Henry is 2.5 months old! He weighed around 11 lbs at his 2 month appt and was pretty average for his head size and height as well. It's a blessing to see him growing and progressing the way that he's supposed to, considering the rough start we had.
He has his smiley and happy moments. Sometimes he laughs (or, tries to laugh.. it's more like a little shriek/gasp) and it's absolutely heartwarming to hear. I love when he's happy.
He's not the greatest napper, usually. He's certainly not the baby who will fall asleep in his carseat and then take a full 1-2 hour nap while I cart him around on errands, or even when I get home and try to put him (in his carseat still) in a quiet room. He wakes up right away! Some days he will take a couple long naps, and he will be happy for most of the day. Other days, he cries a lot and doesn't nap at all or just takes very short naps, which makes it really difficult for me to get anything done!
He loves to be swaddles - loves it! He could be crying and fussing but as soon as I lay him down and start swaddling him, he calms down for a few seconds and even gives me a little smile sometimes. Then he usually starts crying again, haha. But I do know he likes to be swaddled, and he sleeps so much better when he is swaddled. If he's not swaddled, his arms move around while he sleeps and then he startles himself and it wakes him up.
Thankfully, he does usually give me a decent night's sleep. He is generally pretty fussy in the evenings, no matter how his day went, but he will usually calm down around 9 or so (but really anywhere from 8-11pm). He sleeps in his rock & play rocker every night, next to the couch, where I still am sleeping. Honestly I'm not really too sure why we are still sleeping in the living room. Well I kind of do - Henry still wakes up around 3:30-ish, and I don't want to disturb Garrett. It's just easier and less stressful for me to deal with him downstairs, and I don't want to be carrying him up and down the stairs when I'm tired. Thankfully he's never awake for long, most nights he just eats and then goes right back to sleep. Usually I'll make his bottle right before I go to sleep around 11, so when he wakes up at 3:30 I just pop the bottle in (not even getting him out of his bed next to me), and we eats and falls right back to sleep. So really I only wake up for about 10 minutes (but WHY does it feel like I'm still lacking so much sleep?? I really need to get to bed earlier.. says the girl who is up blogging at 1:40 am).
Nursing never got any better after that first month. In fact, I stopped nursing altogether and just started pumping. Even that wasn't enough, though. We were supplementing 50/50 with formula. To be honest, I was really bummed it didn't work out. Nursing is so convenient and I do believe that it's the best way to go for the baby. It's also free! Instead, I'm paying $75 a month to rent a hospital-grade breast pump, spending about $60 a month on formula, and feeling guilty that it's still not working. Every day I feel like my supply gets worse. Right now I'm only able to pump about 6-8 ounces a DAY (split between 3-4 sessions). Pretty pathetic! Sure, it's partly my fault. I suppose I could force myself to attempt pumping every 3 hours around the clock, I could take some supplements, I could meet (again) with the lactation specialist. But I'm so tired. I just can't pump every 3 hours on top of bottle feeding him, and taking care of 3 other kids. I was running myself ragged. As soon as I accepted the fact that nursing wasn't working, a weight lifted off my shoulders and things got better for both of us. He was still getting breast milk, but we were both less frustrated and I had more time to get other things done. But, I think that after this month I will return the breast pump and accept the fact that it's just not working this time around. It's not ideal, and not what I would have chosen - especially since he's my last baby. This certainly isn't what I imagined. But I'm trying to see the silver lining. I have more freedom since I'm not nursing. Garrett has taken a "night shift" here and there, letting me sleep up in our bedroom while he slept in the living room with Henry. I slept for 10 hours one night, by myself in our king bed, with a white noise fan on and blackout curtains. It was glorious. Couldn't do that if I was nursing! So, trying to see the positives. And being soo grateful for formula.
We love having Henry in our family! The girls just love playing with him, talking to him, entertaining him. I love to hear his coos and see his smiles, and I can't keep myself from constantly kissing those chubby cheeks. Such a little sweetie.
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