Busy Baby
Turns out we have a 2 month old! I haven't been keeping up blogging on Bodey but boy has he changed.We went from serious nursing challenges supplemented with formula to 100% nursing but with slow weight gain. However there is no more nursing pain so I am now offering more at each feeding. More successful nursing also means we can leave the house much easier and so we have been.
We've been to Alabama to visit his sister, visit his MawMaw & PawPaw's house, meet his aunts, uncles and cousins and to watch his cousin Matthew play football.
We made a road trip across the country to Wisconsin where he got to meet so many family members including his aunts Laura, Jenny and Kathryn, uncle Aaron and his cousins Avett and Haddie. He met his only living great-grandparents which was very special. He got to spend time at the Wiedmeyer family cottage, sleepover at his grandparent's home and visited Lake Michigan. He went on his first boat rides, enjoyed his first bon-fires and got to experience his first fireworks. He did amazing on the road trip, falling asleep as soon as we hit the freeway, waking up when we slowed on the off-ramp, nursed, changed his diaper, refueled the truck and repeat every 3 hours. He only fussed during the last hour of the trip there and the trip back home.
Bodey has had the pleasure of meeting many more family and friends who have come to visit us in our home. With visitors in tow we have gone out to eat, out to Top Golf, mini-golfing, hiking and shopping.
We also made a very special trip to Turner Field in the last week of the baseball season. He is already quite the sports fan enjoying getting dressed up in all of his fun Bama, Packers and Braves attire. He even makes a super cute golfer!
Being on leave together for 9 weeks has been incredible and has allowed us to create so many wonderful memories already. We could not have gotten luckier with such an easy baby. He stays on a pretty predictable schedule, he typically only cries if he is hungry, sleepy or tired and he enjoys being in the car seat, stroller or carrier.
He is now in size 1 diapers and 3 month clothes. Two weeks ago he weighed 11lb 5oz at the doctor's visit (25%) and grew to 23.5" long (74%). He has the most adorable collection of clothes, I just hope he doesn't grow out of them before he has a chance to wear them all. He is now cooing and smiling on a regular basis. He especially loves the morning times when he does his stretching routine, "talks" to us and smiles at our silly noises. He loves being outdoors now that someone has finally shut-off the heat lamp over Atlanta. He can focus his gaze, follows his parents around and can focus on Coalie. He loves playing on his playmat and deliberately bats at the objects overhead. Around mid-day he'll even get crabby until you put him down on his playmat and leave him be to "exercise". He now grabs onto my clothing or hair during feedings. He started sleeping in his crib about 2 weeks ago and sleeps like a champ, typically sleeping 10 straight hours now. I was quite shocked to see how much he travels around the crib considering that he is tightly swaddled and unable to perform coordinated movements yet! He will get comfort from a pacifier but he doesn't require one. He has found his fist to suckle on recently though. He's very strong and great at tummy time but prefers to perform tummy time laying on one of us. He can hold his head up very well in supported sitting. He pretty much crawls all over me looking for milk when he's hungry and when he's close to the prize he starts bobbing his head up and down with his mouth open like he is bobbing for apples!! He is a master pooper and it's pretty obvious when he has gone. You know he has pooped because of the stink, because he is either straining so hard or because you hear these incredibly wet farts. Pooping and/or talking about pooping usually makes him very happy and smiley!! In fact, today I was changing a poopy diaper that he had filled with those wet farts and during the diaper change he started straining so I held the diaper in place until he completed more deposits. I was then lifting his tush to put a new diaper in place when he shot me straight in the leg with a jet propulsed wet fart!! He was quite proud of himself for this fancy action!
Heath went back to work 1 week ago and it is definitely much harder getting anything done when I don't have anyone to help shoulder his needs. Since he is a particularly easy baby I count my blessings every day that we were able to have so much leave time together. There is no doubt that I would be a much more stressed and exhausted human being if it weren't for our coordinated efforts. Since being at work Heath has still done a great job of jumping right into daddy mode the moment he gets home. He is particularly good at performing Bodey's bedtime routine and getting him to sleep with little to no fussing. I make a point of spending time just cuddling or playing with Bodey every day because I know I'm going to really miss being able to do that once I go back to work. We also make a point of getting out to walk or run every day which we both really enjoy. It's not uncommon for me to have to nurse him during a hike but usually he just sleeps from the gentle rocking. I was even able to manage running with Bodey in the stroller and Coalie on leash the other day!
