No one could have ever prepared me for what I would feel and go through after we brought Ellis home, but now here it is 3 months later and we are having a wonderful time enjoying our sweet boy. He is such a bundle of smiling, cooing love! Here is a quick rundown of our boy's "stats".
Sleep: Yes! Thank GOD the boy loves to sleep. He's not really on a super predictable napping schedule just yet, but for the most part he takes 1 good nap per day that lasts anywhere from 2-3 hours. He's been doing morning naps here and there and sometimes those last just as long as the afternoon naps and other times they're just cat naps. Either way, I LOVE the morning naps because I can either go back to bed for a little bit or I can enjoy a cup of coffee, eat breakfast, shower, start laundry, etc. It makes the mornings very relaxing. It goes without saying that the long afternoon nap is blissful as well, although I am not usually as productive at that point bc I am either tired as well or I just want to watch TV. We have him on a great schedule though and typically he will eat, play for awhile/swing/sit in his bouncy seat, and either take a quick cat nap or go down for a long nap. Then when he wakes up it's time to eat again. At bedtime we put him down anywhere between 7:30 and 8:30, lately it's been right at 8 and he wakes up anywhere from 6 am to 7:30 am. He typically sleeps on his back, although he likes being on his tummy and sometimes the only way we can get him to go down for the night is to put him on his tummy. Yes, yes I know....SIDS risk. But the boy can turn his head and lift his head and can roll over so I'm really not worried at all. We don't swaddle him and he doesn't have a bunch of blankets in there with him. I think any parent would agree that sometimes you give on controversial things (such as thumb-sucking) bc IT WORKS. ;)
Eating: Oh lord yes...The boy loves to eat! He takes 6 ounces almost every time we feed him and sometimes he screams for "more", although we find that 99% of the time he isn't hungry, he just thinks he is! He still wants a bottle every 3 hours during the day. Since he sleeps such a long period of time through the night he is pretty hungry when he wakes up in the mornings.
Behavior: Our boy is a "spitter". We've tried EVERYTHING under the sun and are still experimenting with different things. I can't handle changing his formula again and considering he is gaining weight and is practically cackling with laughter when he spits up I'm really not that concerned. I will only be concerned if I take him to the pedi and find he hasn't gained enough weight since his 2-month....but seeing as how he is growing out of 6-month clothes I'm just not that worried about it. ;) He gets VERY fussy when he's tired. It can be annoying, but it's also a good thing because 90% of the time he's crying it means he just wants to go to sleep....Easy fix! He also is a VERY vocal little guy. He makes lots of noise when he's happy AND he makes lots of noise to let us know he isn't! His lungs are definitely strong. When he's happy, he will talk for 20-30 minutes, unprompted, just to himself in his swing or just wherever he is hanging out. He LOVES to grin and smile and coo. Most of the time the grin is accompanied with some type of barf. Some would say it's disgusting but I find the little gush of milk positively adorable. At least it isn't projectile! ;) Ellis LOVES movement of any kind. If it swings, sways, rocks, vibrates, or bounces he is pretty much guaranteed to love it. I'm thinking this is an indicator that he will be quite a busy toddler! (Oh yikes!) He also LOVES bath time. Just the sound of the running water will end a screaming fit! The water has to be WARM though. If it's too chilly he definitely doesn't enjoy it. Even more than the bath, he LOVES when we wrap him in his towel and talk to him while we dry him off. He talks right back and smiles the whole time....Simply adorable!
Milestones:
Smiled (5 weeks old)
Grabbed for objects (approx 2.5 months)
Rolled over: (right at 3 months from tummy to back) we are working on back to tummy but still have a ways to go
Dislikes:
Diaper/clothes changes (not always, but usually doesn't enjoy this)
Having the bottle taken from him to be burped (oh man...it's like fighting a lion)
Getting his fingernails clipped
Cold bottles (gotta make sure his milk is lukewarm...oh brother!)
Being swaddled (he loved it as a wee one, but now he's gotta be free)
Size:
Not 100% sure what he weighs, but I stood on the scale with him about a week ago and it showed to be 13 lbs if I subtracted my weight. He had on a little onesie, but I figure that couldn't have added more than a few ounces. Not sure how long he is. He was 11 lbs, 12 ounces and 23 inches long at his 2-month checkup. I am anticipating he will weigh somewhere between 13.5 and 14 lbs at his 4-month checkup here in a few weeks. He definitely appears as though he will have his daddy's height and long, thin legs! I just love my little man. Fat babies are cute, but I think he's just the perfect size!
Being at home with him has been simply awesome. I am eternally thankful that I decided to go ahead and take the first few weeks of the school year off. While it is going to have an impact on my paycheck and probably cause us to have to cut back quite a bit on spending for a few months, it is totally worth it to have this extra time. I cannot IMAGINE having had to leave him when he was just barely over 2 months old. I know soooo many mommies have to do that and I feel for them. I am grateful that we have Shane's mother who is going to be watching him once I do go back to work in October. That will be much easier than dropping him off at a daycare with a bunch of strangers. Not only that but it will also save us money on doctor bills from when he could get sick after being around a bunch of other babies. Not many people have the luxury of a relative keeping their child so I am definitely feeling very blessed to have that opportunity.
Needless to say, we sure do love our little man! It is simply unbelievable, for lack of better words, that just 3 months ago I was, most likely, nursing a very tiny newborn baby boy while in a state of delirium or I may have been anxiously watching him sleep waiting until he woke up only to nurse him again. I look back on this past summer and I reflect on all the things that went on and all I can think is how incredibly grateful I am that it all happened to me. I don't think anyone will ever be able to cure me of my perpetual tendencies to post lots of details on Facebook about my life and our comings and goings, so to share pictures of Ellis on this blog would be nothing but redundancy. But what I don't share on Facebook is the life-changing emotional roller coaster that has sent me spinning into the absolute adventure of my life. The tricky thing about posting the troubles and triumphs of motherhood on social media is you're throwing yourself to the wolves. You're putting it all out there on the table for others to see, judge, laugh, smile, scowl, shake their head, or even discuss with others. Regardless of how ungrateful, dramatic, over-emotional, naive, or ridiculous I have ever sounded in any of my posts about being a mom, I just have to say that there is absolutely NO where else I would rather be than in this life that I am living.
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