3 months!

Our little girl is three months old!

The three month milestone signals the end of the “fourth trimester” and a marked change in her temperament and behavior. She has already shed most of her newborn traits—like eating every two hours and sleeping anywhere and through anything. For better or worse, this girl is growing up!

• Her night time sleep schedule is pretty solid. She goes to sleep every evening between 7 and 8, wakes up to eat sometime between 2 and 4, then goes back to sleep until 7 or 8am. Not too shabby! I love that she goes to bed when Adelaide goes to bed. It means that Matt and I have a few quiet hours to ourselves every evening and these hours are SO WONDERFUL!

• I’m starting to see the faint outline of a nap schedule! Lately she’s been taking 1-2 hour naps (if she’s allowed) two to three times a day. It’s hard, though, because she only sleeps for that length if she’s at home in her own bed, and the times she wants to nap are the times usually allotted for playgrounds or errands. I guess this is the fate of a second born! Her napping preference has caused us to be homebodies the past two weeks…I’m still trying to find a good compromise.

• She spends many hours awake and alert everyday. She’s so quiet when she’s awake. She loves to look around and watch everyone in the room to see what they’re doing. I’ve been able to give her more floor time so that she can practice her rolling. So far, she’s rolled over in Adelaide’s old crib, and has gotten sooooooooooooooo close on the floor, but not yet. Any day now she’ll be rolling all over this place! Adelaide has been doing her big sister duty of “teaching” Cadence how to roll. I can’t wait to see her beam with pride the first time Cadence rolls over.

• She still hates the car. H A T E S the car! Ugh…it’s so awful. Every time we get her strapped into her seat and clicked into the seat base she starts crying. The sleep sheep is no longer a sure thing. It still helps, but only if she’s already sleepy. WHEN WILL SHE GROW OUT OF THIS!??!

• She found her thumb!!! I’ve been waiting for it and waiting for it and she’s finally figured it out! She’s not super consistent about finding it, but when she’s sleepy or already been sleeping, it’s usually right there in her mouth. I love that she’s got her very own pacifier! Her new thumb sucking has made her desire for a traditional pacifier even smaller. She’ll still take a paci, but she prefers her thumb. LOVE THIS!

UPDATE (2/29/12): She slept for 11 hours straight last night!??! She was super cranky yesterday so she didn’t fall asleep until 8:30, but then she slept all the way through the night until 7:30 this morning! I woke up at 6am and freaked out a little…then went back to sleep and tried to enjoy the fact that I got so much sleep! I doubt this will continue, but it was a really nice treat!

Here’s what our girl looks like at 3 months!

How To:

The super cute onesie she is wearing in these pictures was made with a freezer paper stencil! Have you heard about these great home-made stencils? They are super easy to make and I think they work pretty well! You can Google “freezer paper stencil” for a million how-to websites, but here are the basic steps:

• Cut Reynolds Freezer Paper to 8.5″ x 11″ (the size that will fit in your printer) and print out your stencil. If you want to duplicate the onesie I made, you can download the printable stencil here:

Download “3 Months Stencil”

• Using an Exacto knife, cut out the design, being VERY careful not to cut beyond the border of the printed area.
• Cut your stencil down to a size that will fit on the onesie making sure there is plenty of paper around the border so it will properly adhere to the onesie.
• With your iron set to high heat, iron the onesie first to make sure there are no wrinkles, place the stencil as desired on the onesie coated side down, and then iron the paper. The plastic coating will stick to the onesie!
• Using a fabric paint, apply three-four thin coats of paint allowing each coat to dry completely before applying a new one. If the stencil gets too wet it will lift off of the onesie and the paint will bleed outside of the design.
• Once the paint has dried, carefully peel off the paper and voila! A beautifully stenciled onesie!