Gosh, these posts keep getting longer and longer, don’t they? Oh well! Pass on this one if you’re not into babies lol.

Baby’s third month was a complete turnaround for the other few months of his life. I think we’ve finally gotten into our groove. I now understand that my baby cannot be awake for more than 90 (or so) minutes at a time. Who knew babies needed to be put down for a nap before they give obvious cues?! Also, I know which cry is which (for the most part), and have somewhat of a routine down pat. Not only that, the whole Mom Group thing is going so well! We have a few hangout’s a week with a bunch of our new friends, and keeping baby socialized is great! On certain days we have plans, but I refuse to make any plans on Monday’s since that’s when I try and get the majority of housework done. It’s “easier” because I can eat leftovers from what I cooked over the weekend, so I have one less thing to worry about there. Plus, the rest of the days I try and only do one household chore a day so it’s not overwhelming.

I’ve had two people ask me how I “have my sh*t together”. Trust me, I don’t. There’s definitely days (like yesterday, and last Thursday for instance) where all I did was comfort and care for baby. He was having a off-days, and that’s totally okay – and normal! Like I said before, I’ll plan to only do one thing per day, because in the end, there will always be chores to do. And I’m gonna do them all over again next week, right? If I do a few loads of laundry one day, I probably won’t mop the floors on the same day (that is, unless I have like 4 coffees…which will never happen because I don’t want my baby to be over caffeinated, obviously).

For the past 3 months however, he hasn’t been sleeping great. But something turned around in the last week and a half. Perhaps it’s because he’s now fully transitioned into his crib in his own nursery now (I don’t want to talk about it – it’s so sad! LOL), but I now know what time he “needs” to go to bed in order to get sufficient slumber.

Baby tends to nap the longest in the morning, so that’s when I try and get my nap in too. He was waking up every 1-2 hours during the night, up until last week, so I’ve been, like ya would, super tired. It was tough. Mid morning I’ll put him in his little chair and he’ll watch me do house-related-stuff, like steam mop the floors, unload the dishwasher, or fold laundry while we listen to some tunes….the Beatles are a big hit with him. But some days the clean laundry will sit on the corner of our couch unfolded for 2 days. Just gotta go with the flow. I also love face-timing my Mom every single morning to show her the lil’ bubs.

This post is sponsored by Gerber®, but the content and opinions expressed here are my own. 

It’s almost time for our little guy to have his first food! We’re thinking of introducing them to him after his 4 month pediatrician appointment this week. So to prep myself, I picked up some Gerber Infant Cereal for him at my local Target, super convenient since I’m there a ton, and pssst the baby food is in the baby aisle – who knew! Haha.

I actually thought it would be in the regular aisles of food but it wasn’t. Save on any Gerber Cereal at Target by using Cartwheel app to redeem, I ended up installing it onto my phone and just asked the cash register guy how to use it. He showed me, and I saved a few on this purchase!. I’ve been doing a ton of research about anything and everything that will be going in/on my baby, from first foods, to clothing, and even lotions and creams. I swear I haven’t done as much Googling in my life, as I have these past three months.

Apparently babies are born with natural stores of iron (perhaps from all my prenatal vitamins, which I’m still taking). But they can deplete around his age (he’ll be 4 months old tomorrow!). Baby eats a ton throughout the day, so two servings of Gerber infant cereal meet 100% of your baby’s daily iron needs. I feel pretty confident the pediatrician will suggest we could start trying Gerber cereals for him soon enough, and I’m pretty excited for it. So much so, I mixed some up today to see if he was interested in it, and just to get an idea of how many tbsps fill up the bowl. The Gerber baby cerals are Non-GMO: Not made with genetically engineered ingredients, have no artificial colors or flavors, and the package made with no BPA. #AnythingForBaby

Single-grain infant cereals are an ideal first solid food to check for food sensitivities and help develop baby’s eating skills. And I can always nurse him after his cereal feeds, too. Man, it’s almost time to get a highchair for him too, since he’s doing pretty well sitting up in his little frog-chair! Exciting!

I love interacting and seeing our baby grow, and learn new things on a daily basis. Each day I try and teach him something new. Whether it be a new tree, a cloudy day, or even touching something different like sand, or grass, and even teaching him new words. This past weekend he got his first teddy bear and he kept coo-ing and talking to it, it was so adorable. Here are some other ways I think help keep him stimulated with his brain development. The first few years of a child’s life is definitely a prime-time for learning.

Here are 5 activities that stimulate baby and help brain development that we incorporate into our daily routine:

• Make a facial expression| It sounds simple, but it’s been working! And the reactions are priceless. Babies can imitate simple facial movements, smiling or sticking out your tongue. This week I kept laughing until it hurt…and finally our baby mimicked me and laughed. Oh he makes me work for it!
• Singing| I’m pretty shy singing in front of others, including my husband. But I sing to our baby what feels like hundreds of times a day. But we also love listening to The Beatles in this household. “I want to hold your hand” brings a smile to our baby’s face. Some studies show that learning the rhythms of music is linked to learning math. Let’s hope he’s better at math than I am.
• Talk to baby| Doing the most mundane ordinary tasks, I explain to our baby what I’m doing. Whether it’s putting on his clothes and showing him where his arms go. Going grocery shopping and showing him what I’m picking up, and even going outside on walks and seeing construction workers, or cyclists, I’ll point them out to him. Even when I’m bathing or changing him, I explain he has two legs, two arms… but I make them rhyme a little. “Cheeks and your noooose, feet and your toeeees and your belly belly good” lol.
• Quiet time| Everyone needs quiet time and I discovered that early on, that baby needs it too. During the afternoon’s is when we just both chill out on the floor together, with a burpcloth behind him since I never know when spit up will happen. He’ll either start babbling to me, or just playing with his toes. This is actually when he rolled over for the first time, when he was having quiet time!
• Counting| I make a habit of counting out loud to him. His fingers/toes, or how many steps we’re walking up. Also singing the nursery rhyme, one-two buckle my shoe… remember that one?

When did you first introduce foods to your baby? Every Mama, and every baby is different, but it’s interesting to get the conversation going! And what was your baby’s first food?