Paisley at 3 months old

Paisley is 3 months old now and is developing very well. This last month has seen some big changes and seen her personality really come out. We’ve had no reason to see the health visitors. I told myself this time round I wouldn’t bother with them unless I felt that we needed to and so far, I’ve managed to stick to that. So, what has Paisley been getting up to?
Possibly the biggest thing she has been doing is moving already! Not very far and not very fast but when having her bit of tummy time over the last couple of days she has been propelling herself forward by lifting her bum up and then pushing with her feet and knees. I’ve managed to film a little bit of it so you can see for yourself.

She’s very smiley and, as you can see in that video, she can hold her head up very well when she wants too. She’s started giggling and coo-ing and making all sorts of cute noises. She loves conversation when she’s not hungry, she can be very social.

Sleeping

She has been sleeping through for the last 3 weeks and it’s been bliss but I’m not naive enough to think it will last. She’ll cluster feed in the evening whilst Liam and I catch up on a few episode of The X Files and then we’ll put her to bed when we go up. She sleeps from 11-11:30pm to 6-6:30ish apart from the last two mornings when she has stayed asleep until 8am!! I think it’s the cluster feed thats doing it as she is full enough to go through longer.

Changing

Paisley has been in disposable nappies since birth but over the last week or so we have been trying out some reusable nappies, thanks to Hannah at Budding Smiles. I’ll admit I’ve not been entirely convinced by them so far but on days when we aren’t going anywhere I will keep persevering. They are easy enough to wash and dry and Paisley doesn’t seem to mind them but I find them a bit fiddly to get on right and sometimes damp. Maybe I’m not doing it right but we’ll get there, if not they will be donated to the nappy library. Either way, I’m glad we tried them.

Feeding

Paisley is still feeding like a pro. She has been exclusively breastfed since birth and does it so well. I’m so proud of her and she’s growing some amazing fat rolls. She feeds as soon as she wakes up, then again about half an hour later which gives me time to sort Dexters breakfast and get him washed and dressed. Then she feeds whenever she wants during the day for however long she wants finishing with cluster feeds in the evening while we watch TV. I’m not interested in trying to get her into a routine. With Dexter we seemed to be told to do things a certain way or at certain times and it all became a bit stressful. Now, I’m just interested in doing what my children need me to do, when they need me to do it and it seems to be working pretty great. I wish I had this level of confidence the first time round. It would’ve saved a lot of stress.

I weighed Paisley at the end of last week and she already weighs 1 stone. She’s been in 3-6 month old clothes since she was around 10 weeks  but now is just starting to fit in the smaller items of her 6-9 months clothing. She is growing so well. She’s clearly thriving. I knew she would be a much bigger baby than D. She was so much heavier and tougher to carry but I’m loving seeing the differences between then. It’s true what they say, each pregnancy and each baby is different.

Play time

I have a big throw/blanket that I lay on the floor for Paisley to play on and I surround her with her toys. Dexter and I will get down with her and talk to her and she likes to have a good look around. In fact she’s so nosey she’s already worn away a large area of her beautiful hair. She reaches out to grab things and has started putting things into her mouth. Mainly her hands but also her taggy bunny and clothes. She can also clasp her hands together and loves holding on to other peoples hands. She loves bashing her activity triangle and her legs are constantly flailing about. She’s never still unless she’s sleeping.

Her hair has slightly thinned out as her head has grown and her eyes have changed from the most amazing steel grey to a lovely blue. All of my side of the family have dark eyes apart from my sister. Liam and Dexter have both got blue eyes but both have (had in Liam’s case) blonde hair. I know they can change any time in the first 12 months but secretly I’d love them to stay blue. They’ll look so awesome with her dark hair. Saying that, she already looks exactly like my late sister Kay so if she had much Darker eyes, she’d be her double.

And me?

I am now pretty much back to normal now. I haven’t felt this energetic for what feels like forever. Just the other day, Dexter and I were playing at the park while Paisley slept in her pram. We were kicking the ball about and he giggled so much. It was such a lovely sound to hear and I’ve really missed being the one to make him do that while I’ve been so heavy and tired. My stomach muscles still ache if I do too much, but not hugely. If I’m pushing Dexter on the swing, I notice them but it doesn’t hurt as such, they just remind me they’re there.
I’m getting over the ‘My body is amazing just the way it is’ stage and wanting to shift some of my wobbly bits now too. Don’t get me wrong, I still think it’s an amazing feat to be able to grow and nurture a human and then to continue to grow it once it’s born… but I can’t keep using that as an excuse to eat crap so I’ve dug out my slimming world recipe books and we are starting to look at what we eat now too. I would like to go back to slimming world at one point but while I’m on maternity leave, my budget just won’t stretch that far.

And Dexter?

Dexter is still loving his sister, still loving kissing her and cuddling her and also is still a little heavy handed with her. He talks to her all the time and when she cries he’s the first one to say ‘Oh don’t wuwee Pay-lee’ and he’ll go over to see whats wrong. He’ll notice if she kicks her blanket off and he’ll always put it back on her. He always wants to share his bath with her and is forever playing in her room, even without us in there! He has his moments but mostly he is the best big brother we and Paisley could’ve asked for.