3 months

MERRITT! You are three months old!

You've always been a happy baby, but you've really started showing how sweet you are! You love to smile and coo. We love those big grins that we get all the time!

This past month was rough and surprisingly challenging. You went for a few weeks with little interest in nursing. It would be time to eat and you would show all the signs you were ready. We would give you your enzymes and sit down ready to nurse. You might nurse for a second, sometimes a few minutes, but then you would pull off fussing. I eventually gave up after a good week of the fussing and let you nurse however long and pumped the rest to feed you from a bottle. I actually don't mind doing that since I know how many ounces you're taking.

I was so concerned because the last thing you need to do is lose weight. You hover around 9lb but I especially don't want you dropping below that. We looked for symptoms of an ear infection, thrush, teething, etc. I decided to check Hartley's 2- and 3-month posts to see if she had anything similar. And sure enough! She did. She went through a distraction phase right around the same time. While it's very frustrating, it's a reminder that you're a normal, developing baby!

Sleeping through the night has become consistent! Depending on what nursing schedule you're on (because it's really been off with all the interrupted nursing!) you usually nurse around 7-8pm and then we wrap you up for bed the swing or hold you on the couch. We watch The Walking Dead and around 10-11pm I give you a dreamfeed. You are asleep for the most part and rarely do you need a diaper change or need to be reswaddled. So back to the swing you go! We don't hear a peep until after 6am. You nurse for 20-25 minutes, diaper change, swaddle and you're back asleep. If we have a morning that we need to be somewhere, I get ready after you go back to sleep. Some mornings I'll pump if you don't nurse much.

We usually do your morning breathing treatments right before your second nursing of the day. You usually wake up around 8-8:30am anyway so that gives us about an hour before you need to nurse. Sometimes you go back to sleep! The nebulizer seems soothing to you and the air tube vibrates across your body. You've starting wiggling through the chest percussions! You don't cry too much anymore during them because you love smiling at us so much! Your evening breathing treatments vary depending on our schedule. For the most part we have them right before you nurse around 8pm. You are usually awake anyway. If we are going out to eat or over to someone's house I'll get them in before we leave, between 5-6pm. We prefer to not do them too late because albuterol is a stimulant!

Chest percussions with Daddy

Just like with Hartley, naps during the day are challenging. You will sleep great for 45 minutes to an hour. Then you need help going back asleep. We usually hold you for the second half of naps. You're so spoiled. You are also attached to your pacifier and if it falls out you wake up crying for it. This happens a lot and we have to put it back in.. over and over and over..

Newborn clothes are getting a little snug, but those 0-3months seem a lot bigger and look so baggy on you! You are hot natured so I usually keep you in onesies or bubble outfits. You sweat a lot and we don't want you to. CF causes you to sweat more salt than normal and losing that extra salt is not good! 

To compensate for the salt loss, you get one bottle everyday that has your 1/8 teaspoon of salt plus A, D. E & K vitamins. We've tried rationing out the salt in the applesauce and enzymes mixture, but adding it to one bottle is easier. With your vitamins, the bottle is also easier since it's diluted and it doesn't stain as badly. It's bright orange and not very tasty! It smells horrible too. :(

You absolutely love your sister! She can always make you smile! It's funny how much you girls look alike- but you're my recessive one! You've got bright blue eyes, strawberry-blond hair.. and cystic fibrosis! Not only do look like her, but I see so much of Hartley's personality in you already. You're a busy baby just she like she was- which scares me because she is a busy little girl now!

2 months

Merritt Moore! You are TWO months old!
(and I'm just a little behind..)

You have continued to surprise us with how good you are! You are such a joyful and content baby. Rarely do you have moments when we aren't sure what's bothering you or how to console you. You are always smiling and especially at your big sister! You absolutely love her and she loves you so much!

You had your monthly CF appointment in Augusta right before you turned 2 months and you weighed 8lb 4oz. The following week at your regular 2 month check up, you were up to 8lb 10oz! The recommended 6oz per week!! That made this exclusively nursing momma very happy! Your length was 22.25 inches. Only 4 inches in 2 months. :) Long and lean like your sister.
You still wear newborn clothes with the exception of two 0-3m outfits that were Hartley's. I love seeing you in them but especially because you look a lot like her! Still in size 1 diapers!

Your nighttime patterns are still trying to figure themselves out. A few times you slept through the night from around 11:30pm to 6:30am. Other nights you are up every 3-4 hours. For the most part you wake up once between 4-5am to nurse and then you're back asleep! You're getting there but you are already doing so great! You sleep in a swing, much like Hartley did. You do much better in there. I managed to get you asleep in the crib for a nap twice.. And you prefer sleeping on your tummy if you do sleep in there.

As far as maintaining CF, you get 1.5 enzymes mixed in with a small spoonful of applesauce with each feeding. Every morning and evening you have breathing treatments. We start with 10-15 minutes with your nebulizer administering albuterol (helps open your airways in your lungs), followed by 25-30 minutes of chest percussions. Depending on your mood you either sleep through most of the breathing treatments, cry or, on rare occasions, smile!

We continue to meet more and more people that know about you and your CF diagnosis. It's amazing to know how many people are praying for you! And it's even sweeter when they get to meet you and see you smile. You have the most beautiful and sweetest smile and I know that God has given you this joyful disposition to help you overcome this chronic illness. It also makes caring for you that much easier. :)

And for your viewing pleasure.. One of the first of many interactions with Hartley. We were cuddling in bed and Hartley was acting like a puppy. You loved it!!