Happy 11 Weeks, Jack! It seems like just yesterday I was 11
weeks pregnant and writing that post!
Jack continues to be the happiest little baby. We are so
blessed with him. It is so much fun to watch him grow and learn. He is a smart
little guy and we love playing with him and loving on him. He also is such a little stinker! He is in his 4th outfit for the day due to geysers of spit up and peeing while being changed! But Mommy got her picture for the week right at the start of the day, so she doesn't care how many outfits baby goes through!
I get weekly emails about what baby might be doing this week
(continued from my pregnancy weekly emails). This week it mentioned that losing
baby weight should take about as much time as it took to gain it? Literally it
should take 9 months to lose the baby weight. Hmmm… well, I was back in my
normal jeans after 1 week and back to my pre-preggo weight before 2 months. I
am definitely thankful I don’t have another 6 months left to get back to
normal! I still have a slightly baggy middle, but it’s mostly just loose skin
that needs to be tightened up.
Friends: Jack has a couple friends already, but they are all
older than him. He made a new friend this week who is younger than him! Zach
was born 2 months and 2 days after Jack. We went to visit him and his mommy the
other day and had a nice little visit. I tried to get Jack to notice Zach, but
he was too interested in all the things at Lauren’s (Zach’s mommy) house,
especially her ceiling fan! It’s funny because even though we know Jack is growing,
it was funny to see him next to Zach. He looked so big! Both boys are the same
length, but Zach still has some filling out to do. Once he gets some more baby
fat they’ll probably be around the same size, even though Jack is older.
Sleep: Baby has been amazing and been sleeping in 4 hour
stretches. Since we’re still nursing primarily I don’t expect him to sleep
through the night yet. He’ll sleep for 4 hours, wake up and eat, then go
straight back to sleep for another 4 hours. This came in perfect timing since
this is my last week working from home. No more waking up at 7:50 am and
getting on the computer straight from bed!
Feeding: Like I said, we are still primarily nursing. I have
been giving Jack 1-3 bottles a day depending on how much he eats. I’ll usually
try to get him to eat 4-6 ounces per day from a bottle. Some babies may go
through that much in one sitting, but Jack likes to take his time. He’ll eat
1-3 ounces at one feeding generally. Even though he eats so little, he still
goes 2-3 hours between feedings during the day. Since he is still gaining
weight (have you seen the kid? Chub!) I’m not too worried about him not eating
enough. I would exclusively nurse, but we have to get him used to bottle
feeding for when I return to the office. He seems to be adjusted well back to
bottle feeding. At first he struggled, but it was mainly because he prefers to
nurse. I’m hoping that the Tommee Tippee bottles we’re using will help him to
bottle feed and nurse in the evenings and on weekends. I don’t want him to
prefer the bottle! When he’s finished eating he has a very specific “I’m done”
face. He pulls back, purses his lips, and raises his eyebrows. I usually poke
his mouth a bit to see if he wants more but he locks his lips closed.
Clothes: Jack is still rocking his 0-3 month clothes. Most
of the onesies fit but some are still too big, so we’re saving those for later
and making good use of the smaller ones. He fits into his 0-3 month onesies
from The Gap, but he has two oxford style shirts that are still too big for
him. I am so excited for him to fit into these shirts! He’ll look like such a
little man (as opposed to a little baby). He has a lot more dressy outfits for
3-6 months, but I’m not quite ready for him to be big enough to wear those yet!
Hygiene: Last night we had bath time success! Since he
always fussed at the end of his bath when I washed his hair, Daddy suggested I
try washing his hair first. I thought that would cause him to cry throughout
the entire bath… but he didn’t! He let me wash his hair and face with no
problem and then enjoyed the rest of his bath. We even played some in the warm
water when he was all clean. Definitely a preferable experience to ending the
fun in terror over suds on his head! We ordered him a hazelwood necklace to
help with his rashes. We put it on him the evening it arrived and the next
morning his rashes were significantly better- less red and healing. We kept it
on him for a few days and noticed there was a new rash around where the
necklace lay. I used to get reactions to belt buckles and jewelry and I wonder
if Jack is reacting to the clasp on the necklace. I took the necklace off and
am going to let this new rash heal then I’ll try the necklace again. It could
be something different causing it, but we’ll do this little experiment first.
Personality: Jack has some mannerisms that he does
consistently now. When he’s just waking up he stretches his arms way over his
head and shakes his little fists back and forth. Sometimes he’ll shake his fist
back and forth against his chest too. When he’s settling down to sleep he’ll
usually shake his head back and forth rapidly and then suddenly stop… and he’s
completely out! He’s started cooing two syllable coos. He still does a lot of
goos and ahs, but he’s been adding other sounds onto those: ah-goo, ga-hi,
grr-ra. He loves to chatter away at us. Of course, there are lots and lots of
smiles for Mommy and Daddy. He does a lot of single laughs in the morning, but
recently he’s been doing the single laugh, chuckle chuckle chuckle, single
laugh. Very endearing. He’ll laugh when I say ma-ma with different inflections
and when I say ha-ha. When we start laughing at him laughing that really gets
him going. Such a little character already!
Learning: Ever since his frenectomy he has been moving his
tongue around a lot. He twists around in his mouth, sticks it out, and loves to
lick things (we’re so thankful he is able to do all this as his tongue was so
confined before). This week he began clicking his tongue against the top of his
mouth. It makes a very loud clicking noise! He has been sucking on his
fingers/hands since birth, but now he knows how to bring his hands up to his
mouth. He anticipates it by opening his mouth as he’s lifting his hands up. So
nice since he hasn’t figured out how to keep his paci in his mouth consistently
yet. He loves to suck on those hands! He’ll often make loud slurping noises,
which isn’t bad… except when you’re in church! He also has perfected (mostly)
his reach for toys. He bonks his hanging toys in his sleeper or bouncer and he
grabs the toys on his carseat. We’re still working on him learning to shake a
rattle back and forth now that he can grab it. He loves his tummy time and can
hold himself up for an indeterminate amount of time. He can sit there with his
head and neck up the entire time if he sees something that interests him.
Normally he’ll lose interest in whatever he’s looking at and go back down to
the floor to have “nommy fingers”. He can hold himself up on his forearms
pretty well too.
Attachment: He loves being with both Mommy and Daddy. We
both know his different cries now. The hardest times are when he’s tired,
crying, and we try to find his “sweet spot” so that he’ll settle down. When
he’s tired it’s all about finding the magic position he wants to be in.
Sometimes it’s upright against your shoulder, sometimes it’s completely
sideways across your chest, sometimes it’s lying on his back on his own,
sometimes it’s lying on his side. Once you hit that sweet spot he’s out in a
second. It can take awhile to find the correct position, but once you find it
he’s the snuggliest little bug! We wonder if he’s beginning to understand
object permanence. He definitely recognizes us now and in the past couple days
he’s cried when we’ve left the room. For instance, he’ll be perfectly happy
playing by himself while we’re sitting there within view. If we leave the room
for one second he’ll start crying! We come back, hold him for a minute, and
he’s back to normal. Wasn’t quite expecting that from a 2 month old, but there
ya go. We don’t leave him alone too often, but now we’ve begun moving him with
us even if we just need to grab something from the other room. Makes me wonder
how he’ll do if Matt takes him to the YMCA childcare while he exercises. He’s
going to try to wake up early and go to the gym before I leave for work (might
as well get used to waking up early now in preparation for Basic), but there
may be some days when he goes after I leave so Jack is with new people.
Schedule: We still don’t set a schedule for Jack. When he’s
hungry he eats. When he’s tired he sleeps. When he’s awake we play and do tummy
time/floor time. He’s pretty regular all on his own. He’ll go 2-4 hours between
feedings and generally be awake for 2-3 hours at a time during the day. We
don’t feel the need to wake him up from a nap because it’s “awake time” or
anything like that. We just let him be and he has a perfectly normal day for a
2 month old. He is such a wonderful baby and is truly an easy little one to care
for.
I cannot believe it is already June! I’m really hoping that
I’ll be finished working by early 2013. Since these first 11 weeks have gone by
so quickly, I’m hoping the next 6 months will as well. Funny how time works
with a baby. Yes, the time has gone quickly and I’ve loved every minute of it
since he changes so quickly… but it also seems like so long ago that he was a
newborn. That’s what I mean when I hope the next 6 months go quickly. I’m not
anxious for him to grow up quickly, but I’m anxious to be finished with work so
I can stay home with him. I know in that time I’ll cherish all my evenings and
weekends with him and each stage will make the previous stage seem like it was
a lifetime ago. That is the wonder about time.
