three months old.

having a three month old has been maybe the happiest time in my life.  he is so joyful.  brady smiles at the drop of a hat these days and just laughed for the first time this week.  of course, i acted like an idiot trying to get him to laugh again to no avail - but i'm sure we're not far from that sound filling our house more regularly! he continues to be such a happy little clam.  he doesn't fuss much except when he's hungry or tired - and we're so grateful for that.  he's started sleeping longer through the night now and his current routine is to eat around 8 or 8:30pm and then not again til 7am or so.  he usually sleeps 9p-7a, which has been awesome for mama!  this last week he has started waking up in the middle of the night fussing because he's gotten one arm out of his swaddle, but once he's tucked back in and has his binky it's back to dreamland for us both.  i'm hoping that with the new, bigger swaddles i just bought this little problem will go away.  he's far outgrown his newborn swaddle in length and i think stretching his legs out pushes it down far enough that he can get an arm out (see this post for photos).  fingers crossed with the new swaddles!

this month we started supplementing with formula a couple feedings a day - we nursed exclusively til week 11 but then my production dropped enough that we were supplementing with my frozen supply until that ran out.  his weight was down a little bit so we decided to go with the enfamil option and everyone is much happier now with his full tummy and my decreased stress level :)  he's gained weight like a champ since then so i know it was the right decision for us.  i am still pumping several times a day and he nurses great first thing in the morning still which is really sweet time for us.  i hope he hangs onto that for awhile.

although he sleeps great at night, naps are still inconsistent throughout the day although he usually gets a good hour or so in the morning - it just depends on what we're doing.  we are an on-the-go family so a lot of his naps are in the carseat which he doesn't seem to mind - but when we're home he gets longer ones in his pack-n-play or the swing.  i'm hoping to transition him to his bed for naps at least once a day starting this month.  he's starting to wake up more with ambient noise in the house when he's on the main level napping, so i think his room will be a little quieter for that.

i start back to work in three weeks (end of september) and i'm both nervous and looking forward to that.  we're currently working on childcare options which is stressful but worth it to find the right person for our peanut.  we'd like to have someone come to the house to watch him since i have to leave for my shifts at 5:30am!  would rather not have to get him up and ready and dropped off any earlier.  i plan to work just part time now that he's here, a couple days a week at the most.  i have full flexibility though to decide once we're in the routine, if i want more or less work.  we'll see.  i'm hopeful for an easy transition - for me, i know he'll do fine :)

so excited to see what the next month with brady holds.  we are more and more enamored by him every day.  he is God's greatest blessing to our lives and we are trying to soak everything up with him.  it's been such an amazing season in our lives!

(see also: one month old post, two months old post)