Caleb’s Three Month Update

It’s been three months since our handsome guy made his grand entrance into the world (you can check out his birth story HERE!) and this past month has been so, so fun.  He’s becoming more of a little person and less of a newborn and we’ve loved seeing his personality unfold!

The Numbers

He hasn’t been weighed in a week or two, but our little chunk is clocking in right above 12 lbs and measuring about 22 inches long! It’s crazy that he’s almost doubled his weight in three months.  Can you imagine if adults did that? He’s starting to look so much more like a little person and I can see a huge difference when I look at pictures from the first week compared to now.  His little body is filling out and getting so squishy and sweet and I love that he is growing healthy and strong!

Our attempts to get him to smile for this picture were unsuccessful, but he has this ridiculous expression pretty much anytime he’s not smiling so I suppose it’s okay!

How He’s Eating

We are still exclusively breastfeeding, which has been challenging and beautiful at the same time.  He usually eats somewhere between every 2-2.5 hours, depending on how long his nap was.  He’s a MUCH better eater now than he was in the beginning, and Jordan pointed out to me the other day how naturally and quickly he latches and gets to gettin’ when it comes to breastfeeding these days.  Those early days where he would scream and fight to latch seem like forever ago.  I remember so many moms saying that the first 2-3 months are like breastfeeding boot camp, and if you can get through that, you can do it.  Now that we are three months in, I definitely agree! It’s still challenging to be so needed around the clock, but it is all much easier than it was in the beginning.

This is my sweet view for so much of the day, and I love how his little feet and legs just curl up onto me.  He fits right onto my still-squishy belly and I love how safe and comfortable he feels with his mama!

How He’s Sleeping

By about 8 or 9 weeks, Caleb had started extending his first chunk of sleep to be anywhere from 5-8 hours.  The nights where he slept from about 9 PM – 5 AM were amaaaaazing and I felt like a new woman.  It seemed like we were making so much progress and then he got majorly sick (bronchitis and early signs of pneumonia, according to the doctor).  Congestion, lots of coughing, and probably just general yuckiness had him waking up almost every hour for a week or so before we finally got him some medicine.

Then he went through another cognitive leap (according to the Wonder Weeks app) and we had another week of inconsistent sleep where he’d sometimes sleep a good first chunk of 4-6 hours and sometimes be up every two hours.  I’m super encouraged that he CAN sleep those long nights, even when they just come every once in a while. Here’s hoping he settles into more of a routine again soon (before the 4 month sleep regression, teething, and other illnesses hit and throw it all off again). [Update since I wrote this post: He slept from 8:30 PM – 6 AM for three nights in a row and it is FABULOUS! WAHOO!]

Celebrating our first Mother’s Day with donuts, lattes, and pink collared shirts that are just a little bit too big.

One of the best sleep victories? He has started to put himself to sleep for naps! I started putting him down drowsy but awake in the crib for all his naps and he’s done a great job of maybe lightly fussing/making noise for 3-4 minutes, playing quietly in his crib for anywhere from 20-30 minutes, and then falling asleep for 45-50 minutes.  Not having to rock him to sleep for every nap (only to then have him sleep 30 minutes) has been really encouraging for me and I’ve had more time to read, cook, blog, and catch up on other “adulting” tasks.  He still fights naps and needs rocking sometimes but he’s doing so great overall and I am very grateful for that!

What He’s Liking

We have seen so much of Caleb’s personality emerge this month.  After he eats, I love to set him on my lap and “chat” as he smiles, giggles, and coos at me.  It is the sweetest thing in the whole world and I love our little mommy-son talks! Caleb also likes playing on his play mat, looking out of windows, walking around with mom and craning his head back to take in the world, looking at himself in the mirror, and lots and lots of mama’s milk.  Another fun milestone of sorts is that he seems to have discovered his hands (or at least his fists).  He spends a lot of time these days waving his fists in front of his face and staring at them so hard he goes cross-eyed.  We’re pretty sure this means he’s a genius!

Typical morning attire 🙂

What He’s Disliking

So far, Caleb is NOT a fan of big, loud groups of people, getting dried off after bath time, being awake for more than 50 minutes to an hour at a time, or getting his fingernails clipped.  He also hated having to take the medicine the doctor prescribed and we had to squeeze his little cheeks to give him fish lips so he wouldn’t just spit it out as he screamed and fought it.  That was relatively traumatic for all parties involved and I’m glad to be done with it!

“Get away from my fingies, lady!”

A Mommy And Daddy Update

When we had Caleb, I told myself that the first three months would be really rough, but if we could make it through, we could do this whole parenting gig.  There are definitely still lots of challenges, but this last month I’ve started to feel so much more comfortable in my identity as a mom.  I’m starting to feel more confident in my decisions for him and am learning to take what I read online and in all the parenting books and use my mama instincts to try whatever I think will work best for our little guy.  We still have so much to learn but it’s been so fun to start to feel “normal” as a parent and a little less overwhelmed.

It already feels like this was so long ago!

Saving the best thing for last, this month I feel like I have fallen in love with Caleb in a much deeper way.  I’ve loved him fiercely from the beginning, but this month have started to fall IN love with him.  I love how he smiles and makes sweet faces at me, how he snuggles into my chest after naps and looks so content while he nurses.  I love that I’m his safe place and he calms down so quickly when he buries his head in my shoulder and I whisper into his ear.  He’s my little buddy, my bubba, my sweet boy, and I love him more than my heart knows what to do with some days.

Happy three months, sweet boy.  We love you more than the moon and the stars!