Bean Update!

Bean keeps me away from my computer and other things a lot more than I’d like, but I love him with all my heart and time with him is time well spent!   :)  But since I haven’t updated much about him on here recently, other than some pictures, I wanted to try to get an update in now.

He is 11 weeks today.  He will be 3 months old on the 23rd.  At his 2 month well visit, which was actually done at 2 months and 1 week, he weighed 10 lb. 7 oz. and measured 22 1/4 in.  He’s in the 25th percentile for length and weight and all his measurements are proportionate.

He is a colicky/fussy, high need baby.  We can only seem to get him to nap in his swing in the morning, and towards evening and night he won’t settle or fall asleep unless he is being held and rocked or moved somehow.  He needs movement.  It gets exhausting sometimes.

I am currently breastfeeding, whether he gets it straight from me or from a bottle.  Breastfeeding was quite a struggle for the first 4-6 weeks.  I wanted to quit everyday, but kept going, and got the help I needed from a lactation consultant and the La Leche League.  Now it’s going so well that he doesn’t want to take a bottle!  We’re working on that, since I’m not home Tuesday nights and Hubby and I would like some date nights every now and then.  He still eats every 2 hours, pretty much on the dot.  Once in a while we’ll get a 2.5 hour stretch from him and once in a blue moon a 3 hour stretch.  He will eat, then be awake for a while, then get fussy for sleep.  Naps still occur pretty much between every feeding, but only last 20-40 minutes, lately more on the 20 minute side.  He does sleep pretty well at night though, so if little napping during the day means sleep at night, I’ll take it!  His bedtime is still anywhere from 10-11, and then he’ll wake up once anywhere between 3-5:30, then back down again until 7:30-8:30.  We still swaddle him and he’s still sleeping in the napper attachment for the Pack N’ Play.  Not sure when we will try other sleeping arrangements yet.

He hates tummy time, but holds his head up on his own pretty well since he only really likes to be held up at your shoulder, which forces him to gain better control of those muscles.  He is not rolling at all yet – not sure when that will start happening.  We get sounds out of him, and he smiles responsively and has been doing so for a few weeks now.  New thing?  He laughs!  Tuesday was the first real laughs – he woke up at 4am for a feeding, and fell right back to sleep.  I was still holding him since we have to keep him upright for a little after feedings, and in his sleep he started laughing!  Hubby was awake to hear it too, then Tuesday evening, Hubby got him to do it when he was awake (video to come – not sure if I have to deal with that at the moment, my dinner is waiting for me, and Bean makes it hard to eat dinner while it’s still hot!).  His smiles and now his laughs make my whole day!

People ask if he’s a “good” baby.  Of course he’s a good baby – he may not be an easy one, but he’s a baby, they’re all good!  He’s still fussy and high needs, but we are coping with it a lot better, and hopefully he will start to outgrow that soon.  I’m just wondering when he will start to take longer/less naps and eat more in one feeding to hopefully start stretching feedings out!  But again, if more frequent feedings in the day mean more sleep at night, I’ll take it!

I am so in love with him, and even though he’s a fussier baby, I enjoy him so much and would do it all again – but not for another 4 years or so!   ;)