There are so many little things I don't want to forget, things I am already forgetting. Ellie was 3 months old on Wednesday, and the amount of photos and documenting I've done has been woefully inadequate. Girl doesn't even have a baby book yet! What a cliche for child #4. (I will be buying her one this week.)
Nicknames: Ellie, Elle, Elles, Elphaba, Ellie-belle.
Stats: At 7 weeks, she was 13 pounds. She doesn't go for a check-up for another month. 97% weight and 97% height; she definitely belongs to us. ;)
At 3 months, she is in size 3 diapers and 6mo clothing.
Sleep: She is actually a pretty good sleeper now. She had a few nights about a month ago where she'd sleep 6-7 hours straight (!!!) but that didn't last; thankfully, I didn't have my hopes up very high after my last 3 mediocre-to-poor sleepers. She is usually up 2-3 times a night. I can usually squeeze one good nap out of her a day, and a couple catnaps. She usually wants to be rocked for a few minutes before I set her in her bed; usually that settles her down enough so that she can fall asleep on her own. Sometimes she falls asleep in my arms but she doesn't transfer very well (does any baby?)
Temperament: Ellie was born at 3:16am, spent the first day of her life eating a lot
and being generally pleasant, and the first night of her life fussing
and squirming and wanting to eat and be held. I finally came to the
conclusion that she must be cold - the hospital room was pretty chilly
and she was in that little plastic bassinet all by herself, just wrapped
in a swaddle blanket with a thin hat. I added an extra blanket and that
seemed to help. Second day, calm and chill; second night, lots of
fussing and thrashing. I was thinking, "What am I going to do with this
baby at home!?!?" Thankfully she mellowed out a lot once we were home
and she could be in the cute warm pajamas I got for her. She is totally a
summer girl and likes to be warm (it was August but with the air
conditioner on everywhere we went, her head and arms were always
chilly!)
She was a pretty fussy little girl her first couple months. Not colicky, necessarily, just not as calm as the boys were. She had a few evenings where she just cried and cried and I didn't know what to do for her. She is past that stage now, and it's funny that I've almost forgotten it; "momnesia" is totally a real thing. Every hard evening, rough night, tough pregnancy, difficult labor, etc, doesn't seem so bad when it's just a distant memory. Usually.
She also went through a period for several weeks where she would let out a sharp cry when she was picked up, almost like something in her neck hurt. I took her to the doctor and nothing appeared to be wrong. We then tried the chiro, which seemed to help a lot. I am a believer now!
She is still fussy sometimes now, but normal fussy, and is usually calm once she is picked up. ;)
Health: She has had her first little cold in the past week, but really the only symptom has been a runny nose. She acts like it annoys her and snuffles a lot, which is just pretty cute.
She also had a hip click at her 1 (2?) week checkup, and went for a hip ultrasound at 2.5 months to check for hip dysplasia. The u/s came back negative, and we were told she could resume her "normal infant activities." Like, laying around...?
Hygiene: This girl blows out of a diaper at least once a day. I have a perpetual pile of laundry soaking in Oxiclean...
Likes: Bouncy seat, warm jammies and hats, the Boba, being sung to, being held, attention. She tolerates the swing.
Dislikes: The car (!!!), dirty diapers...
Siblings: The boys LOVE her. They were obsessed with her when we came home from the hospital; always wanting to "pet" her (gentle, like how you would pet a puppy...) Andrew tested a little bit and gave her a few heavy pats, but has pretty much gotten past that. They can frequently be heard saying things like "She's soooo cute!". Ben is usually the most interested.
She is such a mix of the boys. She has Ben's forehead, but I think she most resembles Nate. She definitely has his mouth; a less exaggerated prehensile lip ;) and she sticks her tongue out a lot.
We need to get to her nursery.... I spent hours cleaning it out one day, and now I have piles of summer clothes of the boys on the floor to go through. At some point, it will be finished and she will move in. ;)
