This month was kind of a blur. Between moving and doing some solo parenting, Berend’s 3rd month was both hectic and very low key.

Age: 3 months on 15 August 2018
Weight: 14 lbs (our best estimate)
Height: 25.5″ (our best estimate)
Teeth: none
Clothing Size: 3-6 months & 6 months
Diaper Size: size 2 in disposable and one size in cloth
Milestones: He has discovered his hands and enjoys sucking on them, sleeping 6 hours straight (once), lots of new vocal sounds (including “mama!”), starting to grasp at toys, sitting supported (good neck control)

Likes: Sucking and mouthing anything he can get his mouth on, nursing to sleep and nursing to wake, watching Gerrit, watching the TV when he can see it, movement (being carried/bounced), his play mat, bath time, sitting supported, standing supported, walking supported

Berend loves watching Gerrit anytime he’s around:

Dislikes: Being tired, not having Mama’s undivided attention, diaper changes at night, not being able to get toys in his mouth, the car seat (including car rides and the stroller), being restricted by a baby carrier, sleeping long stretches

Sleeping: Berend is still sleeping swaddled in his bassinet for naps and nighttime. We’re nearing the end of his time in the bassinet, because he’s getting so long! We’ll see if we max out the 15 lb weight limit before we move him because of length.

All sleeping now pretty much takes place in our bedroom. Occasionally, he’ll finish a nap on my lap in the living room, but he can’t really fall asleep out there anymore. In the bedroom he gets swaddled and has white noise to help him fall asleep. This month he had some days that he got 15 hours of sleep and other days only 12! Overall he averaged about 14 hours a day.

Sleep honestly wasn’t great this month, besides that one night he had a 6 hour stretch. I think besides that, his longest stretch was only 3 hours. And most of the time it was more like 2 hours or less. Some nights he was easy to get back down to sleep after he nursed, and other times I had to try to get him back to sleep over and over again. The worst nights were during Leap 2. He was SO fussy during the day for those two weeks as well.

He took a LOT of catnaps. I tried putting him down earlier. I tried putting him down later. It was very hit or miss. By the time he turned 3 months, it seemed like an hour was his sweet spot for getting ready for a nap. Even then, sometimes he’d take an hour and a half nap, and other times he’d nap for 10 minutes! As much as I didn’t want to obsess over it… I obsessed over it. I just wanted the kid to nap! Napping made him much happier, and not napping made him very cranky. Evenings were pretty rough…he often wouldn’t nap well in the late afternoon, so evenings were scream fests while I tried to make/eat dinner with Gerrit. It was rough.

Eating: Berend still nurses for a very short amount of time (5 minutes or less) for the most part. He also still nurses every 1.5-2 hours most of the time. He’ll nurse longer when he’s nursing to sleep, so I often go ahead and let him do that. He’s much calmer and gulps less air then too when he’s sleepy. So for now he’s mostly nursing when he’s going down for a nap, going to bed, or during the night. Not ideal, but I’m okay with it.

Mommy Update: This was the month I was dreading! Not because it was the third month, but because Andrew was gone for most of it. Berend slept one 6 hour stretch shortly after he turned 2 months old, but once we moved into our new house (to the day), he started taking short catnaps and only sleeping 1-2 hours stretches at night. I was exhausted! But with Andrew and my mom here, I was able to get a nap most mornings. Once they both left, my exhaustion went to a whole new level. I dreaded nights, because my sleep was very broken. Throw in Gerrit coming in around 4 or 5am after wetting the bed, and then Berend getting up at 6am? I have no idea how much sleep I was actually getting.

Tired Mama = Crabby Mama. I definitely feel bad that I wasn’t at my best for my boys, and some days we were just in survival mode. My goals were to get a shower every other day, get some easy home cooked dinners on the table most days, and keep up with laundry. I pretty much succeeded haha. The rest of the house was a bit neglected.

The postpartum hormonal fun continues. This month is when the dreaded hair loss started. I’m pretty sure it didn’t start last time until Gerrit was 3 or 4 months old. This time it started when Berend was about 2-1/2 months old. Ugh, it grosses me out losing that much hair all the time! I’ve been breaking out a lot too. I feel like it’s been happening since I had Berend, and I just thought it would be going away by now. I feel like I’m 13 again!

With Andrew gone, I definitely had to get out of my comfort zone this month. I ran errands with both boys, including the commissary. This wouldn’t have been a big deal earlier, when Berend just chilled in the Moby wrap. But now he basically tries to escape the baby carrier, pushing himself sideways and leaning backwards the whole time. He’s ridiculous haha.

So I tried wearing him with the ring sling. And I pulled out the Ergo to see how he did with that. Still playing around with both of those, but I’m hoping to get the ring sling to work out since it’s the easiest to get on and off!

We also went out to some play dates on base. I wanted to get us out of the house, I wanted Gerrit to play with some kids his age, and I wanted to meet some moms. It’s a bit stressful getting two kids out of the house by myself, but it was worth it. Even though I’m an introvert and I enjoy alone time, it was really hard being home alone with two kids and no adult interaction for days at a time.

Memorable Events: Moving to New Mexico

Well, the drive from Arkansas to New Mexico was not very fun. The only time Berend wasn’t crying/screaming was when he was asleep. So when he was awake, we basically stopped every 10 minutes so I could calm him down. He would get to the point of crying where he’d sound like he stopped breathing — it freaked me out!

But we did make it to New Mexico. We spent a couple of days in TLF, then moved into our house on base. I’m excited to be staying in one place for a few years! This will be the house where Berend makes his first memories.

After we moved in, nothing too exciting happened though. We had unpacking and exploring to do. Minus two weeks, my mom was here to help out, which was SO appreciated with Andrew being gone.

Having Mimi around is the best! The extra pair of hands was really helpful, but I didn’t realize how much I missed having another adult to talk to. Plus my mom helps calm me down a bit. We all know I can be a bit high strung…

So there’s Berend’s 3rd month! Here’s his August photo:

As usual, Gerrit wanted to be involved too, and I never say no to a brother photo!

Berend, we adore your big happy smile! No matter how many 20 minute naps you take, your smile is irresistible, and I can’t help but smile back. I can already see that you are determined and feisty, and we can’t wait to see what new things you learn next month! We love you, little bear.