Corbin is already 3 months old (13 weeks)!
Wow, that went fast. Some people feel sad when the newborn stage is over, but I’m excited that he’s starting to interact with us, play with toys, and coo more. And since he wasn’t an easy newborn, I’m kinda breathing a sigh of relief that the first three months are over!
Size
He won’t go back to the doctor until 4 months so no weight or height stats for ya, but Corbin has been in 6-month clothing for at least 3 weeks now. Even 6-month pants mostly fit him. He doesn’t have a bunch of rolls though–he’s just a solid little boy. He’s also in size 3 diapers now too. Size 2 still fits him technically but I’d rather not chance the blowouts (sometimes they even happen in size 3 because he saves up for days and then lets it rip).
Eating/Sleeping
Corbin has stretched his awake time out to 75-90 minutes (including feeding time). That gives us a good 30-45 minutes to actually play and interact with him before he needs to nap, which is nice. Generally speaking, he goes to bed between 7 and 9 PM, and wakes up between 4 and 6 AM to nurse. If he wakes up more like 4 AM, he goes right back to sleep for another couple of hours. If he wakes up at 6 AM, he’s usually “up for the day” (aka up for an hour before he needs his first nap).
His naps are usually about an hour long, with the exception of his late afternoon nap, which tends to be 2-3 hours long (from about 3-6). He still goes to bed at the normal time and sleeps through the night, so I guess it works for him!
Corbin usually drinks 5-6 ounces from a bottle for a feeding, so I would assume he gets roughly the same amount nursing. He’s been a champ with the bottle (praise Jesus!), and has done really well with the nanny we hired. He is still taking his acid reflux meds. I didn’t give them to him for a day before his 2-month checkup and he seemed to be fussier, so we’re sticking with them for now.
He still loves being swaddled, though he’s started to be able to get his hands out once he wakes up. He has been able to find and suck on his hands more too, so maybe we’re nearing the one-arm swaddle? I can’t imagine him giving up the swaddle altogether yet, because he loves it so much. When he’s ready for a nap, he wails like the world is ending. We swaddle him, sometimes give him a pacifier, and 85% of the time, he totally relaxes and is content to be carried around and bounced. Sometimes he’s still a little fussy (having a hard time settling down) but after only about 5 minutes, he starts getting sleepy. It still takes 15-20 minutes to get him to sleep though.
He fell asleep once in my arms unswaddled. 
The thing that makes him the fussiest is either not getting a good nap or getting woken up from a nap. Then he is a beast! But as long as he gets good naps (whether in the Bjorn or Rock n Play), he’s a pretty happy guy.
Development
Corbin seems to be a pretty mellow baby so far. He does smile a fair amount, though not nearly as much as Emma and Annabelle did (though we were told by several people that Emma smiled more than the average baby). Emma and Annabelle were also considerably more vocal than Corbin has been, but maybe I’m remembering them at more like 4 months?
Since Corbin has distinct awake times now beyond just feeding, we can tell that he’s a pretty happy baby overall. His favorite thing is to lay on his back and kick his legs, whether on his playmat or in his bouncy seat. He has also sat in the Bumbo a few times, and seems to like that (we make sure to support his head if it bobs around too much but he has pretty good neck strength). He does not like tummy time though AT ALL. Seriously, 5-10 seconds and he’s done. Oh well.
I put Corbin forward-facing in the Baby Bjorn yesterday for the first time and he seemed to really like it! That might start making it more possible for me to be outside with the girls while he’s awake. I also take him on very short stroller rides (to the mailbox and back). That’s usually his limit!
And that’s Corbin at 3 months!
Size
He is still mostly wearing 3-month clothes, though he does fit into his 6-month summer rompers, and 6-month onesies aren’t crazy big on him.
Eating/Sleeping
Even though his naps are hit or miss these days, Corbin has thankfully become easier to get to sleep. He’s content to just be swaddled and held, and we can have him outside or rock him in the chair and he’ll eventually drift off to sleep (most of the time).
He really likes sucking on a pacifier about 80% of the time (the other 20% he just pushes it around with his tongue).
And that’s Corbin at 10 weeks!
Little by little, I’m getting the hang of three kids. I’ve become a lot more flexible with where I nurse Corbin (in the hallway during bathtime, outside when the girls are playing in the yard) and also resigned to having him in the baby carrier more often. Some women love wearing their babies; I enjoy it to a point. I also enjoy being able to bend down without squatting, and take a shower every now and then.
It’s all concentrated in my stomach, but this time I started doing ab exercises at 2 weeks postpartum so I can actually fit into several pairs of pre-pregnancy pants. I did also buy a couple new pairs of jeans though so that I could put my maternity clothes away (and even though the weather is warmer, it’s still jeans weather).
Size
Eating
I met with a lactation consultant yesterday because even though Corbin seems to nurse really well and is obviously growing, he is fussy and unhappy often. Almost the only way he’s happy while awake is being tightly swaddled, cradled horizontally in our arms, and jiggled/bounced — and he can tell if you sit down (and doesn’t like it), which makes for some very sore arms and back for whoever is holding him. The lactation consultant observed a partial lip tie and referred us to a dentist in a nearby town who will do a consultation for free, so I think we’ll look into that.
Similar to Annabelle, Corbin will fall asleep in his carseat on car rides, but wakes up immediately when we try to move the carseat inside. Yesterday, I took a nap in the car with him while the girls played outside in our driveway. It was glorious.
We have noticed, however, that one thing that gets Corbin to sleep faster than anything else (once you have him swaddled, cradled, and bouncing) is for him to hear people talking, either in person or on the TV/radio, or even the girls screaming. I had been avoiding watching shows at night out of fear that the noise would stimulate him and keep him awake longer, but it actually has the opposite effect on him. He also seems to like being carried around (swaddled, cradled) while I tidy up and out toys/clothes/dishes away, which is nice because then I can at least stay on top of the housework (for the most part) while holding him.
I will say that the hardest thing about having a newborn this time around is not the newborn himself, but our other kids. Two kids was a juggling act, and three is even more so. It is very helpful that the girls are as old as they are. Emma can get snacks and drinks for her and Annabelle while I’m nursing (as long as she’s in the mood to be a helper and not a helpee), and Annabelle is about 75% potty trained, so we don’t have to change her diapers/pullups very often.
But because the girls are older and capable of more things, they are also harder to wrangle. Emma will take off on a walk through the woods, or climb up a snowbank in her tennis shoes and regular pants, and I can’t race after her because I am holding a baby (and Emma is pretty stubborn/defiant so she doesn’t listen to my pleas or threats). Annabelle is better about sticking in the driveway or yard around the house, but is also more needy in terms of getting her shoes and jacket on, and getting hurt doing stuff she sees Emma doing but can’t quite do herself.
Life, Really Blog 