Jovie Lauren: 3-6 months
What a whirlwind these past three months have been, and when I say whirlwind, I mean a sleep deprived, coffee driven (until coffee was eliminated *insert sad face*), frustrating few months that are finally looking up.
Needless to say, Jovie is hard. She's great, I love her, I only want to return her 5% of the time, but she has proven to be head strong and an obvious second child. She sees Finn doing fun things and you can tell it frustrates the heck out of her! Don't judge me for calling my child out on the internet. I write these so I can look back and HOPEFULLY laugh, smile, and look fondly on memories I may have forgotten. So here it goes, her update.
Around three months, Jovie really woke up. She started having a little personality, giving us good smiles, talking more, and giving us good laughs when we tickled her. She nursed really well but when I say she woke up, I mean she WOKE. This is when sleeping difficulties started during the day. She started only taking 20-30 minute snoozes 2x a day. No more. At this point I was working, watching our little friend Sawyer and exhausted. She seemed happy and content and wasn't angry or fussy or seemingly tired but I was fussy that she wasn't sleeping. We tried formula and giving more bottles but with Zach's schedule he couldn't really offer a bottle and she wouldn't take one from me so I figured she'll eat when she's hungry and we'll forget supplementing for now. I'll never forget though, at Zach's birthday, she cried the whole time. His parents were in town and she was so unbelievably fussy and angry. I broke down that night. She continued to be fussy into her four month mark and popped teeth out shortly after. She was pretty content after that.
On her four month birth date exactly she started rolling front to back. Zach was the one to witness that milestone first (I was at work) and I have no resentment toward missing one of her big milestones because I got to witness most of Finn's first. It's only fair he gets to as well! I really expected a sleep regression this month but it was short lived since she wasn't sleeping much during the day, she was pretty good at night. I mean, waking multiple times to nurse but going immediately back to sleep, so I can't complain! She was my fun, tag-a-long baby that I wore everywhere. I remember being heart broken on a walk when she was crying and screaming in her car seat. I still had her facing me because HELLO, she was still my newborn (she wasn't) and I turned her around to see the world and we never looked back. She was so happy and content facing forward that I started buckling her in like the big girl she was. Toward 4.5 months, Jovie started showing signs of being ready to eat, IE: GRABBING FOOD OUT OF OUR HANDS AND SMASHING IT INTO HER FACE. This shocked me since Finn wasn't ready to eat until around 8 months. I wasn't comfortable starting solids but every once in a while I'd give her a crunchy vegetable to naw on or suck on a crouton from my salad at Costco.
At month five she discovered blowing raspberries, her brothers hilarity, sucking her thumb, bringing things to her mouth and midline and sitting up. She was extremely determined to sit early since, you know, her brother does it! It was this month that I decided I couldn't keep up with nursing and started to supplement. She took a bottle of formula from me and I cried tears of relief. I didn't realize how stressed I was about keeping up a good supply until she took that bottle. She would nurse every 1-2 hours but very briefly (short attention span and the need to keep an eye on what her bro is doing) and it was becoming so frustrating. I have no regrets about starting formula this go around. I feel extremely proud of myself and my body for sustaining her for 5 months exclusively! She started going longer spurts of time in between feeding and longer sleeping sessions too. She would nap 1-1.5 hours 2x per day and would sleep longer chunks. She had a regression on her sleep in the beginning of month five and I wasn't sure I was going to survive. I think I'm going to have to get used to having a baby that isn't a good sleeper. Sharing a room with her and having a husband that sleeps in the afternoon makes it difficult to completely sleep train her but I do what I can. I acknowledge that sleeping independently is my ultimate goal but until she is in her own space and I can let her fuss (not cry it out, please don't come for me) without fear of waking Zach, that she may just be a more difficult sleeper until then. God bless people who co-sleep or roomshare for extended periods of time. That is not me, nor is it Jovie. She enjoys having her sleep space but isn't afforded the opportunity to have her own room at this time. Lots of tears and crying and I'm still working on accepting our early wake ups and short(er) naps. I also unfortunately quit coffee this month because I thought maybe it was affecting her. Jury is out but I haven't drank any since on the off chance that was the reason why she wasn't napping well. Or maybe I quit during the month four mark.. honestly I don't remember and my eyes haven't opened completely since I quit.
She is a fun, good spirited and determined baby. She definitely has inherited my crazyand that can be frustrating. Her current favorite things are lunging forward after I sit her up and trying to crawl, the wipes and smacking them around, laughing at her brother, eating, and sucking on her toes. She hates being left alone for two seconds and not crawling. She's 16 pounds of chunky goodness and her thighs have rolls on them that I could butter up and eat.
I never want to complain or seem ungrateful. Becoming a mother of two has been wonderful but I won't lie when I say it has also been exhausting and there are nights when I cry and wonder why I chose to start all over again. I can think those things but still never want to trade what I have and I think that is important to note. I also want to note that I was diagnosed with postpartum depression in the last month. I think it was a culmination of quarantine, Jovie not sleeping, feeling beat down, and missing my mom friends. I will probably talk about that at a different time but I want to remember that when I look back at this. My kids are wonderful kids and this is a season that will pass all too quickly.
Until next time,
Kellie
Needless to say, Jovie is hard. She's great, I love her, I only want to return her 5% of the time, but she has proven to be head strong and an obvious second child. She sees Finn doing fun things and you can tell it frustrates the heck out of her! Don't judge me for calling my child out on the internet. I write these so I can look back and HOPEFULLY laugh, smile, and look fondly on memories I may have forgotten. So here it goes, her update.
Around three months, Jovie really woke up. She started having a little personality, giving us good smiles, talking more, and giving us good laughs when we tickled her. She nursed really well but when I say she woke up, I mean she WOKE. This is when sleeping difficulties started during the day. She started only taking 20-30 minute snoozes 2x a day. No more. At this point I was working, watching our little friend Sawyer and exhausted. She seemed happy and content and wasn't angry or fussy or seemingly tired but I was fussy that she wasn't sleeping. We tried formula and giving more bottles but with Zach's schedule he couldn't really offer a bottle and she wouldn't take one from me so I figured she'll eat when she's hungry and we'll forget supplementing for now. I'll never forget though, at Zach's birthday, she cried the whole time. His parents were in town and she was so unbelievably fussy and angry. I broke down that night. She continued to be fussy into her four month mark and popped teeth out shortly after. She was pretty content after that.On her four month birth date exactly she started rolling front to back. Zach was the one to witness that milestone first (I was at work) and I have no resentment toward missing one of her big milestones because I got to witness most of Finn's first. It's only fair he gets to as well! I really expected a sleep regression this month but it was short lived since she wasn't sleeping much during the day, she was pretty good at night. I mean, waking multiple times to nurse but going immediately back to sleep, so I can't complain! She was my fun, tag-a-long baby that I wore everywhere. I remember being heart broken on a walk when she was crying and screaming in her car seat. I still had her facing me because HELLO, she was still my newborn (she wasn't) and I turned her around to see the world and we never looked back. She was so happy and content facing forward that I started buckling her in like the big girl she was. Toward 4.5 months, Jovie started showing signs of being ready to eat, IE: GRABBING FOOD OUT OF OUR HANDS AND SMASHING IT INTO HER FACE. This shocked me since Finn wasn't ready to eat until around 8 months. I wasn't comfortable starting solids but every once in a while I'd give her a crunchy vegetable to naw on or suck on a crouton from my salad at Costco.
At month five she discovered blowing raspberries, her brothers hilarity, sucking her thumb, bringing things to her mouth and midline and sitting up. She was extremely determined to sit early since, you know, her brother does it! It was this month that I decided I couldn't keep up with nursing and started to supplement. She took a bottle of formula from me and I cried tears of relief. I didn't realize how stressed I was about keeping up a good supply until she took that bottle. She would nurse every 1-2 hours but very briefly (short attention span and the need to keep an eye on what her bro is doing) and it was becoming so frustrating. I have no regrets about starting formula this go around. I feel extremely proud of myself and my body for sustaining her for 5 months exclusively! She started going longer spurts of time in between feeding and longer sleeping sessions too. She would nap 1-1.5 hours 2x per day and would sleep longer chunks. She had a regression on her sleep in the beginning of month five and I wasn't sure I was going to survive. I think I'm going to have to get used to having a baby that isn't a good sleeper. Sharing a room with her and having a husband that sleeps in the afternoon makes it difficult to completely sleep train her but I do what I can. I acknowledge that sleeping independently is my ultimate goal but until she is in her own space and I can let her fuss (not cry it out, please don't come for me) without fear of waking Zach, that she may just be a more difficult sleeper until then. God bless people who co-sleep or roomshare for extended periods of time. That is not me, nor is it Jovie. She enjoys having her sleep space but isn't afforded the opportunity to have her own room at this time. Lots of tears and crying and I'm still working on accepting our early wake ups and short(er) naps. I also unfortunately quit coffee this month because I thought maybe it was affecting her. Jury is out but I haven't drank any since on the off chance that was the reason why she wasn't napping well. Or maybe I quit during the month four mark.. honestly I don't remember and my eyes haven't opened completely since I quit.
She is a fun, good spirited and determined baby. She definitely has inherited my crazyand that can be frustrating. Her current favorite things are lunging forward after I sit her up and trying to crawl, the wipes and smacking them around, laughing at her brother, eating, and sucking on her toes. She hates being left alone for two seconds and not crawling. She's 16 pounds of chunky goodness and her thighs have rolls on them that I could butter up and eat.
I never want to complain or seem ungrateful. Becoming a mother of two has been wonderful but I won't lie when I say it has also been exhausting and there are nights when I cry and wonder why I chose to start all over again. I can think those things but still never want to trade what I have and I think that is important to note. I also want to note that I was diagnosed with postpartum depression in the last month. I think it was a culmination of quarantine, Jovie not sleeping, feeling beat down, and missing my mom friends. I will probably talk about that at a different time but I want to remember that when I look back at this. My kids are wonderful kids and this is a season that will pass all too quickly.
Until next time,
Kellie
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