Levi: 2 Months
Little Levi is 2 months old today!
As you can see, he is super expressive. Lol. (Takes after his dad.) Here's what he's up to lately:
Sleep
He is a great sleeper. I really can't complain. He generally does about a 6 hour stretch followed by a 3 hour stretch at night. He eats at 10 or 10:30 pm and is up again at 4 or 4:30 am. He usually goes right back to sleep after that and gets up around 7:30 or 8 to eat again. Sometimes I have to fight with him a little bit to go back to sleep in the middle of the night. A lot of leaning over the side of my bed putting the binky back in his mouth and rocking the Rock N' Play. Haha.
During the day, sleep is more sporadic. He tends to take cat naps throughout the day - usually in my arms. If I put him down, he immediately wakes up. I'm finally catching on to his tiredness cues. At first, I thought he wanted to eat or had a belly ache because he acts so mad, but I'm learning that he really fights sleep. If I get him in the right position and jiggle him hard enough while holding the binky in his mouth, I can usually get him to fall right to sleep. This is his favorite position:
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| He loves to put his hand inside my sweatshirt like that and hold onto my shirt. |
He does take one good long nap in the afternoon, though. After his feeding around 11:30 or 12, I swaddle him, rock him to sleep, and put him in the Rock N' Play. He almost always sleeps 4 or 5 hours then! It definitely makes up for the cat-naps the rest of the day.
Breastfeeding
Breastfeeding is going pretty well. I think we have thrush again because he has white spots under his lips and I'm having some major pain - but only on one side. I don't understand how it wouldn't spread to the other side, so I'm not totally sure it's thrush? I have leftover Nyastatin from the last time, so I've been using that for a couple days. I'm not sure it's really helping.
Other than that, though, things are good. He eats every 2.5 - 3 hours, usually does both sides and is done in about 20 minutes. He definitely prefers the right side. I remember Lena having a preference too. So weird. (And weird how my body catches on and produces more on the right than the left!) He sometimes gets really fidgety (especially on the left side) and tries to burrow his head into my armpit without unlatching. You can imagine how pleasant that feels!!
Shrimpiness
His two month appointment is May 9, so I'll update with stats then, but at least according to my scale, he's still pretty tiny - less than 10 lbs. He's just finally starting to fit into some 3 month onesies and sleepers. 3 month pants are all huge on him. But I've been enjoying having some more variety with his wardrobe! He also moved up to size one diapers this week - only because I have a huge stash of them, ran out of newborn, and didn't want to buy more. The 1s are a little big, but we haven't had any leakage problems, so they're sufficient.
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| 3 month outfit . . . scrawny legs! |
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| On Lucy's bed |
Milestones and Personality
The most exciting new milestone is that he's finally starting to smile! He's definitely my latest smiler. Not sure if that's because he's a boy or if it's because he was 2 weeks early, but it's so fun to finally get some emotion (other than anger) out of him! They're not terribly regular yet, and hard to capture on camera, but here are some of my best efforts:
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| He's usually kicking while smiling, and my phone's camera doesn't handle the movement very well. |
He's also starting to coo a little bit. He's most vocal after I change his diaper and he's laying on the floor in front of me. We have lots of meaningful conversations in our changing spot on the floor.
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| I think his eyes might stay blue! What are the odds 2/3 of my kids would get blue eyes when brown (what I have) is so dominant?! |
He's kind of a strange baby and really loves tummy time. Sometimes when he's cranky for no apparent reason, I'll plop him on the floor on his belly and he'll just lay his head down like this and relax for a while:
He has great head control, too, and does hold his head up and look around. I just don't have a picture of that.
He's kind of a fussy baby. In general, if he's not eating or sleeping, he's fussing. He wants to be held most of the day. I can set him down for about two minutes at a time before he starts crying. (Although I do think he's getting better. He sat in the bouncy seat for 10 minutes tonight while I made dinner!)
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Yes, I take pictures of his crying face. It's adorable!
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You may have noticed that he has a burp cloth under his head and puke on his clothes in most of the above pictures. He's still a major puker. Some days I feel like it's getting better. Some days I change his clothes (and mine!) 4 times a day. I keep burp cloths in every room, do a lot of laundry, and have learned to live with puke-covered nursing tanks (because I only have 4!). Haha.
Overall we're doing very well. He's needy, but I'm learning to let things go and enjoy him. And I'm thankful we have a lot of help. I pass him off to my mom regularly. And even Lucy is very helpful. She knows how to calm him down and loves to hold him if I need a minute to do something. Both of the girls still adore him. They're constantly in his face, cooing over him, and begging to hold him.
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| Not a great pic, but it shows how they're always smothering him. Haha, |
And I'm doing really well. I definitely have my moments of feeling overwhelmed and inadequate, but I'm not experiencing the crushing depression I had after Lena, nor the crippling anxiety I had with Lucy. I'm down almost 20 lbs - only 9 lbs away from my pre-pregnancy weight, but I only have one pair of jeans that fits. My maternity jeans are huge and saggy, but I can barely button most of my regular jeans. I also have a major belly still. Patience, patience . . . My back still hurts something fierce. Levi likes to be walked and jiggled, but I can only handle about 5 minutes at a time before my back starts screaming in pain. My sciatic and pelvic pain are gone, though. Thank the Lord!
We love our precious boy and already can't imagine life without him. He's worth the flabby belly, aching back, and excessive laundry! Haha.
I think he looks a lot like Justin :)
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you're feeling emotionally OK! Hoping your back starts improving soon.
Orion was my fussy baby. I feel ya. At least he's a good sleeper!! I was going to suggest you wear him more, but your back might object :( I hope he becomes more content soon.