This month Coraline started sleeping through the night just before my return to work, and stayed that way. It amazed us all since she is still having trouble with bottles that she gets enough during the day still that she is not up at night. She does get up really early sometimes, between 4:30-5:30, but when she’s up that early I am able to put her back to sleep most of the time. But she can and does sleep up to 12 hours!
Of her napping schedule, I cannot say the same. She takes half hour naps, and sometimes longer if I have her in the newborn napper which I try to avoid using too frequently since they don’t use that at daycare. She doesn’t necessarily fall asleep in her car seat or stroller; she is frequently quietly alert instead.
Luckily, she does seem to be getting enough sleep and is cheerful during her extended awake times except toward the evening when she may become overtired. Even then, Brian and I frequently comment on how much more mellow she is than Jameson. We no long bemoan the lack of a pacifier, since she is content without. She doesn’t smile as frequently as Jameson did, but she has much longer calm periods, happy to look around and observe as he never did. They continue to be so different from one another.
She is grasping things with her reflexes, but not reaching for anything yet. She did, however, finally release some of those fists to get a finger in her mouth! Over a couple days prior to turning 3 months old, she had started occasionally finding it. For her photo shoot, she made a face when she found her finger, but by the end of that evening, she was loudly sucking on her index finger with enjoyment.
We still swaddle to sleep, but I think it won’t be long now before she will be a self soother.
Coraline enjoys sitting up, and is really enjoying the bouncer seat (not generally turned on though) and the bumbo chair; we use the swing much less and usually only as another place to put her while taking care of Jameson upstairs. She likes to sit on laps or walk around. Like Jameson, she appears to love to be outside.
We also started using up to 6 month clothing this month, which seems so much earlier than Jameson. She’s sturdy and has adorable little rolls. We had a rash on her chest we were dealing with that finally seems to have dissipated with a different lotion. Baby acne is gone, but the flakey cradle cap of her growing skull appears frequently and she has lost a good portion of her hair on the back of her head that gives a similar effect that Jameson had. She doesn’t look too much like a little old man though because of her little chubby cheeks and the hair she managed to retain on the top of her head.
Coraline loves bath time, always silent and staring in the mirror for the entire event. She still has dark hair, blue eyes and a gummy, wet grin, so she has a pretty face to look at!
While we are all sad that my time at home has ended, Coraline doesn’t seem the worse for wear thus far since I try and feed her 1-2 times in the morning and at least twice every evening. I know this month and next, things will start to get exciting with reaching and rolling. I can’t wait!
