Back when I first had Ivy I had this lovely idea of writing a blog post every month about the milestones she’s reached and things she’s done so I could lovingly look back on it all. It’s almost like I thought I’d have lots of spare time with a newborn to do these things, so of course it never got done and now she’s 3 months old we’re finally getting into a routine and I have a chance to write these things at last!
One Month Old
The first month of Ivy’s life went by really fast with a blur. For the first two weeks, we lived in a happy little sleep-deprived bubble while Chris was off work, and her big brother got to meet her when she was just a day old. I spent the first 5 days of Ivy’s life desperately trying to breast feed her and being unable to, and for the sake of my mental health decided to give up and switch to formula. Chris and I spent most of his paternity leave taking it in turns to have time to sleep, and cuddle her, and spent countless hours just looking at her thinking ‘wow’.
I remember for a good few weeks Ivy’s arms were too long in her baby grows as she was quite a tiny baby, and we had to keep rolling them up!
Once Chris went back to work, and I was very much on my own with her in the day it started to hit me how hard it was, and I finally understood why sleep deprivation was used as a form of torture. I found everything very overwhelming, and the health visitor wasn’t too happy with how I was doing so she started coming regularly to see me and how I was getting on. We later got referred for baby massage as a way to bond with each other, and I spent quite honestly, a lot of time crying.
Two Months Old
At our 6 week check, it turned out the lots of crying, not feeling like I was bonding with Ivy, and being overwhelmed turned out to be postnatal depression, so the health visitor got to come around to see us more. After lots of talking and having some lovely supportive mum friends, I started feeling much better. And once Ivy was 6 weeks old she started to sleep through the night which certainly helped to feel more human.
Also at 6 weeks old Ivy started smiling, and decided to smile for the first time not at me her mother, but at a random man in the Lego store…
We also started to go out to baby groups. I was so nervous about this to start with, being a really socially awkward person I was worried no one would talk to me. But actually, everyone that I’ve met is genuinely lovely, and Ivy loves seeing other babies.
Three Months Old
This is so far my favourite age of hers. She’s so much more alert and interacts with things around her. I’m always getting comments about what a happy smiley baby she is as she grins at everyone. She’s started ‘chatting’ a lot and enjoys making noises at everyone. She also grins a lot now, and finds everything hilarious smiling loads!
She’s also started interacting with people a lot more and does huge smiles for everyone when they say hello. Her favourite person is her big brother, and she beams from ear to ear when she sees him and gets very excited. This has become my favourite thing to see, and Reuben is becoming the best big brother.
She suddenly feels like an actual baby now and is developing a little personality of things she likes and dislikes. At three months old she’s started teething, which is making her extra angry, so I’m finding lots of things for her to chew on. She’s also very quickly growing out of her clothes, as she’s becoming far too long for anything! Makes a change from the small baby who’s arms didn’t fit in anything.
