2 months old

My darling boy,

You are 2 months old today and we have both grown a lot in the last month. Our bathroom scale (which may not be all that accurate) says you weight 12 1/2 lbs today. You have started to outgrow some of your clothes and have moved to the next size in diapers. You are sitting in my lap as I write this and are full of smiles and cooing. Those are probably your biggest changes in the last month. They are so sweet and feel like your gifts to me for our time together. You also just spit up all over my lap. That's okay because it's almost noon and I needed to get out of my pjs anyway. Other things you've gotten better at are rolling over (you don't get to practice much because being on your tummy makes you spit) and controlling your head. You are losing more of your long baby hair, and getting some fresh fuzz on top. You can follow smaller objects with your eyes and are starting to work on getting your hands to your toys. You really like your boppy with the toys hanging over it and your rocker chairs and bouncy seat. You are starting to have more interest in the mobile over your swing. Here's a video of us playing with your Boppy gym and toys. Thanks to Toona and Aunt Kate and Uncle Joe for the hand-me-down. It is one of your favorite things right now. I tried to get video of you rolling over, but you were too tired for such things. Maybe we'll try again soon.

I would love to write about your typical day at this age, but, much to my dismay, there is no such thing. I tried and tried to find a schedule for both of us, but have finally realized that it is just too soon for such things. This is the area where mama has had to grow. I am a schedule girl and believe that you will do best on a schedule too. I am anxious about going back to work next week and even more so because I do not know what time I can go to work and have to be home to feed you. Even so, your Daddy and I decided last week that we were just fighting a losing battle. Since then, we have begun to be more flexible. I thought I was being flexible before, but Daddy says I wasn't really. So your day goes something like this: wake up in the morning sometime between 6:30 and 8:30, eat, maybe go back to sleep for 1-3 hrs, eat again, maybe play for an hour, back to sleep, and so forth until you go to sleep sometime between 10:30 and midnight. Most nights you eat again sometime around 3 or 4 am. You eat every 2 1/2 to 5 hrs and we try not to let you be awake for more than 2 hrs at a time. You are such a sweet boy when you are rested and quite cranky when you aren't. You fight sleep pretty hard sometimes, so it might take an hour of rocking, singing and bouncing to get you there. I wish we had more time for walks, toys and books, but that will come. Since we started this new "schedule" you actually had one night where we both got great sleep. That helped mama recharge her batteries some. I think you are more refreshed too. Hopefully there will be more of those nights in our near future. Instead of a schedule per say, we are focusing more on routine. That is especially true at night. Part of that meant we moved you out of our bedroom where you had been sleeping in your car seat to your own room where you now sleep in your crib. We made that change last weekend when you were 8 weeks old and you handled it fabulously. So our bedtime routine is bath (if it's bath night), then eating, burping, rocking for at least 20 minutes and singing lullabies. I most often sing "bye oh Baby" to you, but will also hum Brahm's lullaby or sing "golden slumbers." If you are feeling cranky, usually some combination of rocking, singing and bouncing you on my chest will calm you down. You often go from crying hard to fast asleep within minutes.

Your Dad's side of the family loves to make nicknames. They come up with the funniest things sometimes! ("Toona" is your grandma...I don't know where that came from, but we love her.) True to form, your Dad calls you all sorts of things. They haven't gotten too creative yet, but there is still plenty of time for that! Here are some of the things we call you: pumpkin/punkin/punk, the boy, little one, buddy, chunk o' love (actually Daddy refers to each of your thighs as that), dude, and little man. I think many of your blog fans call you "LO" for obvious reasons. Who knows which of these names will stay with you or how they might evolve.

I love you sweet boy and look forward to our next month together. There are a lot of changes ahead!