2 Months Old

Luke and Grace
Originally uploaded by Jenmomma

As of yesterday, we have been a family of four for 2 months. Relatively speaking, it's been a great two months. Still so much easier than those first two months with Grace. I think some of it is Luke's temperment, but even more important is how relaxed I am. I know that this stage will pass quickly and we'll survive and he's never going to be this small again.

At two months old, Luke can smile. Haven't had a real laugh yet, but I'm guessing that will be soon. He can hold his head upright pretty good without too much wobble. On his belly, he's started using his arms to get part of his chest off the ground and he can lift his head up all the way. He hasn't rolled yet, but he can get to his side from his back. And if I place him on his side, he can roll either back to his back or to his belly, so I'm guessing a real roll isn't too far away. He is very vocal and likes to coo and gurgle at us. I also can tell the difference between some of his crys. Grace just screamed for everything, but Luke's hungry cry is very different from his tired cry or his bored cry. He also seems to be gaining more control of his hands. He can't really aim yet, but he will grab onto shirts, hair or glasses if he gets close enough.

Eating is going well. Luke usually eats every three hours. Some days he reverts to 2 or 2 1/2 hours, but most of the time he goes three. When he does nurse, he's all business. He can get his whole meal in in about 7 minutes. At first I thought maybe he wasn't get enough, but once he pulls off he acts like he has trouble getting latched back on. If I force it and he does go back on, he usually will spit up all over me. So, now when he comes off, I just burp him and he's done. Unfortunately at night he's also still only going about 3 hours. We've had a couple of 4 or 5 hour stretches, but not on a regular basis. Although, I usually feed him around midnight, he wakes around 3 and then again at 6, so that's really only one night waking.

Sleeping is so so. He hasn't really fell into a predictable napping schedule yet. He does usually sleep around 9:30 or 10 am after a longish awake time of an hour or two, but I haven't been putting him in his crib or a bed, so I'm not sure how restful the sleep is. For example, he's napping now, but laying on a blanket on the couch beside me. He does take a 2 to 3 hour nap in the afternoon (around 1 pm), but I will lay down with him and get up after 1 1/2 or 2 hours, so I'm not sure how good this nap will be at the baby sitters. He also usually dozes a bit while I'm getting dinner ready (after his 6 pm feeding), but we have bath time sometime between 7 and 8 pm and then he usually falls asleep until his night time feeding around 9 or 10 pm. Then we head up for bed between 11 and 12 (sometimes I'll wake and feed him again before we go).

I discussed the overnight process with the doctor yesterday and she suggested I start trying to get him to sleep in his crib in his room, so I will be able to judge if he needs to nurse overnight and start working towards sleeping through the night. Grace stopped taking her overnight bottle around 2 months old, so I'm guessing he should be ready soon. He's much bigger than she was at this age. Up until now, I've been putting him in the cosleeper beside the bed when we go to bed. He usually wakes on the trip up the stairs, but will lay quietly until he falls back to sleep (while I play Tetris on my Gameboy and make sure the pacifier is in place until he's asleep). Then we both sleep until his 3 am feeding. At that point I put him in bed with me and nurse him while we both doze. I usually wake up around 4:30 am and realize we both fell asleep. He usually starts figeting (I kind of think it's because we sleep and don't get a good burp after the 3 am feeding) and I cuddle him and give him the pacifier until 6 when I feed him, wake up Eric, and get Grace ready for the babysitter.

Last night we tried the crib. I fed him at 10 p.m. and then took him up to the crib around 11 p.m. I had trouble sleeping in my room without him being an arms length away. Around 1:20 a.m. I heard him start moving and by 1:30 a.m. he let me know he wanted to eat (3 1/2 hours). I went to his room and fed him in the rocker. By 1:45 a.m. he had nursed, had a diaper change, burped, and fallen back to sleep. (That never happened with big sister). I returned him to the crib and headed back to my room. I slept better this time. However, at 4:15 a.m. he woke again. I got up and this time was really sleepy, so I took him back to my room and nursed him in bed. I stayed awake though and put him in the cosleeper when finished and he stayed there until he started fidgeting at 5:30 a.m. and I cuddled him in bed until 6:30 a.m. when I dragged myself out of bed to get the rest of the family ready for their day. Although I did go back to sleep until after the 7:30 a.m. nursing session.

Luke's doctors appointment went well. He's growing well (Ha!). He weighed in at 15 pounds 8 ounces which is off the top of the growth chart. I checked Grace's baby book and she weighed 15 pounds at her 4 month appointment. He was 23 inches long (50th percentile). I didn't think breastfeeding was so important to me, but I really feel proud that he's thriving and he is getting all of his meals from me. Cancer didn't take my life, it didn't take my ability to have a baby, and it didn't take away my ability to breastfeed (although I am lopsided). Luke also got 4 shots and an oral vaccine. He screamed, but stopped quickly and was asleep before we left the doctor.

Grace is still doing awesome with Luke. Sometimes she tries to take him away from me when she wants to hold him. Also, now that he smiles she is constantly in his face. It was very sweet yesterday when I told her that he had shots she wanted to make him feel better. She gave him her giraffe and said he could keep him "forever." She said she didn't need him anymore and that Luke could have him. That's a huge deal. She didn't take giraffe to Amy's today either, so this is progress.

Eric is warming up to Luke too. He's not much of an infant person, so at the beginning (especially because I was breastfeeding) he pretty much left me to take care of Luke and he did more with keeping Grace entertained and getting her ready for bed, etc. I am trying to get him to take Luke more now though because Luke is becoming a momma's boy and I need to know that Eric can soothe him too. I'm supposed to have an overnight trip for work in a few weeks and right now, I'm not sure that I could leave overnight.

As for me, I'm doing well. I had my postpartum checkup and all was well (except I have to wait until 12 weeks to get my IUD back). Breastfeeding is pleasant. I don't pump as much as I should be (to get my reserve supply), but it's nice to know that if I don't feel like pumping, I can still feed my baby today. I have pumped a full feeding twice (while someone else fed him a bottle of previously pumped milk) and I get betwen 4 1/2 and 5 ounces in 10 minutes. Otherwise, I get about 1 to 2 ounces if I pump after he's done eating. We did a trial day hanging out at the babysitters for the morning. I'm going to go back to work on Thursday this week. Hoping that pumping at work will go ok. I also think I may start following the weight watchers plan next week (adding points for breastfeeding). I'm hanging out at 5-7 pounds above pre-pregnancy weight. I'd like to lose about 10 pounds. Well, I'd love to lose 15 to 20, but I'm being realistic and I'd be happy at 10 pounds. To treat myself to going back to work, I went shopping last week and used some left over Christmas gift cards and spent about $50 of my own money. I bought a new pair of work pants (need to hem them), a skirt, a white cami, and 4 other tops, plus a new pair of black slingbacks. Grace flipped out that I didn't buy her any new clothes. She's such a girl.

That's enough for now. I should probably attempt to do something productive today.