Two Months

So I'm going to be one of those moms. You know, the ones who post a million pictures of their kid to show every facial expression and pose their baby has ever made (only to you the pictures all look the same). Well, I'm not really sorry about it because I'm so in love with my little boy, who happens to be the cutest TWO MONTH old around. Seriously, how is he two months old already. I love every face he pulls and movement he makes and I want to remember every moment with him because it's going by too fast. So without further ado, I present the faces of Connor that I've captured over the last few weeks.

He is still such a sweet, calm, serious yet happy little guy. He is hilarious and I find myself laughing multiple times a day at the expressions he makes. I can only imagine what he thinks of his silly parents who will do anything and say anything to make him smile. I often laugh out loud at the goofy songs, voices, noises, and things I find myself saying to coax a smile out of him. Seriously, I'm glad sometimes that I'm the only one home with him. Haha! He smiles much more readily these days though, so it's not so hard to get him grinning.

He's started discovering his tongue the last few weeks. Often when he gives us a big open-mouthed smile, he sticks his tongue out at the same time. It's seriously so adorable.

This picture of Brian and Connor together is one of my absolute favorites. You can see how happy he makes Brian, and Connor is quick to smile at daddy and look around for him when he walks in the door after work.

We're still working on getting him to like tummy time. It's kind of hit or miss. Most often as soon as I lay him down on his stomach, he'll roll over onto his back. He does this over and over, as often as and almost immediately after I turn him back onto his stomach. It gets really tiring for mom, so tummy time doesn't last very long when he plays that game. Sometimes he loves it though, and will stay on his stomach for quite awhile with his head up. He's such a strong little guy and holds himself up really steadily without too much wobbling around. 

He is very alert, and loves to look around at anything and everything. When we're holding him upright, he always holds his head up and turns it back and forth trying to see as much as he can. It's fun to watch him take the world in...although his world is pretty small right now as we haven't really taken him out much yet.

He's still a wiggle worm, and continues to love to stretch his arms and legs whenever he's laying down. He still stretches his legs out straight and holds them up off the floor in a plank position, but he's also started sticking them straight up in the air. Often this causes him to roll over onto his side and that always surprises him. The first time he did that, he was so startled that he started to cry. He'll sometimes hold his stiff plank position when Brian lifts him up in the air. It's really cute.

Connor's newest move is rolling over onto his side from his back. I'll put him down on a blanket and leave him for a minute, and when I come back he's laying on his side just as happy as can be. He likes laying on his side, particularly his right side, and likes to sleep in that position. In fact, he seems to fall asleep more readily when held vertically with his side against our chest. It lets him get a good handful of shirt too, which he still likes to grasp when we're rocking him to sleep. He'll then push upwards with his feet until his head is snuggled up underneath our chin. It's super cute, and there's nothing better than cuddling him while he's sleeping. Today I put him in his crib for a nap for the first time, and he snuggled right over onto his side. He looks so little in there.

Really everything about him is our favorite. He is so sweet when he sleeps, and his little hands and feet are so adorable. Although they aren't as small as they used to be. He's growing so fast.

    

He still likes to steeple his toes together, but he doesn't curl his legs up against his body as tightly as he used to.

I took some pictures of Connor the day he officially turned two months old. He was patient enough to sit there without wiggling too much, but he wasn't so happy that he would smile for me. I'd just given him a bath so his hair was all fuzzy and sticking up off his head. His hair has really started growing the last couple of weeks. He has a few long wisps on the crown of his head that are three times as long as the new hair coming in, and of course he has the baby mullet. The mullet is a dark blonde so it's easy to see, but his new hair is white blonde. He still looks as bald as a cue ball in pictures, but I promise he has hair. You can sort of see it in the picture below on the right...if you zoom in.

    

He was getting tired and hungry, so our little photo shoot didn't last very long. Later when Brian was home, Connor was being super smiley, so I pulled the camera out again to try to get some happier pictures. It didn't quite work. The best one I got was this deer-in-the-headlights shot. Haha! It makes me laugh every time I look at it. 

Grandpa and Grandma Westover gave Connor stuffed bears from the books Paddington and Corduroy. We've had them sitting in his crib, and I put him in there with them the other evening while I did some cleaning in his room.. He wasn't quite sure what to think about his new buddies.

   

He's become so vocal in the last week or two. He makes all sorts of delightful noises. One day he let out a really loud babble and it startled him. He immediately got very wide-eyed and went completely silent for a minute. It was so funny. He doesn't laugh yet, but within the last couple of days he's started to make a noise that sounds close to one. He only does it when Brian is talking to him and getting him to smile. 

Connor still has been eating every two to three hours during the day, but he's eating more (three to four ounces) at each feeding. He still sleeps in-between most feedings during the day, but for shorter intervals than he used to. For the last week or so he's been going longer between nightly feedings. It started with a couple 5 hour stretches, and for the last few nights he's been sleeping 6 to 7 hours straight. He eats around 10:00 pm, by 11:00 he's fast asleep, and he doesn't wake up until 5:00 or 6:00 in the morning. It's been amazing, and with all that sleep I'm starting to feel like a real person again. I hope he keeps this up. 

We took him in for his two month check up today (Jan 30th). I was just going to go it alone, but he was getting his first set of shots and I really didn't want to go by myself. I've been worrying about it the last couple of days. Brian was great enough to take the morning off to come with me, and he held onto Connor while the nurse administered the shots. Of course the little guy cried, but he settled down soon after and has been fine ever since. I think it was harder on me than it was on him. I haven't been worrying just about the pain from the shots though. I don't want him to get a fever or have a reaction to the vaccines. As I'm writing this, it's been about five hours since he got them and he's acting normal, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm really nervous about Connor getting sick for the first time. Growing up, I helped out with my youngest siblings when they were babies. When they got sick I could just turn them over to my Mom. She always knew what to do to take care of them. Well, I'm the mom now and this is my first time around the block, so the thought of a sick baby is a bit intimidating. I realize that he will get sick at some point, so we will just learn as we go and everything will be okay.

Connor's checkup went fine and he's doing well. The back of his head is a tiny bit flat, but as we do more tummy time and make sure he sleeps with his head to the side (which he's already starting to do on his own), then that should take care of itself. His percentile for weight is low, as compared to his one month checkup. He's been eating fine, so his pediatrician isn't super worried about it. It's just something to watch. His next checkup isn't until he is four months old, but the pediatrician wants us to drop by in a month for a quick weight check just to make sure he's okay. I'm still pumping and feeding him breast milk. My supply has slowly increased to the point that he's mostly eating my milk, but we're still supplementing with formula as needed. I hope that he's getting the nutrients that he needs and that his weight gain will improve over the next month.  His two month stats are:

• Weight: 12 lbs 5.5 ounces; 58 percentile
• Height: 24 1/4 inches; 95 percentile
• Head Circumference: 40 cm; 81 percentile

He's grown 2 1/2 inches since his one month checkup! He still wears 0-3 month clothes, although some of his zippered footy pajamas are on the verge of being too short. It's probably time to evaluate what clothes we have in the 3 to 6 month range and pick up some more. I can't believe we're almost to the point where he grows out of his first set of clothes. 

I think that about sums up our Connor boy at this point in time. He is such a blessing, and we are just delighted with everything about him.

**update: The night after his shots, he woke up every three hours. Not horrible, but I really missed that six hour stretch. The next night, he slept for five hours, so hopefully that will continue to be the new norm. He never got a fever, but just seemed more fussy and clingy than normal. I was happy to give him extra cuddles. I'm glad he got through his first round of vaccinations without any problems.