Right now Liam is 89 days 25 hours 34 minutes and 9 seconds old!

MILESTONES
This month he has been learning to grasp things and play with his hands, he’s learnt to suck on his fingers and hands, how to poke out his tongue (sometimes) and he is much more smiley! He is able to sustain tummy time now for 5-10 minutes at a time before getting frustrated and upset.

He is getting more confident at standing, and has even taken his first assisted steps during week 12! (The 15th of March.) Since then he’s been absolutely loving standing up and trying to walk!

Grown out of 0000 for the most part because his feet and legs were too tall / big, so he’s mainly wearing 000 now.

Had his first official home height chart measurement – 60cm.

Beginning to take an interest in toys.

Rolled belly to back at 12 weeks.

He can just about hold his head up without needing much support at all now, and can lift his head when laying about 3 inches, and hold it for about 3 seconds. (When left alone in unsupported sitting he still flops forward or to the side.)

Stops crying and smiles if I go near him, or pick him up most of the time.

making a few new sounds – Hubby said he heard Liam say “Hi” on March 17.

According to BabyCenter, he should have full ability to focus!

Went cloud watching in the back yard for the first time

Experienced grass and rain.

LIAM’S FAVOURITES
Bright Starts Swing – Especially tranquil sounds like the ocean.
Standing and trying to walk
Sitting upright
Being held
People poking their tongues out at him
Kicking and flailing with his arms and legs
His dummy / pacifier
“Ty” the monster from space – it makes noises and is very colourful.

Other Stuff

We’ve gotten more confident with breastfeeding, and trying new positions – I was even able to get him to self-latch at 11 weeks! I caught it on video here:
https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=8gio4Y5mErU (watch from 20.40)

We’ve been doing so many YouTube videos this month, and I’m really enjoying it (apart from the tedious editing)!
It’s really nice to be able to document and enjoy a lot of his life in video format, and to be able to help so many people in the process. Thanks to all who have commented on these blogs, I really appreciate it, and am glad that I can help so many of you out!

Liam’s only pooing about twice a week, but weeing frequently. We’re told this is normal.
He’s still having a breast and formula combo, and is sleeping every 3-6 hours on average.
His rough sleep/eat pattern is:

3-4am feed
6-8am feed / alert time
11am feed / alert time
1pm feed / alert time
(sometimes 3-4pm topup feed) / alert time
5-6pm feed – he’ll sleep till 8pm
11pm feed

He has some cradle cap or similar on a regular basis.
He is 60cm tall, and we estimate he weighs around 5-6kg.

I’m teaching an average of 2.5-3 hours per day, and it’s ramping up again! It seems that next term I’ll be teaching every day except Sunday. Hubby’s had a lot of work this month including working for the Fringe on sound, and he;s been doing a few photoshoots. He’s picked up a regular TFP model, and we did our first maternity shoot this month! We’re planning some vocal student video recordings for the holidays.

We FINALLY got paid for Liam in arrears from centrelink! We got around $3000, which is more than we were expecting because we forgot to factor in extra rent and energy assistance, so that’s a nice bonus! We’re saving $2,000 of it towards a new car, since Liam has most things he needs already for this year.

– TMI ALERT –
I got an ultrasound to check for the complex cyst I had before I was pregnant and it was all clear – no cyst. They said pregnancy helped to clear it all up 🙂

I had my incontinence nurse checkup (which they do for any woman who had a 3rd or 4th degree tear) and the nurse was impressed with my pelvic floor progress. I am able to hold my pelvic floor for 10-15 seconds and don’t leak often when coughing, so she rated me 3/4, which is pretty good. I still have constipation, but no bowel incontinence. She said to try natural yoghurt, all bran with Weetbix and plumbs / stewed prunes, and try dulcolax every 3rd day. I haven’t gotten the hang of the “oojher” technique, which is meant to help bring the fecal matter down into the rectum. I’m on an 18 month wait list to have a rectal ultrasound to assess potential hidden tissue damage to the perennial area and to weigh the options for my next birth.

Helpful Links

If you’d like to see my “Hot and Not” video regarding our baby purchases and aquisitions filmed at 11 weeks, you can view the vlog here:

And heres a link to some baby sound games we tried this month – filmed at 10 weeks:

Purchases and acquisitions this month:
Co-Sleeper $10 – Gumtree
700 printed Photos for family and friends, and ourselves, $70 – Officeworks
Photo Albums 2 x $22 each – Big W
Dummy chain x 2 $9 – Big W
Bath toys set $6 – Big W
Rubber Duck $3 – Foodland
Rattle and teddy – gift from mother in law’s friend
Balloon animal (sheep) $1 – Adelaide Fringe Street Performer
2 plastic bibs – Gumtree
size 2 shirt $5 – Big W
Another pair of 000 leggins $5 – Big W
Pair of size 2 swimmers – $2.75 – Big W
Monopod! – unsure of cost or place of purchase
(we’re soon to get a wide-angle vlogging lens and a ‘dead cat’ for the microphone!