Our sweet chunky monkey turned two months a few days ago and I really can't quite believe it. He is seriously amazing. I am madly in love with our little man. He is my baby and my last one at that so I am trying my absolute hardest to soak up every minute I have with him. He has had some major milestones this last week.
For starters, he had his two month well baby check last Wednesday. He weighed 11 pounds 13 ounces and was 23 inches long. They are still comparing him to other preemies which put him on the large scale for percentages. Of course, I don't have the stats sitting in front of me right now but he was something like the 90th for weight and height. I asked them to convert his stats to compare to full term babies and he was 75th for height and 50th for weight. Just perfect :) He is growing fast though and now everyone who knows him is saying he is really getting chunky. I see it too. I keep calling him my chunky monkey. He is similar to Carter at this age. Carter's stats were right about the same. Madelynn was much smaller.
Another milestone this last week is that he started smiling! His appointment was on Wednesday and the doctor asked if he was smiling. I had to tell him not really. We had seen a couple little smiles but not much. Then literally the next day the sunshine just opened up and the kid smiled like ten times at us. Carter could get him to smile by saying "honey, where are my pants?" For future reference when I am old and can't remember what that line is from...it's from the movie The Lego Movie and Carter LOVES to say it. His smile is beautiful. I still have to work fairly hard to get it but sometimes it does come easily. Today I was talking to a friend at church and I looked down and he was just beaming at me. LOVE!
He also moved into his crib in his and Carter's room. I am still laying him down asleep right after his last feeding of the evening which is usually around 10ish. The first night he slept until 1:30 and then woke up again at 5:30. Last night, his second night, he slept until 3:30 (whoo hoo!) and then again until 6:30. That was his first five hour stretch! Glorious. I also laid him down wide awake for a nap the other day in the pack n play and he put himself to sleep. Another milestone! He is growing up.
He is really alert now and interested in what is going on around him. He watches people and follows them when someone walks past him. He holds his head up great. He still gets super fussy in the evenings. Of course, that is when I am the most tired and ready for some down time. I don't get down time right now but I know it is coming soon. And again, he is my last and in a couple years I will be missing this baby time so much. He still eats about every three hours and is becoming faster at it. And most feedings he actually stays awake long enough to finish the feeding. That is really nice. He loves being in the car and falls right to sleep most of the time or just stares up at the window and watches things go by. He loves his brother and sister and they are obsessed with him. Oh, another milestone for us is that I left him in the nursery at church for the first time this week. So he was nine weeks for his first time at that...earlier than my other two kids. They other were right at three months but the Weld family was in the nursery and they love my babies, so I did it. And now I should just keep doing it. I firmly believe they do better in the nursery as they get older if they start young. Important milestones and when they happened...first real smiles, 9 weeks 1 day. First time in his crib in his own room, 9 weeks, 2 days. And first time in the nursery, 9 weeks, 4 days.
Mason is one special little man we he completes our family just beautifully. We are so thankful for our three healthy children that God has so graciously blessed us with. Some days are hard. Really hard. But we are thankful.
Speaking of those hard days. I should document those details too. Free time for this mama? Non existent! Carter and Madelynn keep me busy during the day as well as taking care of Mason. Then Carter and Madelynn go to bed and Mason hits his super fussy time of the day. Last night I was actually able to make dinner, blackberry cobbler and blackberry jam while Mason napped and the kids played outside with Jay. As soon as dinner was over (and my kitchen was destroyed from all the cooking) Mason woke up and fussed the rest of the evening. So my kitchen remained a disaster. My house feel like it will permanently be a mess, I will always have spit up on me (because yes, Mason is a spitter like his brother was), we will always have a list of at least 20 project items waiting to be finished, and I will always be answering ten questions a minute all day long as well as breaking up arguments or disciplining for bad behavior. My days are hard right now. Those are not the moments I thought about as I longed to have my own babies. And three kids is hard. I had it pretty easy with Carter and Madelynn who played pretty well by themselves when I wanted a break. But a third changes that. And I am okay with that. I get overwhelmed and grumpy and short with my kids. But as I type this I am reminded how badly I wanted to be a mom. I am also reminded of the fact that my oldest is already five, my little girl is already three, and I am not ever going to have a newborn again. My days in this phase of my life are going quickly. It is just a phase. I will get through it and then I will miss it. Please, Lord, help me soak it all in now.
And on to a completely different note. Jay will be starting his "new" job with the new ambulance company in just a few weeks. For the past seven/eight (something like that) years Jay has worked for Rural Metro Ambulance. They lost the contract in Salem and Falck ambulance is taking over. Thankfully Jay was able to get hired with Falck (after initially not getting hired) and just finished up all of his orientation. He loves Falck so far and has high hopes that this company will treat their employees better. He is excited to begin this new adventure. We are hopeful it will be a refreshing change for Jay and so thankful that he still has a job! He will also be changing shifts and gets to come to church again every other Sunday. That is what I am most excited about.
Life is always changing. I am so thankful that my Heavenly Father does not change. And that when I get stressed or fearful I know He is there and that nothing has changed with Him or who I am in Him.
