Baby days: 1-3 months

I’ll never forget our first night with Finn. We had no idea what the heck we were doing. My milk hadn’t come in yet so he was hysterically hungry and nothing could console him. Zach and I felt like we were doing everything wrong. Everything we had read said, “no bottles this” and “nipple confusion that”. We had no idea which way was up and I was exhausted from the marathon we call “child birth”. I finally looked at Zach and said “let’s try a pacifier”. He agreed and I grabbed one from the diaper bag I had so thoughtfully and neatly packed. I shoved the first one in his mouth, and he spit it right back at us, basically to say “I will not be tricked”. I tried a different kind and it stuck! Finn experienced his first pacifier on his first night of life and has yet to be tricked into thinking it is going to give him food. Now, three months later, he hates pacifiers and gags whenever we attempt to “pacify” him with one. 

Three months. Didn’t I just give birth a few days ago? 

Little known fact, nothing goes back to normal right after birth. NOTHING. Pooping is still somewhat of an episode, my stomach is still softer (always has been, but is much more), my hormones are still whacky, the little bit of postpartum depression I suffered from is still lingering in the background and when they say “9 months on, 9 months off”, they mean it. Zach and I also, like the first night in the hospital, have no idea what we are doing. 

Finn is doing great. He’s turning into quite the chunky kid, and growing like a weed. My dad, whom we live with currently, tells me every day he’s ready to take him down to the bus stop soon. This is the kid who struggled to put on weight after he was born and actually lost almost 10% of his birthweight until we figured out what the problem was. He’s now in the 80th percentile for weight and I believe we are past those issues.

He’s currently working on rolling on his side, and with help, he can get all the way on his tummy. He does it when he wants though. He can grab onto his “friends” on his play mat and when handed to him, he can grab his rattle. He likes to blow bubbles and has found his voice and loves using it to tell you how he’s feeling. He is all smiles these days, and his tracking is great! One of my favorite things is his head turn when he hears me or Zach. I love knowing my kid knows me. There’s LITERALLY nothing better. 

One of his favorite things is to bounce. We recently purchased an exersaucer on the offer-up app and it was probably the best purchase for him. He gets in it and starts moving around. He hasn’t figured out how to play with the toys on it, but that’ll come with time. He knows grandpa is for jumping, so whenever he is in my dad’s hands, he feels the need to start pushing his butt up to jump. I’m pretty sure he's a baby who doesn’t realize he’s a baby. He wants to grow up and do bigger things, and that makes me so sad!

Finn enjoys sucking on his fingers and he’s found his thumb a few times. He doesn't mind his whole fist in his mouth though, so I’m good with that. We still have to swaddle him for naps and night time or he just doesn't sleep well. Hopefully he’ll stop startling so much and we’ll transition out of them. 

For the most part, I stopped reading apps and things that tell me where my kid is supposed to be. He’s doing fine and I am not concerned about his progress. Apps can’t feel when my kid has had a rough night or a hard week, I can. Every once in a while I peak at what he SHOULD be accomplishing around the month he’s on, but I think it’s important to not obsess over milestones. They’ll happen when they happen. Every kid is different, and if they don’t, I’ll deal with it then.

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, I still cant believe my happy, smiling little boy is here. Happy three months!