sarah anderson: 3 Months!

When I was 38 weeks pregnant, I met a woman at Target who was with her little girl. Bless her heart, you could tell this woman was the type of woman who was obsessed with all things baby, so I was pretty much her favorite person ever when I told her I was 38 weeks along. "Ohh, you're going to have SO MUCH FUN with your baby girl! My little one here is 57 weeks old, and she blah blah blah..." The woman continued to talk about her daughter, but I literally couldn't concentrate on anything after she said her daughter was 57 weeks old. "So she's one?" I asked? "Yes, 57 weeks," she replied.

And it was at that precise moment when I decided I would only give Sydney's age in weeks until she was three months old. Twelve weeks and younger sounds cute. Thirteen weeks and older sounds confusing to non-parents. But 57 weeks?

Sydney also:

Is sleeping throughout the night (which is good because I go back to work on Monday...)
Weighs only about 12 pounds (she only weighed 11 lbs, 8 oz at her two month checkup--eek), but she's probably grown an inch in height
Can completely hold her head up on her own
Tries to sit up whenever she's laid down and somewhat propped up
Smiles so much and is starting to giggle :)
Eats about five times per day, every 3-4 hours (mostly breastfed with maybe 1-2 bottles of breastmilk mixed in her day)
Grabs everything, all the time
Doesn't like to be held like a baby (horizontally) and likes to be held sitting up
Is very interested in what Mama is doing and if Mama is near
Does not poop very often, which is awesome...no, seriously, she goes maybe once every other day? I WILL TAKE IT! (Pediatrician told me it's totally fine and normal.)

Sydney is continuing to grow, learn and develop daily, and I am more in love with her than ever before. She is definitely making it hard to go back to work...

And speaking of, we had our daycare orientation the other week -- and I was a basket-case. Initially I couldn't be more happy with our decision because we've heard such great things about the daycare franchise we chose based on other parents who have their children at the schools across the state. But now? I'm f-ing panicking. The infant room that once was bright, cheery and warm on our initial tour is now too bright (fluorescent lighting should be illegal in both women's bathrooms and daycare infant rooms), cramped (was the room always that small?) and loud (tone it, screaming 10-month-old boy with runny nose and sticky hands). My biggest worry is that our happy girl won't be too happy any longer because ~~we're about to f up her world~~ she won't be napping anymore, as it's against our daycare's rules to swaddle babies. Sydney loves playing with her hands, so I know she won't sleep very easily. In fact, when I first learned this rule a couple weeks ago, I tried to start transitioning her out of a swaddle - epic failure. Evidently you start by leaving one arm out of the swaddle, but when I did that, all she did was wave her one free hand in the air for 37 minutes straight. She looked like she was at a U2 concert.

The next day I tried to put her down for naps cold turkey without a swaddle - more epic failing. Poor thing couldn't fall asleep (more enthusiastic hand swaying) and when she finally did, she would wake herself back up again. Because she was so tired from not napping all day, she was a hot mess when I tried to put her down for bedtime, so I said forget it - I'll let daycare break her of the swaddling habit.

Sydney is feeling much better, thanks to some earlier bedtimes, a little more steam bathing and a lot of cuddling. She loves steam baths! She could probably stay in there all day if we let her. I can tell she's already going to be an excellent spa partner once she's older. Since she was feeling so good, I decided to push the envelope further, and we accompanied some friends to the Denver Zoo last Friday (Sydney did not relapse, thank goodness). Yes, we decided to take our kids to the zoo. On a Friday. On a bright, sunny day. We clearly weren't thinking because it was the pure definition of utter chaos. If I hadn't already had a child, it would have been the most perfect form of birth control. (Note to self: Pull Sydney out of school when she's in 7th grade and take her to the zoo on a sunny Friday in the spring.)