Three month check-in

Happy Three Months, Penny!

*Edit: After publishing this post, I just looked at this pic more carefully and realized Penny is sticking up her middle finger! HAHA!

I have been scrolling back at old pictures of her, and Jack and I cannot believe how much she has grown physically. It is actually hard to realize that when we are with her everyday. She was like a little kitten when she was born, and now she's substantial enough for our arms to be sore after holding her for a while. Her cheeks are so chubby and soft. She has grown beautiful long lashes. Her thighs are developing yummy looking rolls. Her sassy personality is really starting to shine through. 

I do have to say that these were the hardest three months of my life! Penny is cute and fun, but she is not so easy to care for. Is any newborn easy, though?
Here is an update on Penny's stats:

Stature and weight: 

At her last checkup about 1 month ago, Penny was 58th percentile in weight, 90th percentile in height, 70th percentile in head circumference. She is on the longer side, so we have to size up a lot on her clothes. Her next check up will be when she is four months old.

Milestones:

Socially Smiles
Coos and can hold a "conversation" for a while
Starting to attempt to grab objects
Brings her hands to her mouth
Tracks moving objects with her eyes
Rolls over to her side 
Pushes down on legs when held upright
Kicks like a soccer player
Will sometimes use arms to push herself up during tummy time

Playtime:

Penny loves to be on her Skip Hop activity mat. She admires the hanging animals and likes to kick the supporting arches so that the animals make rattle sounds. She also likes to practice rolling over on it. Sometimes, I play children’s songs on Spotify and sing to her. She especially enjoys Itsy- Bitsy Spider. Penny also enjoys light picture book reading.

Eating:

Penny eats like a champ! When she was just born, she had a lot of trouble latching on to the breast. Since I was frustrated with her latch, I pumped exclusively for her the first month. However, my supply dipped since I was slacking with pumping. I decided to try breastfeeding again when turned one month old, and while it was uncomfortable for me at first, she actually latched on great. Breastfeeding eventually became super easy for the both of us. The only complaint I have is that she does often spit up, but even that has vastly improved.

Bowel movements: 

Irregular, often does not poop for days. Her pediatrician says it is normal and nothing to worry about. When she does have her bowel movement, it tends to be massive.. and explosive...

Pee: 

She pees like a champ. We are poor from all these diapers she goes through.

Baths:

We bathe Penelope every other day. American Academy of Pediatrics recommends bathing infants three times a week. Penny LOVES bath time. She smiles during bathing and likes to kick the water to splash. I absolutely love bath time with her. I just don’t like taking her out of the bath as she will usually have a melt down when taken out of the tub.

Sleep:

I have to admit this is the most frustrating part about being a parent for me. Penny's sleep can range from mediocre to horrendous. Her naps are inconsistent in length -- most of the time they are too short, and she will wake up tired and cranky. At night, she would wake up every 4-6 hours on average, which would mean she wakes up about 1-2x a night. There have also been nights where she wakes ups 3-4x. She has poor sleep associations like needing to be rocked, walked around, and sometimes even needs comfort nursing if all else does not work. I am working on letting her self-soothe and trying to rid of these bad sleep associations. I give her some time to fuss it out before her daytime naps and nighttime sleep. Her sleep has greatly improved throughout these last 2-3 weeks, but still needs major work. I do have faith that as she gets older, her sleep will improve. But if it does not get much better, I am open to the cry-it-out method.
If anyone has any tips to improve her sleep, PLEASE let me know. I am very open to suggestions.

Thank you for taking the time to read this long post. Enjoy the rest of your holiday weekend!