You are 2 months old!
How did this happen?!
I know, I know. So cliche. Babies grow so fast. SO. FAST.
Though with each passing day, I not only enjoy you that day, but I look forward to the next! I love that you are still little and squishy, and love to cuddle. But I know that in the days to come, you will interact with us more, and grasp things, and coo and play with us. I can't wait for those days as well!
You have started smiling! It's not a guaranteed smile yet, though. If you lock eyes with us, and we talk in a high pitched voice, you coo and smile. THE BEST! But sometimes, Mr. Fan still wins your heart over and it's hard to get your eye contact. I know that this is common for babies, but you love ceiling fans, and any light source. You just stare at lights on the ceiling, or out of the window, or just any shadow you can get your little (blue!) eyes on. (your eyes are still gray/blue. Blue in the window light, but in regular room light, sort of gray-ish).
My birthday was a couple days ago, and "from you", your daddy gave me a card and a bouquet of yellow/orange roses. So sweet. In the card from you, "you" wrote me a sonnet:
"The fan blades are still,
The fan blades now turn.
Either way, I watch them."
HAHA! Made me laugh out loud, for a long time! :) Daddy is so funny. Not that we are having a laugh at your expense! It's just you at this stage, and we know that soon enough, you'll find us more entertaining. (I hope!)
You are getting to be a strong boy! When we hold you upright, on our shoulder, you crane your head back and try to look all around! You are doing good at holding up your head! It's to the point that we have to keep our hand behind your neck to support you, because you easily could throw yourself back! But! When we lay you on your tummy for 'tummy time' you will hold your head up barely, not very much! I think that must be harder, and use more muscles to have you support your head entirely by yourself!
You are SO CUTE! All the time, your Daddy and I say "he is simply just a gorgeous child. That is just fact!"
Your eyelashes are getting long, and getting color. Makes you bat your eyes at us, and we melt!
CHEEKS! They are so pudgy, and squishy, and kissable! They dwarf all of your other facial features. LOVE!
You are getting a pudgy tummy too!
We had your 2 month doctor appointment and you weighed 11 lb., 10 oz. Our home scale said 13 lbs, but evidently that was wrong!
Your length is 22.75 inches.
You are eating about 4 - 5 oz. at each feeding. You eat every 3 hours. At night, it's common for you to have one 4.5 hour stretch of sleep. And then more stretches of 3 hours at a time.
The morning of my birthday, your Dad was waking up in the morning, and that woke me up, and I assumed it was 4 am or so and he was getting up because you were awake to eat, but Daddy said no, it's 6:30, (he was waking up for the day to get ready for work.) The last time you woke up that night was at 1am, so I thought, he slept for 5.5 hours! WOO HOO! Then I turned to look at the video monitor to check on you, and IT WAS DEAD! The battery died and I did not have it plugged in! HORRIBLE MOTHER. That means you could have (and probably did!) cry around the 3-4 hour mark in the middle of the night, waking up because you were hungry, and we did not come get you, so you laid there and cried until you fell back asleep!!! (this is my sad, pathetic mental image) I raced in to your room that instant, and you were asleep. So who knows how your night went, or if you woke up at some point. But from now on, regardless of how much power there is left in the monitor, even if it's full power, I plug it in!!
When you are sad, you pucker out your bottom lip! So sad and cute at the same time! It's amazing that that is a natural instinct. How do you know that when a person is sad, they pucker out their bottom lip?! It's so cute and makes me want to fix whatever is making you sad right away!
I discovered a solid nap system for you! I used to bounce you to sleep in my arms, and then lay you in your crib, but then you would only stay asleep for about 20 minutes or so. (not long!) Then we have discovered that you love your vibrating bouncy seat, and you love your white noise sound machine in your room. So I put you in your bouncy seat, turn on the vibrating, (first put the bouncy seat next to your dresser, close to the white noise machine), then get a blanket and tuck in your arms and legs, (sort of like a swaddle, using the bouncy seat to hold the blanket together, wrapped around your front side), and then give you a pacifier. Then I just walk out of the room! You are awake when I put you down, but you soon fall asleep on your own, (..."on your own"... with your blanket, pacifier, bouncy seat, and white noise!) But you sleep for about an hour that way! I'll take it! So far, that has worked for several days, like a charm!
At night, we are struggling with if we should lay you down with a pacifier or not. I don't want to be responsible for getting up to put your pacifier back in your mouth every time it falls out, waking you up! But at the same time, the pacifier puts you to sleep faster, because it soothes you to suck on it. So the past couple of nights, I have laid you down without it, and you did well! You are swaddled at night. I tried to sleep you unswaddled a couple times, so that your hands are free for you to suck on and self soothe, but that was unsuccessful! You just can't sleep if your arms are free. They wave around in the air, uncontrollably, and wake you up! Whether you are napping, or sleeping in the night, your arms have to be securely tucked in, in order for you to actually fall sound asleep.
At night, I'm also struggling with if I should bounce/rock you in my arms for a bit first to help you fall asleep. I want you to learn how to fall asleep on your own, so that you are not waking up in the night, wanting to be rocked/held. We are working on that!
To put you down at night, you seem to prefer Mommy to Daddy. Daddy has tried putting you down several times, but you take much longer to go down when Daddy does it. We think it must just be that you smell milk on me, or just that I'm your Momma. :) There will be nights in the future when I'm not here and Daddy has to! So it won't always be me....
For a couple weeks, we tried a system where we got a pumped bottle ready in the evening so that Daddy can take one of the middle-of-the-night feedings and get up and feed you while I get to sleep a little longer. It was nice for me to sleep! But... I feel like I am producing less milk. When I would wake up after skipping that feeding, my milk was very full, and ready for you to eat, but now, it's not as full. I don't like the thought that I may be producing less! It seems like even during the day, when I pump, if I need to, that I'm producing less. I don't want to be done nursing you yet! I love it. So for a little while, I'm back to feeding you full time during the night, so that my milk does not skip a feed.
You are a good little eater though, and you will nurse well, as well as take a bottle happily! You will take a bottle from anyone, including me! (Daddy, Meme, and Birdie have fed you as well! Oh, and your babysitter, Emily!)
You have started going to my friend's house, Emily, one day a week so that Mommy can focus at home and work/edit. It has been very nice for me! I am able to get some work done with you home, but of course, if someone else is caring for you, it allows me to get much more done! You just go to her from 9:30am - 1:15 pm. Not too long, but long enough for me to be productive! (but she is moving at the end of this month!) : /
Also, one day a week, your Birdie comes up and holds you so that I can work. She sits in your glider in your room and just holds you the entire time! You sleep on her and have awake time/talk with her. We have the radio on in there and she spends her morning and some afternoon here loving on you! She'll feed you a bottle and you enjoy your time with her! She comes around 9:15 and leaves around 2:15. Daddy will come home for lunch and we have take-out. (Whataburger, or Taco Bueno!) It is so SO helpful to have help with you so I can work. And I'm also just glad that you get time with Birdie so she can watch you grow.
Also, a couple times, your Meme has come up during the day to watch you! You are one loved on baby boy!!!
When Meme comes, she puts you on the floor on your play mat, and encourages you to kick your legs and move your arms. You have colorful toys that hang down from your play mat that you bat at with your arms, and stare at your little friends. (We just put the play mat down for the first time about 2 weeks ago, and you love it!) You talk to Meme and coo and she tries to make eye contact with you and gets you interested in your little toys. She wants you to grow and learn! On your play mat, we'll also put you on your tummy so your neck can grow strong!
So, you were enrolled in a Mother's Day Out program at a church near our house. You were going to start going when you were 6 weeks old. It is a half-day program, 2 days a week. I knew I would need some time to get work done, and that it would be hard to work with you home with me, so I enrolled you in that program when I was 9 weeks pregnant... 9 months ago! But then once you arrived, there was just no way that I could drop off my tiny baby to be one of 10 babies in a room. 10 babies who are carrying germs, and slobber on things that you will be using, and in a school with older (sick) kids. I know you will get sick in life, and even babyhood, but I just felt that I could not put you in that situation if we could help it. So it has been extra wonderful to have Emily, Birdie, and Meme help care for you so that we do not have to put you in that class. (I told them you would not be going! It was funny... when I called and told them, the lady on the phone said "I understand. It's different when they get here." Ha! I think I'm not the first mom to call and cancel...)
Random factoids:
*during the day, when you are awake, you suck on your hands! You put your little fists in your mouth and suck away! :)
*You have a very high pitched cry! Sometimes more like a squeal! ... need to get this on video... though that may seem cruel to video tape you crying!
A couple weeks ago, you had a bout of cradle cap, and your eyebrows were really dry/flaky. Not so pretty on my beautiful little baby! The eyebrow thing went away on its own. The dry scalp - I put baby oil/gel on your hair after a bath and that has really helped! It's "lavender" scented, but it does not smell like lavender! Daddy does not like the smell, and it makes your hair greasy/oily for a day or two, but it does make your little head soft and smooth!
At your 2 month doctor appointment last week, you had your first round of shots! You got 3 pokes. 2 in one thigh, and one in the other. You were stunned for a second, and I just waited for that cry. After a couple seconds, you welled up and screamed!!! Poor baby, had no idea what was coming. I can't imagine just lying there, and then all of a sudden being poked with 3 needles, having no idea what is happening to you! The nurse was very quick though! You got 2 Sesame Street bandaids. I scooped you up and calmed you down, and thankfully, you were hungry, so I nursed you immediately, and after some food, you were good to go. (Daddy took the afternoon off work to join us. I did not want to go through that alone. I knew it would be hard to see you sad!!)
You are such a happy boy everyday, though. You truly only fuss if you are hungry or tired. I try to feed you as soon as you wake up from any nap, so when you start to get fussy, I know it just means you are tired!
:)
Here are some piccies of my 2 month old boy!
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