Everyday Memories: 3 Months(ish) Update

Nathan didn't have a 3 month visit to the doctor's so there were no stats to do any updates until now. We weighed him on Christmas at Steve's parents. My little guy is still a lightweight but he continues to grow steadily in length. I realized this week that while I had gone shopping to get him 3-6 months "going out" clothes, I don't really have any 3-6 month sleepers for him to wear at home. He's outgrowing his current sleepers and they just fit. Luckily, there's 20% off sale at Carter's this week so I was able to get some sleepers for him. I find Carter's clothes fit Nathan really well. Long and slim. :)

Height: 60cm (+2cm)
Weight: 11lbs 8oz (+1lb 6oz)
No head circumference data.

He can probably gain more weight but since I can't really force him to eat more than he already does, I guess he'll just continue to be a lightweight for now. My arms are quite happy with that.

We started to keep track of Nathan's schedule a few days after he turned 2 months using this app called Baby Connect. It's a $4.99 app from the App Store, which in the app world in quite expensive, but I've been extremely happy with it. The main reason I chose this one is because it also has a web interface so you don't necessarily need a smart phone to log events. So why bother logging everything you ask?

I bought it originally to log his sleep so I could better understand his schedule and see if he is getting enough sleep. Many books recommend keeping a sleep log to see if the things you're doing for sleep training is working. Pencil and paper logging wasn't really appealing so naturally I searched for an app to do this for me. :) I get a timeline view of Nathan's day so that I can easily see what his natural pattern is. I honestly never thought I'd be one of those moms who log everything, but it does have cool, geeky benefits.

For example, I can get random stats like:

December Totals
460h26m of sleep
202 diapers (136 poopy)
28h38m of total feeds excluding bottles
I also use it to keep track of the weight, height, and head size and it automatically computes the percentile for me and plots it on the curve. :) We also use it to track milestones and vaccines for future reference purposes. The best part though, is that multiple people can do updates. Both Steve and I have the app on our phones and my dad who's been the person who helps me most, also logs the events on the computer. When Steve and I are out on a date, I no longer have to call home to see how Nathan is doing. Yay push notifications. :) It really makes going out much less worrisome. My dad tells me he intends to continue to track Nathan's progress after he returns to Hong Kong. :) They're in Ottawa right now, and I'm sure he logs on everyday to see whether Nathan is sleeping well. :P I get no commisions or perks for singing this app praises, but I do think it's a good app to use if you're looking for something to log events for sleep training, etc.

UPDATE: As Relgar made me realize, I guess it is easier to understand what the app does with some screen shots. :)

Now of course, having the app doesn't make the baby sleep well. Despite my efforts in getting Nathan to sleep better, we have still have good days and quite a few bad days. Some days he doesn't nap well, other nights he still wakes frequently. But at the very least, I know when he's low on his total sleep count from a previous day and I try to get him to sleep more to catch up the next day. Overall though, Nathan is a much more smiley baby this month. He's still super happy in the morning and loves it when you talk to him.

He also started showing that he has preference. We have been feeding him a bottle a day since he was about 3 weeks old in the hopes that he won't reject the bottle when he's older. Despite all that, he started making a fuss whenever we give him the bottle. He definitely prefers me but if he refuses the bottle, he goes hungry until he accepts the bottle. Mommy still wins eventually but ah, the battle of the wills has begun. This month, I had to start paying more attention to the things that I do to make a conscious effort to develop a good routine for him.

Nathan is still not a big fan of toys. If there are people around, he'd much rather stare at faces than play with any of his toys. Most of the time, the toys I've taken out for him just sit on the sidelines. He does however, like this one toy that Auntie Amy bought him. He can grab it easily with his hands and has gotten really good with grabbing onto it for prolonged periods of time. He can bat at all the toys hanging from his play gym now and even use both his hands and legs to try to hit all the hanging objects at once! He also got much better at tummy time and we stopped having to support his neck when we carry him around. We tried sitting him in the bumbo but he's still a bit short for it. He still rolls from tummy to back off and on, but not necessarily every day. He stares at his hands often before he falls asleep and on his bouncy chair, and recently also at his feet.