This weekend marked two months of life for our sweet boy! I have learned so much in these last two months and it’s been so fun to learn to be his mama. Overall he is a sweet, curious little thing who loves to snuggle, eat as often and as much as possible, and take in the world around him with wide open eyes. We sure do love being his parents! Here are a few updates from month two of Caleb’s life.
The Stats
As of my lactation support group meeting last week, this chunker was weighing in at 10 lbs 11 oz! He has been gaining 3/4 lb a week (and sometimes up to a pound!) and will eat as often and for as long as his mama will let him. Our two month checkup is next week, but at our 1 month appointment his height and weight were in the 25th percentile and his head size was in the 75th percentile. We’ll see if this has changed at his next appointment but he may have inherited his mama’s noggin!
Personality
He has just started smiling in the last week or two and is super smiley and sweet when he sees me and Jordan. Sometimes when I’m nursing him he’ll look up at me with a big goofy grin on his face and it about melts my heart! He is generally pretty calm as long as all his needs are met and we are excited to see more of his little personality blossom.
Family Resemblance
In case you missed my post last week, we took some newborn photos of Caleb and they turned out AMAZING. You can check out that post for more details, but I think it’s safe to say our guy is pretty adorable. After flipping through some old pictures, we’re pretty confident that Caleb looks almost identical to his mama. These pictures below are of me as a little one and we think the resemblance is pretty striking! Jordan was pretty darn cute too but he was a bald, goofy, grinning little thing more than a wide-eyed, dark haired, big-headed little thing like me. Here’s hoping Caleb inherited Jordan’s sense of humor and athletic abilities since he seems to look just like his mama!
Me with my granny!
New Sleep Routines
As some of the newborn sleepiness has started to fade, he’s started to get on a better rhythm of eating, playing/being awake, and taking a nap. He started taking crib naps this week and has done great at that, even if he won’t nap for more than 30 minutes at time. He’s eating about every two hours, which tires this mama out, but I’m trusting and hoping that eventually his naps will lengthen out and we’ll be able to go longer between feedings. Any moms out there have any tips on getting your little one to nap longer? We have him swaddled in a darker room with white noise but he still wakes up screaming at 30 minutes on the dot. He will sleep for hours in someone’s arms but seems to struggle to pass the 30 minute mark anywhere else.
Even though naps haven’t been stellar, he’s been stretching out his night sleep. This past week he slept for SIX straight hours one night and I felt like a new woman! His first stretch of sleep is usually at least 4-5 hours long, followed by another 2-3 hour stretch and maybe one shorter stretch after that before we start the day. I’m hoping this trend continues and he starts sleeping 7-8 hours through the night in the next month or two. A mom can dream, right? (How teeny tiny does he look in this giant crib? I can’t even handle it!)
Likes
Our little man loves being held on people’s chests (he will always be our little tree frog), lifting up his head to take in the world around him, being held in a carrier, looking at lights, windows, and fans, and smiling at mom and dad while they change his diaper or snuggle him in the mornings.
Dislikes
Caleb is not so much a fan of sleeping in past 6 AM, getting his clothes changed, poopy diapers, or when his big sister Olive tries to lick his face.
Snuggling her little brother!
A Parent Update
Parenting continues to stretch and challenge me in more ways than I could have imagined. It shows me over and over again how desperately I seek control, how much I need and enjoy structure and routine, how much I love and need my husband, and how big my heart can grow with love for another human being.
The beginning of this past week was rough and I felt discouraged and overwhelmed after spending what felt like two straight days pacing the house trying to get him to sleep (only to have him nap for 30 minutes). This season is challenging, even as it’s filled with sweetness and snuggles, and I’m trying to admit that it’s hard and give myself grace when I don’t enjoy every minute of it. The (cliche) expression that the days are long but the years are short is so true. I love these moments with our boy but I am also excited to get better sleep and have more of a predictable routine.
Like I shared about in this post about why it’s dangerous to shame someone’s negative feelings, I’m a big believer that it’s entirely possible to love a season and think it’s incredibly hard at the same time. I love so many things about the newborn stage, but I don’t think I’ll be jumping to repeat it any time soon (or at least until Caleb is a bit more independent). And you know what? I think that’s just fine. We love our son with everything we have, but BOY will we be happy to have some more consistent sleep and some time just the two of us when he’s on a more consistent schedule.
Caleb, it truly is an honor to be your parents. You have already taught us so much about service, sacrifice, joy, and love, and I know our hearts for you will just get bigger and fuller as the years go by. We love you more than the moon and the stars and can’t wait for many more months with you!
he’s so handsome Lauren!!! Sophie’s always had a big head! We associate it with her intelligence 🙂
Wow he does look like you!!! We think Sophie looks more like me, but the oldest picture that my mom could find that wasn’t destroyed in a hurricane was when I was four, so a big age difference but the resemblence is there.
On the naps, we tried out a swing (I don’t know if they make it anymore, but it was from Babies R Us, elephoo? Or something like that) and that worked with Sophie on lengthening her naps, but she was always a good sleeper so eventually she trained herself to sleep longer.
I think the beginning is always the toughest, both parents and baby are trying to figure out this new stage of babyhood and parenthood! Hang strong mama, you and Jordan have this 🙂
liz @ j for joiner
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Jackson has been smiling for the last 2ish weeks and I LOVE it! He also does this little sound when he smiles that sounds like his attempt at a laugh. I have a million videos of it because I never want to forget it! It makes me so happy to see him smiling/laughing! I think I’m lucky because Jackson is a fantastic napper! We started Babywise from the beginning with 3 hour feeds, but I exclusively pump so it’s easy to see that he is getting enough to eat and we add milk if we need to so that we know he’ll make it to 3 hours. I keep Jackson up for an hour right now and he’s down for 2 hours in his crib. If he seems extra tired, I put him down closer to the 50 minute mark and sometimes in the evenings, he’s up for a little over an hour. I don’t follow BW strictly, but it talks a lot about how bad napping can be from overtired babies. I have no idea if that could be the case for Caleb? Isn’t getting more sleep wonderful?! We got out first 8 hour stretch the other night and it was AMAZING! Last night we were back to a 5 hour stretch, but still, I’ll take anything longer than 3 these days! While I think Jackson is incredibly adorable and I love his baby snuggles when he’ll allow it, I definitely don’t love this phase! I can’t wait till he’s more interactive. Somebody at work asked me yesterday if I was so glad I had kids and I still can’t quite say yes to that, but I think one day, I’ll get there (or maybe not, haha, but I still love Jackson and that’s all that matters!).
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Gosh, he is adorable! I really does look like you. Yay for six hours of sleep! It makes a huge difference!
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This is just so sweet and as I read my baby to be was just kickin up a storm in my belly and it made me so excited to meet our little. And reminded me to nap now while I still have a chance. haha
<3<3<3<3<3 He is so precious! And, like I told you in my message, it WILL get easier and his sleep WILL get longer! I promise!!!
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