Baby's Third Month (Extra Photos Included)

It seems every month only goes by faster than the last... this has been a good one, though, as nursing is becoming somewhat easier, and we've fell into a bit more of a flow. Baby still seems to think that nursing for a whole half hour to an hour on each side is the best thing, and I still hurt sometimes, but her latch is getting better, and I no longer want to cry every time I feed her. For a while, that was definitely the case. Tears were a normal part of nursing.
I don't think I said much about nursing in my previous posts, but it is certainly not what I thought it would be. Before our little one was born, I pictured nursing my baby as this beautiful bonding experience, and I was excited. Now, however, I have learned so much, yet still struggle. In the beginning, I thought that as long as she was latched, we were good to go. Not the case...

Nursing is hard work! Still, it is worth it 100%, and even though we still struggle, I can honestly say: it does get better. It gets better every day, and I am so grateful that I have a loving husband who has stuck by me, and encouraged me not to give up.

This month started out with Baby's first trip to one of our favorite places... The Red Barn. We love going here. We can't have the ice cream, or many of the other fun fall treats that are offered here, but there are many other options. Cookies, apple cider, fall slushies, and best of all: Apple Butter! Too bad for baby, the only way she could get any of that apple butter was through nursing... next year though!

This month we also said goodbye to Baby's uncle for two years, as he has gone to serve a two year mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. She loves her uncles already, and is pretty stinkin' cute when they are around. This picture is at a dinner we all went to before Baby's uncle left. She was pretty tuckered out by the end of the night.

We have been pretty blessed in that Baby Girl sleeps all through the night already. It is wonderful! We typically start getting ready for bed around 8:00, often times taking a bath (we are starting to lean away from doing this every single night, as it can be a bit time consuming with everything else), changing her diaper and getting pajamas on while singing the first three verses of I Am a Child of God (apparently there is a fourth we need to learn), and then praying a reading scriptures while I feed her one more time before bed. I have a special song I like to sing for her, too, and Dad gets a chance to swaddle and snuggle Baby to sleep and put her to bed. I still love that these two get this special time each night. I'm sure that as time goes on and we no longer nurse each night, this time will become more special to these two, as Baby won't already be asleep before Dad's turn most nights.

We got to put Baby in her Prettiest Pumpkin in the Patch onesie this month. She wore it for the first time while I stayed home watching Women's Conference, and Lance took her on her first of many Daddy-Daughter dates. They went grocery shopping and picked out some pumpkins at the store. It was nice to be able to sit by myself for an hour or two, but I was very happy when they got home and I got to see my cute girl!

Papa Ry grew a special pumpkin just for his little princess this year. She is also wearing the outfit Papa Ry got for her. We were very grateful, since being born in the summer, this was her only jacket and hat when it started to get cold. We have been very grateful to many family members and friends who have given us things for our sweet baby. We have felt very well taken care of for sure.

Baby has somewhat started to reach for various toys now, as well. We don't see it often yet, however, every once in a while one of will turn around for a second, and then look back to see a toy in her hand. She enjoys it when we find an easy-to-grab toy such as this one and put in her hand to play with. She is such a curious and alert baby. She loves to look at see absolutely everything. Lance and I have laughed on multiple occasions as we have gone out of the house and literally watched her turn her head back and forth, back and forth, over and over because she can't figure out what she wants to look at. There's just so much to see for a little one this age!

We took Baby to Jaker's this month. The fun was mostly for Lance and I, as Baby didn't really understand what was going on yet, but we still enjoyed ourselves. My favorite is always one of three things: the petting zoo, the corn pit, or the corn maze. I look forward to the days that Baby Girl gets excited to see all the different animals. I was grateful for the warm weather this day, so we didn't have to worry about her getting too much of a chill.

BONUS CORN MAZE PHOTOS:

Baby absolutely loves to take baths. The only time we ever get more smiles from her than bath time is when she gets to play with her Daddy. She will forever be her Daddy's little girl.

We tried out her carrier this month, in hopes that I could get a bit more done during the day without losing any time with our little cutie, but we discovered that she is not exactly a fan... We will try again when it gets warm outside and it's time to start hiking again. My dad tells me he used to carry me around this way all the time, and I loved it, so I hope she will be the same.

We also carved pumpkins for the first time this month. I wrote a separate blog post for that day. You can see that post here: https://blog.allthingstristen.com/2018/11/babys-first-pumpkin-carving.html

One of Baby's absolute favorite places to be... wrapped in Mamma's blanket.

This is our graduation to the big girl binkie picture. No longer is she using the binkies the hospital, and thank goodness, because these ones actually stay in mouth! Assuming she actually wants them to anyways. She like to suck on her binkie, fall asleep, and spit it out. She's not currently a big binkie baby, but it's definitely helpful when it comes to naps and bed time.

For Baby's first Halloween, we took her to the school district office to trick or treat and see her Great Grandma Robbyn. I think we wore her out! Her Grandma had her rocked right to sleep.

!!THREE MONTH BIRTHDAY!!
(On this day, little miss rolled over for the first time on purpose! She had done it before, but I can't say that she actually knew what she was doing).