3 Months Old

Wow, Jacob is growing so fast! It is hard to believe it has been 3 months since this little guy came into our lives. The past month has been very busy and kind of rough for all of us. Right when Jacob turned 2 months old he got his first cold and had to stay home from daycare for 2 days, since he was getting a bad cough from all the drainage. Then the following Monday he had his 2 month check-up and had to get shots. All of this resulted in a very cranky baby, and Josh and I also ended up getting colds as well. Then just as Jacob was recovering he got super snotty again, and then developed pink eye. Our poor baby just could not catch a break! So basically he's been sick almost the entire month. Not fun! I have also been sick most of the month, so this has made for a miserable time in our household.

This month was also my first month back at work, and Jacob's first full month in daycare. Both of us are doing very well, although some days I come home pretty exhausted and end up passing out while Jacob is napping. He is also exhausted and usually sleeps 3-4 hours when we come home from daycare. He does not nap very well while he is there unless he falls asleep in the boppy pillow, but somehow he makes it through the day. I am just glad that he is doing well and not being fussy all day for them.

Speaking of sleep, Jacob still is not sleeping through the night, but we have had some good nights sprinkled in here and there. Of course his illness did not help him sleep, and there were a few really rough nights for awhile. In fact, two days after his doctor's appointment he was pretty much awake all night, and Josh and I had to take turns holding and feeding him throughout the evening. I think we got about 4 hours of sleep each so that was the worst night since he was first born. When he hasn't been sick, though, he has done much better. There were 2 nights right after he started daycare when he slept about 6 hours before waking up, and he has started doing this again in the past week now that he is feeling better. I have been trying to get him to sleep by about 8:00 at the latest, and then he will sleep until around 2:30/3:00 to eat. Once I put him back down he will sleep until about 6:00/6:30. So we're making progress. Now we just need to work on his naps, because he has really been fighting those lately. I did get a new baby sleep book that someone recommended at work, and if he is still struggling to sleep through the night and take his naps then I will use that to do sleep training once he turns 4 months old.

Finally, Jacob has changed so much this past month and is doing cute little things everyday. He is becoming much less fussy than he used to be, which is a huge relief. When he is awake he will smile and coo at us. He seems to do this the most when he is in his bouncy seat, swing, or boppy pillow, and he loves it when we get in his face and talk to him or give him kisses. My favorite time is in the morning, because I will strap him in his bouncy seat and put it in the bathroom while I shower and get ready. He will just sit there making noises and "talking" to me, and it is so cute! He is also very active and will kick his legs and wave his arms around like crazy. He hasn't started grabbing things very much unless he is pulling on a blanket or our shirts when we hold him. I have tried to get him to grab or bat at the animals that dangle on his activity mat, but he just still isn't ready to do that. He is still getting used to his new activity mat, and does not like having tummy time on it. Lately I have been putting him on the boppy for tummy time, and he prefers this much more. I think it is just because his head is raised up higher, allowing him to look around. Another new thing Jacob has been doing is sucking/chewing on his hands and fingers. You would think those things were made of candy! It's pretty funny to watch, and sometimes he will end up with drool all over his chin from all the sucking. Jacob also loves being naked while having his diaper changed or taking a bath. The other day he was being pretty fussy after I fed him, but as soon as I turned on the bath water and started undressing him he got a big smile on his face and calmed down. Usually he sort of lies there with a shocked look on his face and his fists clenched because he gets so cold, but the last few times in the bath he started waving his arms and legs and kind of splashing the water. I can't wait until he is big enough to sit up and start playing in the bath! Although I miss how little he was when he was first born, I love all the things he is doing now and how playful he is becoming. Josh even said the other day that he thinks Jacob is cuter now than when he was born. Josh said he loves that Jacob has chubby cheeks, legs, and arms now! I thought that was pretty funny. As hard as it has been to adjust to this new life, we definitely love our little guy and are excited to see what this next month brings!

I love cloth diapers

I thought I would do a quick post to share how my cloth diaper experience is going, since I chose to order some before Jacob was born and try them out. So far I am loving them! As you can see from the pictures above, they are super cute, and clean very well. The top picture is after he has worn them each about 3 times and pooped in every one! You would never even know!

So far the cloth diapers have been pretty easy to use. They require a little extra work, but they are much better than disposables. I have only had one experience with poop coming out of the cloth diapers, but in disposables we experience poop blowouts at least once a week if not more. Yuck! That is proof that there will be poop in the washing machine whether you use cloth diapers or not. And speaking of poop, since Jacob is pretty much solely breastfed I don't have to do any extra rinsing of the diapers before washing them. I just stick them in my cute cloth diaper wet bag and then throw the bag and diapers in the washing machine after he has worn them all. There have even been a few times where I took a few days to wash the diapers, but the stains still came out really well. It's pretty amazing!

Right now I only have the 7 diapers you see above, but I may invest in some more later to reduce the number of disposables we use at home. I currently have 3 Fuzzibunz diapers (on the left), and 4 BumGenius diapers (on the right). They all work well, but I think I like the BumGenius a little better. The Fuzzibunz require you to adjust the elastic as the baby grows, while the BumGenius just uses snaps on the outside to adjust the fit of the diaper. Still, though, I am very happy with the diaper choices I made and am glad I decided to try out cloth. I would highly recommend them to any mommies or future mommies out there!

2 Months Old

How do I have a 2 month old already? I just can't believe it. The past month has been pretty crazy and very busy for all of us. I went back to work last week, and Jacob started daycare. I am eager to see how he does with this new schedule over the next month, but so far it is going well.

Jacob continues to eat well. He still mostly eats every 2 hours, but he can often go longer if he takes a good nap. He is still mainly on breastmilk, but he does get a bottle of formula almost every day at bedtime so Mommy can get some extra sleep! I think Josh enjoys having his Daddy time with Jacob at night, so it works out well for everyone.

Jacob's sleeping patterns have been kind of crazy this month. We have continued to work on the whole 90-minute sleep cycle thing, with some mixed results. For a long time he would fight us on taking a nap even when he appeared to be tired, and if he missed a nap he would get pretty cranky. Recently, though, he has started falling asleep in his swing and carseat, so this has helped a lot and allowed us to get him to sleep and then transfer him to the crib. At daycare he doesn't nap very well. So far he only naps for a total of 2 hours while he is there (not all at once), since he can't be swaddled or have his heater blowing on him. He definitely makes up for it by napping when he gets home though. Hopefully he will get used to the cribs there and sleep at least a little more during the day. And he also has not been too fussy or cranky at daycare, which has been exciting to hear. That being said, he is NOT sleeping through the night. Although he sleeps pretty well at night he still gets up once or twice to eat. He has been going to bed around 11 or 12 at night and waking up around 7 or 8 AM, so he's getting some pretty good stretches of sleep even with waking up in between to eat. I, of course, am hoping he will give up nighttime feedings and just sleep straight through from night until morning. Maybe all the excitement of daycare will help make this happen, since he comes home so tired when I pick him up. Overall, though, I can't be too upset about his night sleeping, since I know some babies this age wake up even more often at night.

Jacob's 2nd month ended with him catching his first cold. He has been really snotty and coughing since Sunday night, and I felt so bad for him. Luckily he was home with Josh on Monday and Tuesday instead of at daycare with other little ones.

Overall, I have to say that Jacob has made a lot of progress this past month. He is starting to make lots of sounds and smile, especially when he is in his swing or lying on the boppy pillow. He also seems to slowly be getting less fussy, especially after he started at daycare. This has been really encouraging and allowed me to start taking him out a little bit more. On Sunday I even got to go to church and was able to leave him in the infant room. It made me nervous, but he did fine. I can't wait to see where the next month takes us and how he grows and develops!