Natalie's 3 months old and rolled! Auntie Kendra Visited.

Our little Natalie is 3 months old today! Wow, is she getting big. She's such a ham with all her sly smiles and cute little laughs. She's such a blessing to have around. In the last two weeks she's done many new things. Her biggest -- she rolled over for the first time on August 19, a little over 2.5 months old. So far, just from her tummy to her back. It's the cutest thing to watch -- sometimes very slowly. Below is a video we captured of it -- one of her slower times. The other night we got her to roll 5 times -- and luckily, Emile was home to see it!

This picture was taken right after she rolled the first time when I was trying to get her to do it again.

Her neck support on her tummy has gotten so much better and she's doing really great at sitting up when supported either by us or in her Bebepod chair. She still doesn't stay up for more than a minute or two before putting her head down on the mat moaning while she rests. :)


Natalie has also started grabbing at her toys on her playmat and bouncer with the goal, of course, being to get them in her mouth! She's figured out that if she reaches out and pulls on the monkey or bird on her bouncer, it will turn the lights and music on. It's so cute watching her figure this out.

Last night, Natalie slept in her crib in her own room for the first time! I was originally going to move her up there two weeks ago but couldn't bring myself to have her so far from us. But now it feels like the right time. She did great -- no problems getting her to sleep in the crib. And I did OK too! Having a video monitor helps a lot!

We also removed the bassinet sling portion of the little bathtub she uses so now she's just sitting in the little tub. On August 18, Natalie also discovered that kicking her legs and flailing her arms in the water to splash around can be a lot of fun.

Auntie Kendra came out to visit Natalie and me last weekend while Emile went to Emily's wedding in Boston. We had a great time hanging out with her. We spent a lot of time playing and exploring "downtown" Wake Forest. Unfortunately, Natalie wasn't in the mood for rolling while Auntie Kendra was here.

I started back at work this past Monday. It's been a little difficult to get back into it right away. I miss spending all day with Natalie. It doesn't help that things with the nanny, Charlotte, have not been going well. We're not connecting and I'm not thrilled with her approach to Natalie. And on top of it, Natalie is not taking a bottle from the nanny so she's spent a lot of time crying which is heartbreaking to me. She took a bottle from Auntie Kendra numerous times while she was here but won't from the nanny. I'm more than likely going to get a new nanny for multiple reasons -- I need to go with my mommy instinct!

If after finding a better nanny, Natalie still won't take a bottle from her, I may just give up trying to get her to take one and just come to terms with that fact that she's only going to exclusively breast feed. I'll just need to try to avoid work trips until she's on solids. I think that Natalie is starting to reverse cycle in that she's feeding much longer at night (at times for over an hour before going to bed and then again in the middle of the night, multiple times) and sleeping longer in the day. Plus, she's starting to get up every 2 hrs at night again. When I think back, she had started sleeping 4+ hrs right before I started giving her a bottle during the day. I think even with me giving her the bottle she's still taking much less (only 2-3 oz. at a time) than she would if she were nursing. After starting to give her a bottle during the day, she's dropped back to waking up every 2.5-3.5 hrs. And now that the nanny can't get her to take a bottle at all, she's down to every 2 hrs. She's going backwards!