Three Months

Another month has passed and our Connor continues to grow. We remain so in love with our little boy. Every day we think that we can't love him more, and he proves us wrong the next.

The biggest transformation in our little man over the last month, is that he's grown out of most of his 0-3 month clothes. They fit him fine width-wise, but he's just growing like crazy lengthwise and they've become too short. He grew out of most of them when he hit the 10 week mark. We've been able to get a bit more use out of items like onesies, but all off his footie jammies just don't work anymore. I've been folding and stacking the clothes as they've become too small, and I find myself feeling sad that these first few months of his life has already gone by. With each new item that I put away, I have to take a moment as I realize that he'll never wear it again, that he'll never be this small again. Is it ridiculous to feel so emotional over a pair of footie pajamas? But the moment passes, and I open the next drawer to find all of the cute clothes just waiting to be worn by him, and all of the new memories that will come with them.

His Batman onesie made its debut this month. I'd almost forgotten about it until I was sorting through his dresser to find his 3-6 month clothes. We had originally planned to have him wear this as his going home outfit, and although he wasn't a tiny newborn, it was still fairly big. So I put it away, and only now remembered it. He seemed to like it just fine and immediately struck a "put your dukes up" pose once I had him dressed in it. It was hilarious. He actually started doing this with his hands a lot around week 10 and 11. It was a short lived antic, he only does it occasionally now, but for some reason during those two weeks, he was always holding his hands in front of his chest in tiny fists.

Brian was at work when I first put Connor in the Batman outfit. When he came home to find our little superhero, he was really excited, and immediately changed into his Batman pajamas to match Connor. It was great. Of course I had to snap a few pictures because it was a bit of a momentous event. It made Brian a very happy and proud papa.

   

    

Along with dressing up as Batman, Connor likes to play Superman with his Dad.

Speaking of being a proud papa, when I was at church yesterday, a lot of people told me that they can tell Brian is just delighted with our little guy. Apparently, whenever someone asks Brian how Connor is doing, he whips out his phone and shows them picture after picture. That made me laugh. We haven't taken Connor to church yet, we're holding off until his blessing in just a couple weeks. He's probably fine, but we've heard that RSV is still pretty bad this year and I don't want to take the chance of him catching that or anything else. So most of the time I stay home with the baby, and Brian goes to church so he can fulfill his calling as Ward Executive Secretary. He will come home and watch Connor on the Sundays that I'm assigned to teach Sunday School, so that I can attend Sacrament and then teach my class. We haven't been to church together in a long time, and I'm excited when we can both start going weekly again.

Connor continues to delight us with every single thing he does. Seriously, this little kid has us both wrapped around his little finger. He's adorable whether he's smiling or crying, and he makes the cutest little frowns. We don't know how we made it so long without him! Brian snapped this picture of him doing a strong man pose the other day. He is such a strong little boy. He continues to push against us with his legs when we're holding him upright, like he's trying to stand up or crawl up us, and he's begun pushing with his legs which causes him to scoot forward little by little while he's lying on his tummy. He's also started trying to pull himself up when he's laying on his back and holding onto our fingers with both of his hands. He's just rearing to go I think, and will be mobile sooner than we expect.

 

Also this month, he's started getting so vocal. We love that he talks so much. He makes so many noises from coos and gah's, to little screeches and growls. He's so funny, and if I put him down to go to dishes or start laundry, I can hear him just talking away. He continues to make his little laughing noise. It doesn't really sound like a laugh, just more of a long ahhhh (sometimes with a higher pitched hiccup-like noise at the end). He usually does it while smiling and if we repeat what we did to cause it in the first place, he'll laugh again. Most of his noises are happy noises, but he's also started some fake crying. Sometimes if I leave him on the floor on a blanket and walk out of sight for too long, he'll start crying for attention. It's not full out crying, just kind of sad little wails. Boy does he know how to act sad. He doesn't mind letting me know when he's not happy to be left alone. Haha! He thinks he's clever, but we know what he's up too. We can't help laughing when he does this, it's quite hilarious. And don't worry, I don't leave him to his lamentations for very long.

    

Connor continues to like his baths, and has started splashing a lot when he's in his little tub. It's so fun to watch him move around. He seems much more comfortable than he did the first month or two when he would just sit still in bewilderment, trying to figure out what the new sensation was that he was feeling. I don't necessarily think he's connected his kicks to moving the water, just that he's really wiggly and it happens to make splashes. Either way, it's really fun. He does it mostly with his legs right now, he hasn't discovered yet that he can do it with his arms too. After his bath, I wrap him up in a towel to dry him off and keep him warm. He is so cute with his little face poking out of the towel that I can't help but laugh.

Connor has started to fight going to sleep over the last few weeks. Not always, but occasionally, and usually in the evenings, he starts to get really fussy and cries when he's tired. We can tell he is so tired and ready to sleep, because his eyelids get heavy and he starts to blink really slowly, but he'll also start to fidget, and cry while pushing against me with his little hands while I'm holding him. I don't mind that he does this, it's just something new that I want to remember. It usually doesn't last too long before he's sound asleep. And boy does he like his sleep--just like both his parents. Once he's out for the night he's out. He's been sleeping anywhere from 6 to 9 hours each night, but every now and then we'll have a couple nights in a row where he'll wake up at 3 am after only 3 or four hours of sleep. Occasionally he'll also start to really cry in his sleep. This usually happens during his naps, or soon after he's down for the night. It's accompanied by the cutest yet most intense frown, and it's the saddest sound in the whole world. He calms down pretty quick if we pat his stomach and talk to him. Very rarely do we need to pick him up to calm him down when he does this, but I'll do it sometimes anyways just because I can't help it and I need to cuddle my baby. He still likes to cuddle a lot, which I love and hope he never stops.

    

When he starts to wake up, it takes him awhile to become fully awake. He'll wiggle and grunt and groan with his eyes closed for a good 20 minutes or more when he's trying to wake up. We help him wake up by picking him up and holding him, or changing his diaper. He's just so precious when he's sleeping and watching him pulls on my heartstrings. 

He doesn't cry a lot, only when he's really tired or really hungry. The rest of the time he is such a happy baby. Once he wakes up fully, he'll get a good stretch in and then start smiling. We love his smiles so much, and love that he's so happy. He has started turning his head to the side when he smiles really big, and sometimes he'll cover his face with his hands too. I don't know if it's because he gets excited or if he's being bashful, but either way it's very endearing.

Valentine's Day was really low key this year for us. I was at home all day with my little love while Brian was at work. That night, Brian brought dinner home and after we ate we put on a movie and I ended up falling asleep. Connor had been up at 3 am the night before and then again at 5:30 am, so I was quite tired. Brian was so wonderful to take care of him so I could get some extra sleep that evening. It was the best way he could have shown his love for me--I didn't have to cook, and I got a nap. It was wonderful. He also brought me home some flowers and my favorite valentine candy--gummy cinnamon hearts--which I appreciated, but the nap was pretty amazing.

I love that I have a little buddy to hang out with all day. Although he makes my days busier (I don't mind at all), he makes them more wonderful as well. We have a lot of fun hanging out, talking, and playing in between naps, and during feedings and chores. Occasionally we'll try to take a selfie, and the results are always hilarious. One or the other of us is always making some silly face. I love it. 

His eyes are still a very dark blue, but they're starting to get more brown in them. Depending upon the lighting, they look brown, dark grey, or black. But when you get up close in good light, they are still blue. I'm thinking they will eventually turn brown, but I'm not certain. Part of me will miss his blue eyes if they do change color. He also has the longest eyelashes that curl just perfectly. They're still blonde, although they've started to darken a bit.

A few other cute, fun, and new things he's been doing lately:

• He's discovered his hands a little more. He likes to chew/suck on them. I caught him the other day staring at his hands with such concentration. He was holding them right up in front of his face and they were so close that he had gone cross-eyed. It made me laugh how intently he was studying them.
• He's started drooling. When he's on his tummy I'll have to periodically wipe away the little stream of drool that makes a trail down his cheek or chin.  I hope this doesn't mean that he'll start teething early. As I mentioned before, he's in 3-6 month clothing now, and most of them are a bit big yet. When he's in his bouncer, his shirts bubble up against his mouth. I try to pull them down, but they always work their way back up. He tries to suck on his shirt when it touches his mouth, and between that and the drooling, his shirt usually ends up with a giant wet spot below the neck line. I guess it's time to pull out the bibs.
• He was laying on the floor on a blanket the other day while I did some dishes. When I came back he had wiggled one quarter turn to the left and was laying on his side. He's starting to become mobile, even though its just small scoots right now.
• He gets so fidgety with his hands while he's drinking his milk out of the bottle. So much so that he constantly tries to push his bottle out of his mouth. To help keep his arms a bit more calm, we get him to hang onto the pinky and thumb fingers of the hand that we hold the bottle with. This doesn't always work, as he then tugs our hand back and forth which moves the bottle out of his mouth. Sometimes he'll hold onto the bottle, which seems to help calm his hands down too. 
• He continues to be a brave little chap. After he got his shots at his two month checkup, he was crying, but as he started to calm down, he tried to smile at us through his cries. He does this occasionally at home too. When he's hungry, tired, or just upset and crying, if we talk to him and try to get him to smile, he'll give us a little smile between cries. If he's mad though, this sometimes makes him more mad. You can tell he's smiling because he can't help himself, but he doesn't like it. Haha!
• He's started spreading his legs apart, and kicking them outward instead of just up and down. It's really cute, and so fun to watch him learn new movements. He also likes to lift one leg up in the air and hold it there for awhile. It's so funny. 

Connor has also started to interact with his toys a little bit. He especially seems to love his plush elephant rattle. When we hold it above him and shake it, he'll start talking and smiling. He's not so sure about his frog toy though. It startles him every time we shake it to make it rattle. He may grow up being afraid of frogs because of it. Haha!

    

Connor sleeps 7 to 8 hours every night, which is so wonderful. We really appreciate that. He still fits in size 1 diapers, although we'll be moving up to size 2 soon. We took him in for a weight check on Feb 28th. He weighs 13 lbs 1 oz. He's only gained 1/2 pound in the last month, so his weight gain has slowed considerably. He eats every 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 hours during the day, and will eat anywhere from 2 1/2 to 4 ounces at each feeding. Pretty inconsistent. He seems to spit up more if he eats much more than 4 ounces. We feed him mainly breast milk with only the occasional bottle of formula. Our pediatrician said to try to get him to eat 4 to 5 ounces every 3 to 4 hours, so I guess just try to get him to eat more at more regular intervals. For the last two or three days he's been more consistent though, eating 3 1/2 to 4 ounces every three hours, so maybe he's already getting there on his own. We'll see how it goes over the next month. We're not overly worried about it yet as he hasn't stopped gaining weight and isn't losing any. However, I am a little concerned and plan to keep a close watch on him to make sure that he doesn't start to lose weight over the next few weeks.

We sure do love our little Connor man. He continues to be a joy and a blessing, and we are beyond happy that he is part of our family.