Three Months Old!

10:22 AM

What in the what?! Didn't I JUST write my two month blog post. How has another month just flown right by?

This past month has been the best yet with our sweet Isla girl. The first 8 weeks were definitely the hardest in terms of adjusting, healing, and navigating this whole new life as parents. If there was any advice I received that proved to be very accurate, it was "once you get through the first 8 weeks, it's all a lot easier and more enjoyable from there". Every week I feel more and more comfortable in this new role. That's not to say it's always easy or always enjoyable, but the joy's just keep increasing - that's for sure.

It's strange the switch that happens somewhere between the 2 and 3 month marks. Between delivery and 2 months old, I was just trying to get through the days and was hoping they would go fast and yet, now at over 13 weeks PP, I am suddenly realizing my tiny baby isn't all that tiny anymore. Now starts the "time please slow down" prayers as I watch Isla change almost daily it seems.

As far as developmental progress goes, Isla is one strong (and strong-willed) baby. Since she hated tummy time up until a couple weeks ago, her arms aren't very strong yet so she hasn't rolled at all. That being said, her favourite position is standing. She generally fusses if we try to get her to sit and she just wants to be on her feet! Her neck and legs are so strong that I feel she is gonna just try to skip crawling all together and move straight ahead to walking! I have no idea where she gets her stubbornness and determination from...(hehe).

We love learning who she is and watching her personality shine through and develop. She definitely knows what she wants, and if she gets it, she is one content baby. She loves her sleep. Our schedule works great for right now but eventually she will go to bed earlier. Since Isla is still in her bassinet beside me at night, we all basically go to bed at the same time. Her bedtime routine starts between 9-9:30pm with a feed, diaper change, and pj's...and then Scott rocks her in the rocking chair until she gets sleepy, then her Ollie swaddle goes on and she is rocked some more until she is out. She is usually placed in her bassinet around 10:30. She stirs around 7am for her soother that she inevitably spit out in the night. I put her soother back in and she sleeps until 8-8:30am and then is ready for her feed! We know we are lucky AF that she sleeps the night so easily. Her fussy time used to be dinner time and now it's bedtime - she really fights being put down. As soon as she is taken to be rocked, she loses her mind for about 20 mins and screams her heart out until she finally accepts she is going to bed whether she likes it or not...lol. I know every baby is different so it's hard for me to give advice of how to get a baby to sleep the night but for us, it's basically come down to keeping her very warm, swaddled, ensuring she has her Sue if she wants it, and not giving in to her protests to throw our routine out the window. We stick to the same bedtime routine whether she puts up a fight or not, and it has worked for us anyway. The routine was based on what worked for her right in the hospital from day one, not something we pulled from a book...so I am sure every family's routine will be slightly different. I am clearly no expert on the subject but that's how things go for us for nighttime anyway!

Isla loves to smile and be silly. She makes games for herself so she can laugh and make others laugh. Sometimes when feeding, she will pull off and look at me. When I look back at her she smiles and throws her head down as if she is going to continue the feed, but instead psych's me out and before latching, slowly raises her head back up at me and makes a big smile. Then she will repeat this all over again...pretending she is going to eat and then instead slowly looks back up at me to smile. She definitely loves to make people laugh. I find it hilarious that she likes psyching people out and playing games because in my belly she had a game she played. She would kick away like crazy until someone else tried to feel and then she would stop. As soon as they would move their hand away, she would kick away again. At the time I laughed and said she must be shy or doesn't want to entertain, but now I compare that with other funny patterns she does and realize she likes to play games and make people laugh. She honestly is so silly...she keeps me laughing most of the day.

When she isn't being silly, eating, sleeping, or fussing, she is taking in the world with wide eyes and talking away. She loves interesting patterns and loves noticing trees and plants and flowers. She really likes being outside on the grass under a tree starring up at it or the sky and watches the leaves blow in the wind - that can captivate her for awhile! She also loves TV...lol. In the evening we tried to get away with watching our current show Brooklyn 99 and as soon as her eyesight reached far enough, she would fight to turn and watch the television. I initially was concerned and shut the TV off but I am gradually less concerned about it. I grew up watching TV (not an unhealthy amount of it) and turned out pretty okay, no? Scott and I paused Brooklyn 99 and switched to watching Shark Tank. I figured if she wants to start watching TV young, she can also start learning about equity and investments young too...haha. She talks away and babbles on. She has said ma and hi so far but I can't tell how accidental or coincidental it is.

For our 7th wedding anniversary, we took a drive to the beachy touristy Western side of Ontario that borders Lake Huron and roadtripped around Southampton, Goderich, Kincardine, and Grand Bend. Isla came too and overall it was a very relaxing trip. We slept in the SUV with Isla to see how she would do in preparation for our upcoming 8 day trip out East and she slept the night in her Dockatot so that was great and eases my nerves about a long roadtrip a bit! The trip itself was super sentimental for Scott and I. After dating for 2 years, we took a wee break for a summer and really didn't have plans to get back together. I had an engagement shoot in Southampton and didn't have my license and though we had hardly spoken much that summer, Scott agreed to drive me to the shoot, which was I believe a 2.5hr drive. We ended up getting along so well with the couple that we stayed for a dinner BBQ at their summer trailer with their parents and enjoyed a beautiful sunny evening. Since Scott bonded so well with the couple and their family, it was basically decided right there that he would also accompany me to their wedding as my assistant. By the time the wedding came around a month or so later, there were a few girls who kept checking out Scott and chatting with him and I found myself getting jealous. You know at weddings when there is an older couple who look like they have been in love for 50 years and they get on the dance floor to a slow song and waltz around showing everyone else's awkward shuffling up? Well that happened. In my memory the song was Harvest Moon by Neil Young and for me, the rest was history. I saw that couple on the dance floor, not having a care in the world and being so cool while they were at it, and I knew I wanted that to be us in 50 years. Harvest Moon is now one of our songs and returning to Southampton is like returning to the place of redemption for us...and there is a lighthouse there on top of it all! We enjoyed a lovely day there with Isla walking around taking in the sights and then slept in the car before heading south to the other quaint summer towns. Grand Bend is Scott's childhood haunt and Ipperwash beach is his favourite, so it was fun to take Isla there. While at the flea market in Grand Bend, Isla had her first major diaper blowout and I was humbled to become "that mom" at a picnic table with a naked baby trying to get her cleaned up. Did I mention this was in the beer tent? Haha...#class. I couldn't help but just laugh.

Isla really is the best thing to happen to us. She is so fun and entertaining. We haven't really stopped doing what we do since she is still so small and generally happy...she has been to many restaurants and outings. She isn't the biggest fan of her car seat unless the drives are timed for her to nap. I am not sure how we will survive our upcoming roadtrip out East in September but I will be sure to update on that. She really doesn't fuss much during the day unless she is hungry, gassy, or overtired so we just work hard to prevent those three things from happening. If we time it all out right, she is easy to take along on adventures and outings without any issues.

Lately I have found it hard to balance baby time, chilling with hubby, family time, friend time, errands, cleaning, cooking, business(es) and me time. The thing I've situated to be last on the list is definitely cleaning. We have hired a friend to do occasional hours of deep cleaning for us which is a blessing for sure. Other than that, the thing I have been good at staying on top of is laundry...probably because it isn't optional. Hellooooo cloth diapering lol. I'll do a post specifically about our DIY cloth diapering experience so far but we both love it.

In the past month, Isla met tons of new friends and family. She went to the beach twice and swam in a pool for the first time. She started making her own routine, taking in the world even more, and really starting to notice (and smile at) Meadow and Milo. She loves being read to and loves dancing and music. These summer days and adventures have been the best as we are really starting to get into the swing of things!

Since late in my pregnancy, it occured to me one day that it would be a lot of fun to collaborate as a photographer/blogger with some great baby companies and since then we have been doing that! Isla has been blessed to try some awesome popular products and it has helped Scott and I save money which is always handy. Some of those products ended up being gamechangers for us and we couldn't be more thankful to have received them! I have a post in the works on the 10 items I have found to be the most helpful for this new mama since Isla's arrival, so stay tuned for that!

If you ever have any questions or topics you'd like me to blog about, shoot me an email:
info@samanthaerinphotography.com and I will definitely do that!

Here are some of the many photos of our life with Isla in her second month!
Yes I take 50 billion photos...and no one is surprised. lol



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