Roman - Three Months

No doctor appointment this month, so I'm not sure how much Roman weighs or how long he is now, but he's definitely gaining and looks like a little like this guy

Here's some of the stuff that was going on between the second and third month:

• He started wearing 0-3 month size clothes at the beginning of this month (or around the end of the 2nd month, I can't remember), but he's really about to outgrow those. I had to get out the 3-6 month sizes and wash them up for his little fat self. He seems to be growing at a faster rate than Brock did. Or maybe I just let Brock's clothes get uncomfortably small before I moved him up to bigger sizes. Who knows. 
• Roman also moved up to size 2 diapers this month. A word on diapers: I thought that I preferred Huggies over Pampers and have even mentioned this to a few friends who are expecting babies. I remembered Brock always having explosive poops that would go up the back (and out) of his diaper when he was wearing Pampers. This doesn't happen with Huggies because they have a little tab across the back of the diaper that kind of catches the poop (which indicates this must be a common problem with babies). I also feel like Huggies are more absorbent with pee. However, I am finding with Roman that Huggies diapers leak really bad around the leg openings and Pampers are much better at holding it in down there. So we apparently need some kind of Huggies/Pampers hybrid that will combine the best of both worlds. I also came to the definite conclusion this month that I could not do cloth diapering (not that I was ever really unsure, but ya know). Brock is potty training and has done pretty well with it, but he did have a really large, messy number 2 accident in his underwear a few days ago. Blaine and I were both cleaning it up, and I was gagging and trying not to be grossed out about picking it up after it fell out of his underwear (how do you take them off without it going everywhere?!). As I was standing there holding the dirty underwear as far away from myself as possible and trying to determine what I should do with it now (spray it with a hose? put it in the dirty clothes? soak it in the toilet?), I just decided we could buy more underwear and this was not worth salvaging, so it went in the trash. Yes, I know, that is so ridiculous and wasteful, and this is the reason that our landfills are overflowing, and I'm so selfish not thinking about the future generations and all that. I'm sorry... I just don't like dealing with poop. If I can't flush it or wrap it up and throw it away, then I don't want to know about it. 
• Anyway, back to Roman... he became super social this month. He constantly talks and coos and makes all kinds of vocal noises. He will stop nursing just to babble, like he all of a sudden thought of some great story he needs to tell me about. It's one of my favorite things. Brock didn't really get vocal until closer to 4 months and even then it wasn't constant, but Roman is a little chatterbox.
• A few times this month, he woke from his naps happy and talking rather than screaming for food, so that's kind of fun.
• This is not a very Mom thing to say, but I think Roman has gotten a lot cuter this month. He's outgrowing the odd alien newborn features and starting to look more like what the movies show newborn babies looking like.
• He's gaining more arm control and likes to stuff blankets or burp cloths in his mouth with his hands. We're still swaddling him, but we started using the Woombie swaddle during the second month because it gives him more wiggle room. I had tried using it from birth, but with both of my boys, I had to wait til closer to the one/two month mark before we really liked it. So we used the velcro swaddles or just blanket swaddles first then graduated to the Woombie. I tried swaddling Roman with one arm out a couple of times this month, but for now he still sleeps better with them both in.
• The projectile vomit/spit up has stopped I think. He hasn't done it in a while. In general, he is spitting up less frequently too, though it's still on a daily basis. Gas doesn't seem to bother or affect him as much now either.
• We've still been having problems with short naps this month. We experienced the 45 minute intruder a lot, which is something I learned about here. I think he had a growth spurt in the middle of the month because he was wanting to eat more, but then he just kept waking early after it was over. Figuring out a good amount of wake time has helped some (usually no more than 50 minutes to an hour), but we haven't quite gotten it perfected.
• He found his fists and fingers and started chewing on them a lot this month. It makes a big, soggy, drooling mess, but there's no stopping him. I should also mention that he has always disliked the pacifier. Other than the first few days after he was born, he absolutely will not take one. I have tried over and over to get him to accept one, but it just makes him angry and he gags on it, so I guess we'll probably have another thumb-sucker.
• While Brock all of a sudden started sleeping through the night at 9 weeks, Roman has been slowly extending his night sleep over time. At 12 weeks, he started consistently sleeping 6-7 hours a night with no feedings. Brock was more abrupt about it, so that's what I was expecting with Roman, but he has been more gradual. 
• This month Roman started to show a little more interest in and fascination with Brock. He's becoming more aware of his surroundings and all that's going on around him (which makes it fun to feed him), and he seems to really like watching his brother. Brock loves to put on shows for him too, so it works out pretty well.
• I'm really happy that we have another pretty content child. Right now he is even better than Brock was because Brock was always really happy only until he got hungry or sleepy, then there was no consoling him. If someone is holding Roman, he is pretty much content and happy even if he needs to eat or sleep, and if he has been fed and had his nap, he'll just chill wherever you put him. This probably means we should stop having children because there's no way we can get lucky and have a third good one.

I think that's mostly all that has happened over the past month. Some of the boring details I'm recording are for my own future reference because there have been things with Roman that I couldn't remember whether or not Brock did too, so I'm just writing it all down now (in case we are dumb enough to try our luck on that third baby). 

And now some pictures...

Brock was insistent on getting in the chair with Roman while I was trying to take Roman's 3-month picture. Once I took a few of just Roman, I let Brock get up with him and these are what resulted. 

This is the "Staring off into space in opposite directions" shot...

This is what happened when I told Brock to put his arm around Roman...

This is what happened when I said, "Say cheese..."

This is what happened when I told Brock to give his brother love...

And this one just happened spontaneously...

Finally, the monthly photo comparison...

Cell Phone Photo Dump (2nd Edition)

It's probably hard to believe if you're my Facebook friend or Instagram follower, but I don't actually post EVERY picture I take of my kids. I do post a lot, but I try to limit myself to only a couple a week and only the most amusing ones because I know that no one else really cares how long my toddler's hair has grown or how chunky my 3 month old is now. Anyway, I was clearing off some space on my phone tonight and found a few little gems that I wanted to save but didn't want to leave on my phone and didn't want to overwhelm my friends' Facebook news feed with. So to the blog they go...

                                                   

Brotherly affection... This will probably only last a short, short time unfortunately.

                                    

All swaddled up

Pondering deep philosophical thoughts while watching Yo Gabba Gabba or Pocoyo

I love this one. His cousin Anna has a baby doll stroller and then this little miniature baby stroller. She was pushing the normal-sized one and he grabbed this one and started following her. A video would have been funnier, but this was all we could get.

           

This one and the one below go in the "Monkey See, Monkey Do" series. He loves imitating his dad. Blaine was doing some special kind of push-ups with his legs on the couch so Brock went to the stairs (in the background) and put his legs up to do his own version of the push-ups.

Blaine, for whatever reason, laid down in the driveway one afternoon and Brock ran over to do the same.

He likes squishing himself into Roman's car seat, along with his buddy Pocoyo.

This one is a little hard to see, but I peeked in Brock's room one day during his naptime and he had fallen asleep sideways with his whole body on his pillow (note his feet sticking out through the slats of the safety rail). Also, he apparently covers his face with his blankie to sleep now.

I feel I should point out that I am completely aware of the unbalanced ratio of Brock pictures to Roman pictures. This is not (as Brock may try to claim in the future) due to the fact that I like or love Brock more. It is simply because Roman does little else but sleep for about 18 of the 24 hours in each day, and when he is awake, he doesn't have quite the variety of photographic moments that his brother does (meaning all he really does is just lay there and smile on occasion). But no worries, I love you too, my little second-born. 

Roman - Two Months

Roman is 3 months old now, and I am just getting to his 2 month old update. So goes our life these days. Between a toddler and a two three month old, working a full-time job, keeping my house in minimum living condition, and being a wife, there are days when I feel like it is all I can do to keep my head above water. There are also days when I'm tempted just to go under and drown. Only kidding... kind of. I'm still adjusting to everything and still working on finding our groove, but we're getting there.

I am not a big fan of the first year. There are just so many constant changes and developments that always seem to throw them off and mess up their sleeping or their eating. It seems like after the first year, everything kind of falls into place and things get easier. So, I'll just hang in there for another 9 months... Of course, then they turn 2 and make you want to tear your hair out and run from the house screaming, "Stop saying Mommy!!!!" Ahhh, so much fun these little people are.

Anyway, all that to say, here were some things that were going on with Roman between months 1 and 2 (I kept track of things but just never got around to putting them all together in a post; his 3 month post will hopefully be on time).

• At his 2 month checkup, he was 23 inches long and about 12 and a half pounds. He had to get his first set of shots at that appointment, and I don't know why I didn't remember how miserable they made Brock, but I didn't give him Tylenol immediately afterward and he woke up from his nap screaming inconsolably. He wouldn't eat and barely even wanted to be held, and he kept making the most pitiful face I've ever seen which broke my heart. After about 24 hours or so he seemed to be over the worst, but I have got to remember to pre-medicate him before the pain really sets in.
• His first real smile was at 5 weeks, and he has barely stopped smiling since. He's a really happy baby for the most part.
• His first laugh was at 7 weeks. I didn't write down what it was that made him laugh, so I can't remember, but usually he just gets tickled by some random face or noise we make.
• He slept through the night (10:00-6:00) once at 9 weeks (which is actually in the third month I think), but then he went back to a pattern of waking once in the night to eat around 2:30 or 3:00. He usually would go 4-5 hours at night and 2.5-3 hours during the day between feedings that month.
• At some point during that month (maybe like 6 weeks or so), he stopped taking a bottle. He just wouldn't latch on and would gag on the nipples. I did some searching online and spent $15 on a set of bottles called Breastflow that have some fancy nipple that is supposed to mimic breastfeeding, and Roman basically said, "Sorry, but you just wasted $15, Mom." Then I did more online searching and found some people had success with the Playtex orthodontic latex nurser nipple for Playtex drop-ins (which is the type of bottles we had originally used). Of course, no one sells those nipples anymore... I think maybe because they're not up to the non-BPA standards or something. But being the bad mom that I am and not caring too much about BPA but caring very much about not being the only person able to feed my child, I found some on eBay (they were unused... I'm not that bad of a mom). So for like six bucks, I ordered those and they seem to be working well so far. Except that he won't eat for Blaine... He'll take a bottle from anyone else (even me!) but refuses to eat when Blaine tries to give him one. Odd.
• Naps got kind of crappy this month. The first month was great; he'd take 2 hour naps and sleep perfectly. Then during the second month, he started waking every 30 to 45 minutes crying. Usually it was because of gas or spit up, but once he was awake he wouldn't really go back to sleep in the crib. So I started just moving him to the swing to finish his nap and he would usually get at least another hour or so.
• Because of the gas and spit up, I thought I'd try gripe water. I never used it with Brock. The Mylicon gas drops seemed to be enough for him, but they didn't really do much to help Roman, so after some more online searching (thank goodness for Google), I decided to give the gripe water a try. I spent like $12 on a big bottle from Amazon which only resulted in him projectile vomiting all over the place. He had been having projectile spit up about once a week and the doctor said it was nothing to worry about as long as he didn't do it after every feeding. I tried the gripe water 3 or 4 times and every time, it made him throw up, a lot. So.... that was apparently another $12 wasted. I did, however, find that dipping a pacifier in it and letting him suck it off would instantly cure his hiccups, so maybe it wasn't a complete waste.
• He had some really dry, flaky skin on his face and scalp that month and the baby Aquaphor cleared it up pretty well. I have to use Aveeno baby wash on him because the other kinds dry his skin out pretty bad.
• This is more related to myself than to Roman, but I wanted to make note that pretty much all the pain/discomfort associated with nursing went away during that month (probably by about 6 or 7 weeks). This was sooner than it was the first time I nursed (it took more like 3 months with Brock).

I think that's mostly all that was going on up to the 2nd month mark. I was kind of complaining a lot up there at the beginning of this post, but I should say that I am not suffering from postpartum depression, and we are all doing well. It's just a lot of work, and sometimes I miss being a teenager (when I thought life was hard) and getting to sleep in all the time and not worry about anyone but myself. But I really am grateful for my two boys, and they make me smile more than they make me cry (or scream or say bad words or want to curl up in the fetal position). They bring us a lot of joy and pride, and Blaine and I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world, not even an all-expense paid, year-long vacation in Hawaii where we could just sleep and eat all day and never do anything and still not gain any weight (although we might deliberate on it for a day or two before we made the decision).

(Confession: His 2 month picture was actually taken closer to 2.5 months, but it's still within the month, so it counts)