Vivian - 3 Months

3 Months (+1 Week). Wow. These seem to be the only words that come to my mind lately. Can Queen V really be a little over 3 months old? It should be against the law for her to be growing so fast… She is no longer considered a newborn, she is a baby!!! A cute, inquisitive, drool-ey, content baby!

We have had a pretty mellow month, not too much was going on. We celebrated Thanksgiving 3 different times in one day, and it was rough, it was nice to have Vivian meet the rest of the crazy Benesh clan. She loved her uncle Tank and Great Grandpa Benesh. She is also super excited to have a cousin (Thanks Austin and Aly!!!)

She has changed so much; she is beginning to have little chunky thighs, her face is filling out, and she has little wrist rolls! They are so delicious I could just eat them. It is hard to keep up with all of the changes taking place!

**PERSONALITY
**Vivi’s little personality is really coming through these days.  For the most part she is a happy go lucky little girl who loves to have conversations with her Daddy about her days and other random techie things. One of her favorite things to do during these conversations is SMILE, and let me tell you it has to be the cutest smile in the world. But she also knows how to get her way. She knows how to get her Mommy and Daddy’s attention and how to get it NOW! Otherwise she only fusses when she is hungry, or over tired which is amazing!

**SLEEP
**We have a pretty great thing going on right now. She pretty much cat naps throughout the day. Her days go a little something like this. Eats, awake and alert for an hour or so, then it is nap time for about a half hour or so then she wakes up all smiles and ready to play for about a half hour then it is time to eat again. At night we have a pretty established routine. 2 days a week she gets a bath (unless there is an explosive poo in there) around 8:45pm. We usually have our last feeding around 9-9:30pm then we have some mommy Vivi cuddles and she falls right asleep. We lay like that for about 15 minutes (to make sure she is sound asleep) and then she gets moved to the bassinet. She will sleep until about 2 am and then we will nurse while watching some movie on Netflix that Daddy wouldn’t like, then we have some more cuddles and then it is back to bed until 6am.

We haven’t moved her to her room yet… I know, I know… But I just love the convenience of just reaching over and grabbing her and she is right there and ready to nurse. Pure laziness, but it works for us right now.

**PREFERENCES
**After extensive testing we have finally found a pacifier that won’t gag her. Vivian really seems to like the MAM brand… The soothies were too long and the nuk brand she just didn’t enjoy… When a pacifier isn’t available she sucks/gnaws on her hand unless there is a blanket, burp rag, or her sleeve is around. Lately if she can she will put it in her mouth or lick it… silly little girl.

She loves to sit up right (with our help of course).

She still loves her some tummy time, no rolling over yet. Whenever she is ready it will happen, I just wish she would hurry up because I want to see it!!!

She also has a favorite toy… I wouldn’t really even call it a toy, it’s more of a sensory thing. It is two pieces of fleece sewn together with a bit of crinkly stuff inside. One side has a bright pattern, and the other a solid bright color with ribbons sewn into loops around the edge. She loves it. She plays with the ribbons and loves to lick them. And the corner of it always ends up in her mouth. I’m going to have to find a way to make some more of these. Pinterest here I come.

**HEALTH
**We have officially survived our first cold. I have to say that those 4 days were pretty rough. She was so stuffy we had to use the bulb syringe to clear out her little nose, which of course she hated. (*side note she loves to look at the bulb syringe and laugh at it when it is nowhere near her face… weirdo). There is still a little bit of congestion and a cough every once in a great while, mostly at night before bed. She was barley sleeping unless she was in my arms, so you can imagine how much sleep I got… NONE. But that’s okay, I forgive her.

EATING
We are still nursing! Granted it is not as much as before. We have been doing a lot of bottles. We nurse about 3 or 4 times out of the 8 feedings she has in a day, so about half. Go us. The goal is to nurse/pump for 3 more months. I know we can do it. Don’t get me wrong I love nursing (now) but I LOVE the convenience of the bottle. She is still getting the boob milk and that is what matters.

**LAUGHING/TALKING
**Talking has really taken off in the past two weeks. All of a sudden she has so much to say to us. Before it used to be a coo here and a coo there, and now it is a full blown “aaaaaaahhhhhhhhhgggggggggggwwwwwooooo”. She is now mixing little squeals in there too. At first it scared me that she hurt herself somehow… nope just finding her voice.

There hasn’t been a full blown belly laugh yet. We get a giggle every now and then. I am ready for a belly laugh though.

**HEAD CONTROL
**Her neck is getting so strong. It has been pretty strong. Since she was a month old she was able to hold her head up. Every now and then she will flail her head back and forth for fun.

**GRABBING
**She will grab her sensory thing and bring it to her mouth, or my fingers. She is still working really hard on the whole grabbing thing. If things are dangling in front of her face she will swat it and laugh.

**TEETHING/DROOLING
**I’m not too sure if she is teething yet, but the amount of drool that comes out of that little girls mouth is ridiculous.

DAYCARE
So our baby just loves daycare. Every morning I ask her if she is excited to go to daycare and she gets this huge smile on her face and will kick her little legs so fast like she wants to run there now. She is kept super busy and works on her tummy time while she is there. I’m also sure there is no shortage of love there either. We just love Brooke, Porche, and Linda they are great. Once she comes home we ask V what she did at daycare and she coos and talks away. Melts my heart. People always ask me if I have a hard time dropping her off every day, and I can honestly say no. I love where she goes, I know she is safe, and I trust who I leave her with. Plus it is only for 4 hours, it is a nice mini vacation.