What a difference a day makes

March 11

Phillip is 3 months old now and we're not quite sure where the time has gone. We have been exhausted and overwhelmed, our schedule has been in constant flux, we have been quite happy to eat dinner in our pjs and, when possible, go straight to bed afterwards (no matter if it is 7:30), our house is a mess, we've eaten more mac n cheese than we care to admit and steam in the bag frozen veggies have become a staple (potatoes and green beans are actually really tasty) but every day (at least a few times even on the hardest days) we look at our growing little boy and are bowled over by the little miracle that he is.  We still kind of can't believe that we are parents. He is growing so quickly and every couple of days he rolls out some new trick or makes a new discovery, which is really, really cool. In the last 6 weeks, as his vision has improved, he has become more and more interested in his surroundings and is realizing that he has ways of interacting with them.

There are some things that he has grown out of that we kind of miss, but they've been replaced by other things. For example, he no longer has his diaper sneezes - for at least the first month of his life starting when we were still in the hospital, literally every time we changed his diaper, he sneezed. At first we thought it was just airways drying out after birth, but then he just kept doing it. It was really, really cute. One day he just stopped.  He has also stopped saying "Bah!" every time Tom holds him up over his head. Now Tom says it for him.

April 5

In the last 6 weeks he really started to smile. When he started, it was usually during a diaper change or bath time (he really just hates clothes) but more and more he is starting to smile when he plays or when he interacts with other people. His big toothless grins are adorable and do a good job of melting away any frustrations we may be having at the moment. I went back to work a few weeks ago and those grins made it both easier and so much harder at the same time. That first morning I handed a grinning boy to Tom and practically had to run out the door because I worried I just wouldn't go if I didn't do it then. But later that afternoon, after picking him up we were sitting in his room in front of the mirror just trying it out - he'd never had much interest before - and he was looking at the colors and shapes and then he caught my eyes and his face lit up. He'd look away and then back and grin again. It made my day.

Apr 7 - bath time

A few weeks ago he managed to accidentally roll over onto his back. By the look on his face, he was clearly confused about what had just happened, but we were still pretty excited. He passed all of the 2-month physical developmental milestones with flying colors except for lifting his head up when on his stomach and weight (he was still under 10lbs). Our pediatrician had been remarking on his really good head control for weeks, but that one particular movement is still rough. We've been making a more concerted effort to do tummy time to get him working on his back muscles and he has been doing really well. Getting enough height on one side to roll over is good progress.

The things dangling from the arches above his play mat can entertain him for a little bit as he flails his arms about and sometimes makes contact. This development has made it so much easier to duck away to get something done.

Since I have returned to work on a part-time basis (I'll be full time again after my leave runs out), friends have been watching Phillip and they have made a few new discoveries. First is that he loves other kids. Our friend, Jenna, who has been watching him has 2 little girls - ages 2 and 6. One day when her 6 yr old was off from school she was able to calm down Pip by just talking to him. Another time when he was sad the 2 yr old brought him one of her dolls and put it down next to him and he was just mesmerized.

Apr 6 - baby burrito

The other big discovery is that he responds really well to swaddling (though our little escape artist is getting better and better at wriggling his way out of it). Our friend Torrey watched him one day a few weeks ago and she swaddled him during his naps and he did really well. We had tried swaddling when he was born and he didn't really take it. We'd been meaning to try again since our nephew, Thomas, was apparently the same way - refused to be swaddled at first, but later responded well to it. It seems that Phillip has reached that age. We've been swaddling him for naps and bedtime ever since. Of course now, a few weeks later, with his wriggling, we aren't quite sure what to do next. We think that this development has been driven by his other new-found interest - sucking on fingers. We frequently wake up to the sound of loud smacking coming from his pack n play.

Apr 9

Speaking of naps and bedtime, a few weeks ago we made some progress in that department. After one long day during which he was awake from around 10am until 9pm with only two 20 minute naps we were stuck that evening with an overly tired baby who was still resisting sleep. Tom and I were exhausted and passed him back and forth until finally I decided to go with what my mom and sister had been telling me - if he's fed, has a clean diaper and is burped just put him down - so I did. I put him down and crawled into bed. I warned Tom that he was going to scream and we braced ourselves. He cried off and on for about 15 minutes and then fell asleep and didn't wake up for another 3.5 hrs (!). It was amazing - I don't think we'd slept for that long in a stretch more than 3 or 4 times since he was born. While I was up feeding him after that nice, long stretch, I googled baby sleep habits and found that he is really only supposed to be awake for a couple of hours at a time during the day and that when babies get overly tired they end up having an even harder time getting to sleep. After another 3.5 hr sleep shift, we decided to try it and made sure that he was going down for naps every couple of hours. We had a very productive day and Phillip was very happy. He still has rough days, but he is so much more consistent than before.

A week or so after that experience Pip began sleeping for 5-6 hr stretches. In just the last 2-3 days he has gone back to the 3 hr interval - growth spurt?


Other things he has discovered:

• Bubbles - drool bubbles are essential. This really picked up around 8 weeks.
• Legs are fun to kick when excited - especially during diaper changes.
• Those things down there might just be attached to him - he has started taking an interest in his feet.
• Being outdoors is the best - he seems to love all of the sounds and the fresh air.
• Vocal cords can do lots of things. We've had some interesting conversations with Pip, especially in the morning. 
• Giggling - only happened a handful of times, but it is the cutest thing ever.

New this week: lips can be used to make a whole other range of sounds : ), which means that his newborn cry is just about gone : (