Our baby girl is three months old today. Wow! Three months is a big deal … it’s considered the end of the “newborn” phase. I only have about 20 minutes to write this until it’s time to wake her up and feed her but I want to briefly recap the past three months …
Our first two months with Ellie were hard, especially for me, due to feeding issues. I won’t go into the details here because I plan to dedicate an entire blog to this subject, but basically I was planning to breastfeed and, well, it has not gone the way I planned. Her first doctor visit, just a few days after we left the hospital with her, was devastating … she had lost a whole pound and was close to being dehydrated. She needed food urgently and she just wasn’t getting it from me, so we had to supplement – i.e. feed her formula with a bottle. After five visits with lactation consultants, surgery to fix her tongue tie and trying many different remedies for low milk supply, it became evident that my plan just wasn’t going to happen. It’s been a very emotional struggle but the good news is that she has been gaining weight at the perfect rate and has settled into a consistent feeding routine. And she has had a good portion of breastmilk for the first three months of her life, when it is most important.
Moving on … Ellie took her first trip in July at just 7 weeks of age when we went to the annual Cowen family reunion in Cashiers, North Carolina. The drive there and back was long but we had a great time connecting with family and loved introducing them to Ellie. It was especially awesome that she got to meet her great-grandfather [Grandaddy] and his sweet wife Johnnie. She has also gotten to spend time with her two great-grandmothers on my side… pretty incredible I think.
At the beginning of August we reached a major milestone – Ellie moved into her own room. It’s been wonderful getting to use the beautiful nursery we set up. We have a video monitor as well as a motion/sound Angel Care monitor so we don’t have to worry about her even though her room is upstairs and we are downstairs. She has been sleeping between six and seven hours most nights and I feel confident that she will reach eight soon. We are feeling much more rested!
Last week, I took Ellie to Hershey, PA to meet her aunt Bethany and cousins Ana Laura and David – David is only 8 days younger than she is! We went to Hershey Gardens and Chocolate World and got some great photos of the kids together. While there she went to the nursery at church for the first time and did great – they didn’t have to call me and she was asleep when I went to pick her up. I was so nervous to fly with her there and back but she did pretty well considering.
I can’t say that the first three months “flew by” but it does seem hard to believe that we have already had three months with her. She is a wonderful baby … very happy most of the time. She smiles a lot and is very vocal – it even sounds like she says “Mama” sometimes haha. She is very alert and strong and cracks us up with her many facial expressions.
Of course we’ve taken a ton of photos of her and while I’ve shared some of them on facebook, the idea is to put a lot more on this blog. However, we seem to be finding it hard to find the time to blog! Go figure ☺ I am also just mortified that I have not yet sent out thank you notes or baby announcements. I am so VERY appreciative of the wonderful gifts we’ve received and I plan to send thank you’s with announcements very soon. I hope that “better late than never” is applicable in this situation.
I will close with a short list of Ellie’s favorites…
Favorite color: pink (much to her father’s dismay)
Favorite animal: elephant (ellie-phant … get it??)
Favorite clothing: sleepers because they don’t have to be pulled over her head
Favorite song: Jesus Loves Me
Favorite sleeping position: on her side
Favorite thing to suck on: her hands