so. this has easily been the fastest three month period of my entire life. and one of the more difficult, in many ways. lots of adjusting. very little sleep. busy-ness and emotions. did i mention sleep deprivation? but honestly, we are really happy most days and figuring out this whole family of four thing little by little.
for my monthly posts, i'm going to shamelessly steal some categories from another blog i read and update on them. i'm hoping this helps keep me focused when writing since my brain isn't operating at full capacity these days.
physical: our dude is still pretty big. his gigantic-ness is tapering a bit...i'm thinking he will not be in the 90% for weight at his four month appointment, but he is still hefty. my estimate on our scale holding him and subtracting my weight has him at 15.5 pounds. he's definitely getting longer, too, so some of his rolls are stretching out. i try not to let this be a source of constant panic about how much milk he is consuming. i thought i would be less neurotic the second time around, but apparently that is not the case.
likes: hb is starting to dig on his big sister more and more. i think she moved to fast for him previously, but as his vision/focus improve, he loves to watch her and give big grins. i am still his favorite person and he loves to be held upright, nuzzled in my neck. he also likes being outside and we try to hang on the front porch and wait for daddy in the evenings, or head to the back and watch emme mess in her garden. his favorite thing in the world right now, probably, is bath time in his pod. that thing is amazing and he would love to just hang out in there for hours.
dislikes: waiting too long to be put down to sleep is the biggest issue in hollis's life these days. he also gets persnickety if he's on the floor/in his bouncy seat for too long. he abhors tummy time.
biggest achievement of the month: starting school. i think this is a pretty big deal. he was not crazy about the transition at first, but he's doing better every single day and i am so proud!
biggest challenge of the month: getting rid of the pacifier. even though he was reluctant to take it in the first days/weeks, hollis fell in love with his beanie. and we took it away. his school won't mess with them, and i think consistency between home/school is in the best interests of everyone, so we got rid of it (they weren't going to change their policy just for us, so....). it was a rough few days. really rough. but he got through it and is finding his hands and i think we'll be much better off in the long run.
nicknames: hb, hollissey, bittles, babbins, bits, smalls, bg, chublet
sleep: ahh, the mecca that is sleep. we are doing ok in this department, if i'm honest with myself. my standards were set unreasonably high by ek and her 8 hour stretches at 8 weeks old. i flipped hollis to his tummy for sleep about two weeks ago, and this has been the best decision ever. he was getting too big/strong for his swaddle, and with no pacifier, he needed to be more comfortable than he has ever been on his back. i know it's somewhat controversial, but this has worked incredibly well for us and hollis is getting stronger neck/back muscles as a result as well (added bonus for my kid who hates tummy time). so, now he is doing longer stretches and his sleep is becoming more predictable, which is great. he does 3-4 naps during the day, usually 1 long one (2.5 hours is pretty typical) and multiple 45-minute ones. at night, he's down around 7 and usually has his longest stretch at this time - anywhere from 3-6 hours (the 6 hours has only happened once, but i'm optimistic we will see it again someday). depending on what time that is, i either nurse him and put him back down in his crib, or bring him to bed with me and co-sleep the rest of the night. i know that's controversial too, but i have to do what i have to do right now so i can make it to work/function in any capacity.
temperament/personality: if i had written this post 3 weeks ago, i would have said that hollis is intense and has a temper. while those two things are still somewhat true today, i think my little monkey has begun to turn a corner. h smiles SO easily and his smile takes over his whole face - that big, toothless grin is incredible. he is very stubborn (yep, another one. lucky me.), but i think it is a quality that will serve him well in his life. he's pretty needy, but then he is also three months old, so i'll let it slide. ha. all in all, i think he's heading in the direction of being a sweet, laid back little boy, even if we're not quite there yet...
eating: obviously, breast milk is all he receives right now. he doesn't mind bottles, but hasn't really gotten consistent about when/how much he will eat, which makes pumping and packing for daycare super interesting. i weaned him off the prilosec after a few weeks because it wasn't really helping and he's actually doing just great without it. still spitting up, but not too bad (nothing like emme), and he doesn't seem to be in pain/rejecting food at all.
superficial: this dude still has blue eyes! he also still has barely any hair, but new blonde hair is growing in. it's so soft and i love to rub my cheek on his head while rocking him. i'm obsessed with his rolls and chubs. his belly is a perfect forum for raspberries.
motor development: hollis is taking his sweet time on doing things like lifting his head and rolling over. his neck muscles get stronger by the day (especially since i started putting him to sleep on his tummy), but it's going to take a lot of muscles to haul that big dome around. he's grabbing and batting really well - the other day he managed to pull a toy off of his bouncy and bring it to his mouth and it surprised him so much. adorable.
favorite things: bath time. mommy. nursing in the middle of the night.
and now, the photo barrage (a few of these are blurry but too cute not to post).
Oh my! He's quite the cute chunk!
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