Has it been 3 months?

Wow, things have been busy and crazy and wonderful since Alina was born! I can't believe it has already been 3 months! I felt a strong need to document a few things about this adorable child and get it saved before the precious memories slip my baby brain.

Alina has been a real sweetheart from day 1. We had a wonderful all natural delivery (see Alina's Birth Story) and proceeded home from the hospital with relatively few complications. As it turns out I was group B strep positive, which many women are, and didn't know it nor was there time to treat it anyway, so it required an extra 24 hours of observation for the baby's sake. I guess that was better than unnecessary anti-biotic treatments (because she did not catch an infection) and we had full insurance coverage for the hospital stay. We had a bit of a time deciding on her name, but it has finally caught on and it is growing on me by the day.

She slept and nursed quite well in the hospital and it wasn't just beginner's luck. Alina has been sleeping through the night - 10 hours on average now, since 5-6 weeks. She wakes up sometime between 7:30am and 9am, nurses and then goes back to sleep for another 2-3 hours. I am the luckiest mom on the planet! She is a little more petite than Quentin was, but she is not small to say the least! She was born almost 9 lbs. and is just cruising up the growth charts at a healthy pace.

We have had a few minor blips, but nothing serious. Alina had a tongue tie that we had an ENT doctor clip. That just means the "skin" that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth was connected all the way to the tip of her tongue making it hard for her to stick her tongue out and could cause speech issues later on. It didn't affect her nursing, but we had it clipped anyway. She did not cry much and thankfully I didn't either.

Another strange incident was she had a little bit of green poop. I had to google this one...I spoke with Alina's doctor about it as well and there was unlikely any serious reason for it, I tried a few things and eventually it went away. My doctor sometimes forgets this is my second child and perhaps doesn't realize how much I went through with my first, so she thinks I have to be seen for every little thing like a paranoid new mom. I am paranoid about some things (with good reason), but green poop isn't one of them.

She has so many similar expressions and tendencies as Quentin. I am not sure how many of them are common to all newborns, or just mine, but they sure are cute. When she has been sitting or sleeping for a long time and I go to pick her up, she does this cute thing where she puts her elbows out and sticks her butt way out at the same time, like she was stuck in the sitting position. This is hard for me to capture in a picture since it usually only happens when I am the one picking her up.

She also is balling her fists in such a cute way, it is like she is punching the air and stiffens her arms. Darling!

She also has the funny drunk like expression after nursing sometimes, and she literally can smack her lips in satisfaction. It is so funny! She can also burp-with-the-boys as far as I'm concerned. She thankfully does NOT spit up often and does not drool often either, so my whole laundry situation has been much different this time around. However, we just started having blow out diapers where it goes up the back and requires an outfit change. I am not thrilled with this stage and can't remember how long it lasts.

She is cooing and smiling and started doing that much earlier than I expected. I have also been working with her on tracking with her eyes, which is following an object around smoothly as it is moved in front of her. I wish she were better at this, I would be less worried, but it is there and she is capable of it. The doctor told me that she needs to be doing it well by 3 months, so I may call and discuss this with her since it isn't a fantastic skill yet and after Quentin's issues we are watching this particular skill closely.

By the way, did I mention that she has SOMEONE wrapped around her little finger?

She surprised us in Denver over the holidays that she rolled over from front to back and from back to front once. She is not doing it regularly, but I was not kidding when I said she is strong. She is constantly trying to stand with her legs and push off with them to avoid being "sat". She was not quite 3 months!

She loves the swing and has more recently enjoyed sitting under her activity mat and batting at the hanging toys. She can grip things pretty well and will certainly start "playing" with things soon. I am going to have to do some research on what signs I should look for that she is ready for solid foods, since I don't intend to rush it. Her doctor has commented several times that because she is not fussy, has gained so much weight and sleeps so well and consistently, I must make really good milk. I know she has been "early" on many of her milestones already, but I am trying to approach new things for her on the most natural timeline and not Gerber's timeline.

Quentin has been the best big brother and I couldn't ask for anything better considering their 6 year age difference. He is so sweet and loves her so much! He mimics my tone of voice and speaks nicely to her, puts his head really close to hers and asks me to take pictures of them, and kisses and hugs her. He even puts himself under the activity mat too and will ask to hold her (using my boppy pillow). He helps get her pacifier when needed and does everything EXCEPT listen to me when I ask him to be a little more quiet around her when she is sleeping or resting. It could be worse.

She still has dark reddish hair and blue eyes, so we'll enjoy watching it grow longer and possibly change into a more permanent shade of whatever! She has a very light whitish blonde streak on the side of her head that is probably a hair birthmark and will probably always be different from the rest of her hair color. There is also a small patch of lighter red hear right across her forehead, so she could have natural highlighting that most people have to pay big bucks for!

She was born on the same day as a cousin who was born only 14 hours later, so they met for the first time over the Christmas holiday. She was also able to meet the rest of her immediate family so everyone on both sides of the family have now met our Alina! It has been a wonderful 3 months and I will try and update more often!