(Picture by: Alycia)

Disposition:

• Incredibly sweet and snuggly
• Extremely happy and content
• Surprisingly good at communicating his preferences in subtle (and sometimes not-so-subtle) ways (or maybe I’m better at understanding “newborn speech” this time around?)
• Easygoing and predictable
• Gentle and alert
• Loving and easily comforted
• Hearty appetite, champion at spitting up and sucking
• Very strong and solid

Statistics:

• Birth:
  • Weight: 9 pounds, 6 ounces (90-95th %ile)
  • Height: 20.5 inches (50-65th %ile)
  • Head circumference: 15.25 inches (38.74 cm) (>97th %ile)
• One week:
  • Weight: 9 pounds, 7 ounces (90th %ile)
  • Height: 21.5 inches (90th %ile)
  • Head circumference: 38 cm (80th %ile)
• One month:
  • Weight: 11 pounds, 14 ounces (95th %ile) (Holy toledo!  Way bigger than we expected!)
  • Height: 22.25 inches (75th %ile)
  • Head circumference: 39 cm (75th %ile)
• Two months:
  • Weight: 14 pounds, 10 ounces (97th %ile) (Holy guacamole!!  Way, way bigger than we expected!!)
  • Height: 24.5 inches (95th %ile)
  • Head circumference: 42 cm (90th %ile)

New Developments:

• First smile ever!!! (at one month, three days old)
• Many, many, many smiles every day after that!!
• Cooing and gooing and melting all our hearts!
• Staring at and tracking his right fist (at 2 months, 6 days old)
• Sucking his right thumb (at 2 months, 9 days old)
• Laughing!!! (starting in earnest at 2 months, 11 days old)

What he’s doing right now:

• Sleeping soundly in his crib upstairs; wearing a blue and white onesie and swaddled in his blue swaddle blanket with his blackout drapes closed and the overhead fan running

Teeth watch:

• None

What he’s wearing:

• Clothes:
  • Newborn (for his first week of life)
  • 0-3 months (for the next month of life)
  • 3-6 months (currently)
• Diapers:
  • Newborn (for his first week of life)
  • Size 1 (for his next two weeks of life)
  • Size 2 (from one month on; currently)

How he’s sleeping:

• He’s a fantastic sleeper
• During his first month of life:
  • Slept through the night from day one
  • Slept 4-8 hour stretches at night from day one
• During his second month of life:
  • Currently sleeps 9-12 hour stretches at night
  • Sleeps approximately 17-19 total hours a day

Falling asleep:

• At night: falls asleep on his own in his crib
• During the day: prefers to be swaddled and held in the nursing position while having his back lightly patted and sucking on a binky to fall asleep -OR- being in “the pouch” while sucking on a binky and having his back lightly patted as I walk around

Bedtime Routine:

• Accompany us as we go through Bubbers’ bedtime routine and say our night family prayer
• Say goodnight to his big brother by laying on him, getting a kiss and singing songs
• Move to his own room and nurse, get a diaper change and then another burping/spitting up session
• Get no-scratch mittens put on and be swaddled
• Get placed in his bed and sung to
• Either fall asleep on own, or get patted/binked/rocked as needed

His Favorites:

• Being held!!!!!
• “Talking” to us with coos and goos and silently articulating lips while earnestly looking at us with those big, bright blue eyes of his
• Being in “the pouch”

• When his brother talks to him
• Sucking (on binkies, arms, fists, thumbs, etc.)

His Not-So-Favorites:

• The dreaded car seat (or at least, being tired and not able to fall asleep in the dreaded car seat)
• Cold things touching his skin (baby wipes were not okay at first, but, fortunately, he adjusted to those quickly)
• Not being held when he wants to fall asleep during the day

Bubbers’ Favorites:

• Walking into a room and finding his brother there and awake!!
• Giving Snuggles his pacifier when he fusses (and sometimes when he isn’t fussing)

• Showing his brother his toys and telling Snuggles about them
• “Covering him up” with blankets (with firm reminders by Mommy that we only cover his feet–not his face)
• Saying “Hi!!!” to his brother
• Showing his brother funny things he makes up (like silly make-believe words combined with foot movements and kicks)

• Holding his brother while giggling and squealing and exclaiming, “I’m holding Snuggles!!!”
• Giggling up a storm when Snuggles “says goodnight” to Bubbers by being placed on top of Bubbers in his crib (by his funny Daddy)
• Running upstairs with me and calling out “We’re coming!  We’re coming, Snuggles!!” when we hear him wake up
• Telling me, “Snuggles said, “Goooo!”” and giving a perfect imitation!
• When we’re all together as a “faminy” (family)

• Just being with his brother!

Bubbers’ Not-So-Favorites:

• Seeing his little brother get his first two immunization shots

Things He’s Looking Forward to:

• The next time he wakes up! :)
• Playing with him more

Daddy’s Favorites:

• His laugh
• When he almost sneezes but doesn’t
• His Sir Snuggly-ness
• His chubby rolls
• His big head
• His love affair with his thumb
• His smile
• His smile when he first sees me
• Him

Daddy’s Not-So-Favorites:

• Explosions
• Leakage
• Fluids
• Spit-up
• The mess
• His startled cry when he’s placed on a cold surface (cold defined as any amount less than his body temperature)

Things He’s Looking Forward to:

• More of him

Mommy’s Favorites:

• Holding him while he sleeps (and sleeping myself, when possible)
• “Talking” to me!  (He made me cry the first few times he did it, because he was so incredibly sweet and cute!)
• Nursing him
• His fantastic smiles!
• His delightful laughs!
• His beautiful eyes
• His coughs
• His sneezes
• His almost-sneezes that turn into the sweetest “ah-oooo”
• What a dream baby he is
• How he emanates sweetness from his open, happy face
• How eagerly and easily I savor each moment with him, because I’m not as uptight and inexperienced as I was with Bubbers, and because I know these stages move quickly; so I happily indulge myself without any guilt trips
• How much I miss him when he’s asleep in his room
• How excited I am to hold him when he wakes up

• How much he looooooves to sleep in my arms
• The squeaky sound he makes when sleepily sucking his pacifier at night in his crib
• How he immediately relaxes when I put him in “the pouch” and then melts into me when he falls asleep
• How he looks like Han Solo frozen in carbonite when I take him out of “the pouch” when he’s still asleep
• When I open the door to his room and he immediately stops crying and greets me with a big smile and sweet coos
• His big stretches when he wakes up and I undo his swaddle or after he’s done nursing
• The feel and smell of his soft, sleeping breath
• When he smiles and/or laughs in his sleep
• That he never cries when we bathe him, change his diaper or his clothes
• How much he loves to be with me
• How well I understand him and what he wants
• How much he likes our routines
• Kissing his chubby cheeks and pinching all the chub on his whole body
• Passing him back and forth with Daddy over the dinner table or during bedtime routines as we manage affairs :)
• The smell of spit-up (because it reminds me of him and of Bubbers when he was a baby)
• Hugging him tight when he’s extra snuggly right after he wakes up in the morning
• How much easier it is for me to know how to care for a baby the second time around and how much more confident and easygoing I am about it

Mommy’s Not-So-Favorites:

• When he suddenly shrieks if something cold touches him
• When gas bubbles wake him up and give him pain :(
• At first, not being able to focus 100% of my attention on him all day long like I had been able to at the hospital and how I did with Bubbers when he was a baby.  Then I felt guilty that neither Snuggles nor Bubbers got 100% 1:1 time with me.  But over time I adapted to the new status quo and now I’m happy and content. :)
• One unexpected day after coming home from the hospital when I had the feeling come over me that Bubbers was a threat to baby Snuggles and I had to protect the baby from him.  I had irrational thoughts that Bubbers had malicious intentions toward the baby and I saw everything that Bubbers did in that light.  But it wasn’t true at all and I was shocked by the strength of the feeling.  I hated feeling that way toward my dear Bubbers, but couldn’t make it go away.  Fortunately, the feeling soon subsided on its own and I felt like myself again and was able to see Bubbers and his kind intentions in their true light again.  It was very, very strange.
• When he’s crying and I can’t get to him right away

Things I’m Looking Forward to:

• Continuing to savor each and every moment