at her hands and plunging them into her mouth. She also loves reaching for her toys (or my sweatshirt pull-string) and grasping them with her hands. It is exciting to see her actively engage with the world. She still loves babbling and smiling, I like to pretend I know what she’s trying to say.
This month Nadia starting going to daycare. I must say the transition has been good for everyone. Nadia has a big smile when we drop her off and she is always happy to come back home. I feel really lucky we got to keep her at home for 15 weeks– I very much liked the time to figure out our parenting style. I’m also glad she really was “babied” in those early weeks– I never pushed a schedule, instead there was lots of baby-carrying, snuggling, and contact naps. Now that Nadia is a little older, I feel okay with someone else trying to implement a nap and feeding schedule. When we get home in the afternoons I love playing with Nadia on the floor and cuddling for a nursing session. Honestly, it feels like sometimes Daniel and I fight for alone time with Nadia during the week :0
Our nighttime routine has been starting earlier and goes much more smoothly. The excitement of daycare clearly is exhausting– we barely get through one story and a couple songs most nights. I certainly don’t miss the nights of fruitlessly trying to get Nadia to sleep. We briefly went through a phase of singing “99 bottles of beer on the wall” when Nadia was 6 or 8 weeks old. A couple nights she was still awake at verse “85 bottles of beer on the wall..” and that was painful! Nadia sometimes wakes in the night and sometimes doesn’t. Honestly, I usually wake up around 4am if Nadia hasn’t woken during the night. I guess I’m not quite ready to sleep through the night either!
As for me, this month I’ve been working on trying to find a new normal. Mostly being back at work is nice, although it’s been emotionally difficult to lose many patients in recent months due to COVID. I feel like the weekdays are a blur– I have no idea why it took me so long to get ready for work before having a baby. Now, the mornings are a rush to nurse, pump, change, eat something, dress Nadia, and throw everything into the car. By 7:30 in the evening Nadia is sleeping and I’m nearly there myself! On the weekends, it’s nice to enjoy a slower pace.
I’m really trying to maintain reading and exercise as priorities in the busy week– over the past year I’ve realized that these are the two things that help me unwind and recharge. Honestly, the pandemic is a blessing in some ways– I’m sure being able to socialize would add a whole new set of stressors.
Favorites from this month:
Toys! Nadia has a few favorites that she loves to pick up and chew.
Babbling/ Gargling/ shrieking– Nadia loves making noises and talking. Sometimes I think she’s getting ready to speak German with some of the sounds she produces
Family time– Nadia genuinely smiles when Mom or Dad enter the room.
Leafspring– Nadia really does seem happy at her daycare. I’m lucky we found a place close to home that works with our work schedules and has teachers that genuinely seem to love Nadia.
