Three Months

Ethan was three months old on Monday. I can’t believe how fast he is growing. I really wish I had done these monthly posts for Luke so I could compare the two boys. Usually the second kid is the one that doesn’t get as many pictures and the mom doesn’t keep as good of records—but I think for our family it is going to be the opposite.

I am so happy to report that he is sleeping through the night. He usually sleeps from 8:30 until sometime after 7:00 in the morning. He started doing this right around July 4th. We realized that he was waking up during the night because he was coming out of his swaddle, not because he was hungry. He is SO STRONG! So, we started double swaddling him in the Miracle Blanket and then one of the Aden and Anais blankets on top of that. Plus, we moved his white noise machine into his crib. The combination of those two things seemed to do the trick and he sleeps all the way through the night. I’m paranoid about him getting overheated since that can increase the risks of SIDS, so we turned the a/c down a few degrees and put his ceiling fan on high and also have another fan in his room. I was really happy to read recently that swaddling decreases the risk of SIDS by one third!

He is still not a great napper. But I guess I will take good night sleep over naps. He goes down pretty easily for naps but he just doesn’t stay asleep long.

He is just a happy little guy and he loves talking to us and smiling at us. We got him a new bouncer off of craigslist. He never liked the papasan chair we had. He loves the bouncer and I finally have another way to entertain him other than his floor mat. He absolutely LOVES watching Luke play and gets so excited when Luke talks to him.

He screams about 85 percent of the time we are in the car. I’m not sure why he doesn’t like to be in the car. He wakes up any time we stop and usually can’t go back to sleep. Needless to say, it makes for some fun times in the car. Luke is pretty good about ignoring it, although sometimes he tells Ethan to be quiet. :) I guess every kid really is different because Luke loved being in the car and that was one foolproof way to get him to take a long nap.

He can lift his head up really well when he is on his tummy and can roll over from his tummy to his back.

That’s all I can think of for his three month update. We love him so much! Here is the comparison photo I made for 1/2/3 months. He sure changed a lot from 1 to 2 months but not too much from 2 to 3 months.

New phones…

I think I’ve established on this blog that Mark is basically obsessed with any Apple product. So, it should come as no surprise to anyone that he got the new iPhone 4 that came out yesterday. Fortunately, I was eligible for an upgrade on my phone so I got to get one too! Mark stood in line for five and a half hours for phones that had ALREADY BEEN RESERVED FOR US!!! Crazy. I don’t think there is any other product out there that would convince someone to stand in the heat almost all day. While I am not as obsessed as Mark, I have absolutely LOVED having an iPhone and could never live without it. I also really love our iPad. I made this little video of Ethan on my phone. I shot the video, added the music and titles, and posted it to YouTube all from my phone. Hopefully I’ll be posting more videos of the kids since it is super easy. Going through YouTube definitely takes away some of the quality of the video but it still looks decent enough.

Two Months

Ethan turned two months old on Saturday. I can’t believe how fast he is growing up already. I took him to the doctor today for his two month well check. Here are his stats:

Weight: 13 lbs 6.4 oz (75-90%)

Length: 23 in (50-75%)

FOC (head): 39.8 cm (50-75%)

I got out Luke’s old two month well check paperwork to compare. They are basically the same size. Luke was 13 lbs 2.5 oz, 23.5 in, and 40.8 cm FOC. Ethan is a little chunky monkey just like his brother was. I’ll say it again—I LOVE chunky babies!

Both boys were in bed ASLEEP before 8:00 tonight. That has to be some sort of a record. Sadly, the time is coming for Luke to drop his afternoon nap. This is a day I never wanted to come. But on days like this when he doesn’t nap he goes to bed really easily.

Ethan’s sleep is pretty good. Last night he slept from 9 p.m. until about 4:15 a.m. and then I fed him and he slept until 7:30. But that is by no means how it is every night. Tonight since he was asleep before 8, I don’t know when he will wake up. I think he was worn out from getting his shots today. Most nights his first stretch of sleep at night is at least 6 hours, so that is definitely progress from a month ago. Naps are still all over the place. I told the doctor today that I feel like some days I spend the entire day trying to get him to sleep and I don’t get to spend quality time with Luke. He told me that Ethan is old enough, big enough, and healthy enough to cry a little bit. So, I am going to let him try to get to sleep without me rocking him. He goes to bed great at night, I’m not sure why naps are such a challenge. I thought I had to wait until 4 months to start sleep training but I am glad to know I can do it now.

Overall, I still think he is a happy and easygoing baby. He does get overstimulated so we have to be careful about that. But if he is getting his naps he is happy. He is smiling a lot. He smiles at us and at different little toys he recognizes. He has a sweet little voice and he coos quite a bit.

We love him more and more every day! Here are some pictures from the past month and some from his two month photo shoot on Saturday.

Lately….

We’ve been keeping busy. Luke started his summer Mother’s Day Out program today and I am so thankful. We’ve been stuck at home a lot and I’m glad at least two days a week he can play with friends and do some fun stuff. We spent a night at Ammy and Paw Paw’s house and went swimming at Maggie and Jo’s. That was a lot of fun. Mark is leaving for a conference tomorrow morning in Annapolis, Maryland so Mom is coming to stay with us for a few days. I was most definitely not ready to do the days AND nights all by myself. Ethan will be two months on Saturday and I’ll do a post all about what he is up to these days. Here are some photos from my iPhone to show what’s been going on with us.

Left to right, top to bottom

1) Luke in the Robin costume made by Mark’s grandmother for Halloween when Mark and David were little.

2) Luke having a blast playing with Maggie in the pool

3) Luke acting out Toy Story while Ethan takes a little nap

4) close-up of Ethan sleeping

5) reading a Batman book at the library

6) Ethan hanging out while we ate at Luby’s on Memorial Day (we couldn’t pass up the $3.99 LuAnn platters :) )

7) $95 worth of hair products purchased for $5 at an estate sale (my new favorite pastime)

8) Ethan after his bath in his Longhorn towel

Brothers

I just wanted to share these two pictures of my sweet boys that Shauna took on Wednesday.  I love these little guys so much.