Clara Three Months

Clara is three months old today and I can't believe she's not a little newborn baby anymore. She's been such a a good baby especially this past week when she's slept through the night (9pm-7am) a few days in a row without waking up at all. She's started to wake up again once for a feed, but it's usually pretty quick and she'all go right back to sleep.

She's still feeding about 2-3 hours during the day, but not cluster feeding as much in the evening. She's 5.55 kilos and right below the 50th percentile for her weight. I thought about pumping and giving her a bottle with breastmilk in the beginning, but now I've decided I can't be bothered so exclusive breastfeeding it is!

When she was about 2 months Clara rolled over from her front to her back and this past week, she's done the more difficult manoeuvre of rolling from her back to her front. She's also cooing and babbling a lot plus the most smiley in the morning. She loved playing peekaboo just before bedtime today, I haven't seen her smile/laugh so much!

Amélie continues to be very sweet with her. Today she called her gorgeous and then said, "hello, my precious little baby Clara." Sometimes she'll tell me to put the baby down when she wants to be cuddled, but that's usually around nap/bedtimes or when she's particularly cranky.

We have an exciting weekend ahead with the family in London for Maria's wedding. Then we are looking forward to a couple quiet weekends before Thanksgiving!

Happy 3 months baby Clara.

Clara Two Months

Clara is already two months old and is getting cuter by the minute. I'm feeling much more like a normal person these days by getting more sleep and having more of a routine down. Amélie has started going to preschool three mornings a week which also helps me tremendously.

Clara is such a good little baby. She's grown so much in such a small amount of time (4.9 kilos) and she is long outgrown her newborn clothes and even on to some 6 month clothes.

Breastfeeding is still going well and she continues to feed every 2-3 hours during the day. She's down for the night around 9-10pm and will usually only wake up once in the night for a quick diaper change and feed until she's up for the day around 7. With Amélie I was so worried about a schedule, but Clara just follows along with Amelie's that it all kind of works out.

She's started smiling though it takes some work! She doesn't give out those smiles easily, but when she does it's just the best. I mean, look at the first pic - those eyebrows and that serious face!

Amélie is still very sweet with Clara, but is now asking me for more and more cuddles plus asking me to put the baby down when she needs me. I feel like one of them is always waiting for my attention and I can say that most of my meals are eaten in 5 minutes, standing up. Despite this, I'm much more relaxed about everything this time around. I don't freak out as much if one is crying, breastfeeding in public isn't a huge deal anymore plus I just know that it will all be fine sans worrying.

We're headed for our first trip to Italy since Clara was born in a couple of weeks. She already has her American passport and we are getting her Italian one next week. We have a busy October ahead with lots of weekend activities which we are looking forward to!

Clara One Month

Clara is already one month old and boy has this month been tough and amazing. Andrea had to go back to work after two weeks and being on my own with a newborn and toddler was hard work especially when I was sick for a couple of days. Despite this, being a family of four is just the best and we love having another baby.

Everything is getting better now and I had my first night's sleep of 6 hours the other night. Most days, Clara has been cluster feeding nonstop particularly from about dinnertime until 10ish. I am exclusively breastfeeding as I did with Amélie and for most of the month she was feeding every two hours. This past week, she can go about every 2-4 hours during the day and about every 4-5 hours at night.

We're usually all up by 7ish and getting out the door with two takes so much effort. Amélie has been so good with Clara. She grabbed a burp cloth for Andrea when she saw Clara spit up. She'll bounce Clara in her chair when she's crying and sing her a song. She even talks to her in a little baby voice and go up to her all the time to give her kisses. Sharing my attention with both can be difficult at times especially when Andrea had an overnight work trip last week and both needed to be cuddled to sleep. I heard Amélie quietly crying and then I heard her say to me that she was sad. (I think because I was giving Clara a lot of the attention.) Other than that, Amélie has been very good at patiently waiting for me to finish breastfeeding or tending to Clara.

Clara has definitely grown so much since she was born and is up from her birth weight of 6 pounds 15 ounces to 9 pounds. Most of her newborn onesies don't fit her anymore. She has really long legs and feet. She's also developed some baby acne on her cheeks that I am hoping will pass soon.

Lately, Clara has been loving cuddles all the time and I'll have her in my Solly baby wrap during the day so she can nap. Otherwise, it's her bouncy chair then the Cocoonababy plus Snuzpod at night which we used with Amélie.

I can't wait for Clara to start smiling and showing her personality, but overall she's been a very easy and hungry baby so far. We all love her very much. Happy one month Clara.