Brain dump week 16

So many thoughts to purge:

Just realized she no longer has the Moro reflex!! Baby is losing her infant instincts now 😫😢.
I feel like I need more foot massages now than I ever did during pregnancy. My feet are so tired from walking around the house. I also think I am way overdue for a good full body massage. The last time I had one was in January when I was about 5 weeks pregnant.. it was a “prenatal massage” too. I’m too scared to invite a mobile massage therapist into the house since I’m wary of the alarming COVID cases.
Baby really smiles and even laughs a little bit whenever I talk to her or smile at her.
It’s so nice to only pump 3 times a day. Average output these days is 850ml per day.
At 3.5 months and almost 4 months old, I’m not exactly sure what toys or things should stimulate her.. It’s weird that during pregnancy, I soaked up any and all resources related to each week of growing the fetus but now that the baby is out, I’m relying more on my natural instincts instead of resources.
I did read that music helps her development. I’ve put on classical music the most often for her to listen to. I recently started on some popular Cantonese baby songs and the radio too.
I don’t want her playing too much with toys that could overstimulate her..like toys that light up or emit electronic sounds. I want her to grow up playing with “traditional” toys that make her use her imagination and that aren’t flashy. Toys like a plushie or blocks or things she can grab onto to explore are great.
She is good at tummy time but lasts a maximum of 2 to 3 mins only these days.
She is sleeping in the crib in her own room now as of a few days ago. I no longer have to tiptoe at night in our bedroom. She’s sleeping about 4 hours at once and then about every two to stay hydrated..
I noticed she has a bit of a pinkish bald spot on the back of her head. Bald spots are normal for babies.
When holding her the past week, she’s started to lean forward on her own as if to practise her own neck and head strength. It’s so cute. She can really hold her head up for a few seconds before she rests her head back on my chest again.
The past few days, she hasn’t cried for milk during the daytime as much as before. When she does cry for milk, I can identify she’s hungry because she still does that coughing cry thing.
When she’s tired, she starts rubbing her eyes.
Her fingernails don’t grow as fast as they used to when she was a newborn. And I’ve also still yet to trim her toenails; they just aren’t long at all.
She grabs onto blankets, her own swaddles, and clothing in general now.
The other day, she started sucking her upper lip in quickly several times which would create a loud sucking sound.
She brought both her hands together and eyed her fists. She’s discovering she has two hands.
Kirkland branded diapers from Costco are so good and hold so much pee. Best diapers we’ve tried so far.
She’s upgraded to size 2 Kirkland diapers now that she’s over 13lbs.
We don’t use traditional baby wipes on her at all. We use a small soft cloth with a small bucket of water (or run the tap) to wipe her up after each diaper change. It’s so ecologically friendly this way with no chemicals on her bottom too. Plus, we save money by not having to buy wipes. (The big box of wipes we got from Costco is now useless). My mom was the one who taught us to use a small cloth rather than diapers. It makes sense since in the 90s when we grew up, wipes were probably harder to come by and a luxury.
Her head is much bigger now. She’s taller too.
She fits perfectly into her 0-3 or 3 month clothing at the moment. All she wears are onesies since we are home 24/7 with her and it’s easy to change her.
Almost 90% of the clothes we received as gifts or hand-me-downs are in that 0-3 month age category. We’re going to have to buy her new clothes soon once she continues to outgrow them.
It’s incredible to see the clothes that were so loose on her two months ago are now perfectly fitted. She has grown so much in the past three months!
She’s still eating the same volume of milk; no big growth spurts which have encouraged her to up the supply yet.
She has baby snores. It’s so cute.
She started to flip this week. On Jan 4, she went from her belly to her back three times in a row. Not sure if it was the slight incline of the bed that helped her or not.
She watches us when we drink or put something in our mouths.
I am still wearimg T-shirts at home. I get so warm and even have hot flashes sometimes.. Thank goodness it is winter and not summer right now. I’d be a sweaty and greasy mess if so.
Got a $5 high chair seat belt off Facebook marketplace which we used to replace the missing seat belt on the swing chair. Yay.
We put her to bed around 9pm and she wakes up by 9am ish. She still feeds at night, two to four times.
I actually dread pumping sometimes. The first second when the pump is turned on, I feel dread and like I don’t want to pump. But after a few seconds, the thought has passed. This dread thing is relatively new.
My pumping schedule these days is: Pump 1 is when I wake up around 9 am ish. Pump 2 is around 5pm right before dinner. Pump 3 is before I sleep at around 11pm or 12am.
I really like watching her on the Nanit monitor when she’s sleeping there at night. Too bad the night vision camera quality isn’t crystal clear though.
Since the last haircut, Ken has more white hairs than before.. It’s probably an accumulation of more worries for the baby, having to get up at night to care for her, and work stress.
She’s starting to outgrow the bassinet we use downstairs for her. When she’s in it, her arms can touch both sides of the mesh.
I find myself laughing out loud so much more than ever before. I’m either laughing directly at something that she’s doing because it’s cute or funny or because I’m just overjoyed at a joke or two that Ken cracks. I find myself laughing often when I’m pumping milk. Does the prolactin hormone trigger laughter easily? I also have big belly laughs that I can’t control sometimes. It’s great. 😂
Jan 12: She has officially started to laugh!!! It’s the cutest thing ever.
When she cries big, she has big teardrops formed and her eyelashes get all wet..
I was holding her and eating some crackers. She watched me eat them. She would turn her neck upwards and follow the cracker’s path into my mouth.
Same thing when I drink water, she would watch me. I swirled the water in my mouth which created some sound and her eyes widened in amazement. Lol.
She knows we look at a rectangular object with a bright screen often and will try to look at it too….
She is turning on her side so often these days.