I can’t believe another month has passed! Some weeks felt incredibly slow, like when I found myself at the peak of newborn fussiness, and other days zoomed by… where all he did was nap all afternoon, while this mama caught up on her blogging! Here’s a brief breakdown of what these past two months were like for me:
Weeks 1-3: PURE JOY. My baby slept around the clock, and barely fussed except when he was hungry. I was still running off adrenaline from new mommyhood and found everything my boy did endearing and sweet. I forgot how wonderful it felt to hold a teensy tiny newborn again. I was in love.
Weeks 3-7: PURE HELL. This period left me wondering, “What the heck was I thinking?? How could I forget how torturous this newborn stage was?!” – I was so tired – nursing every other hour for 24-hours day after day was leaving me ragged.
Weeks 7+: REALITY. Things have been calmer from here on out. There are good moments, and there are bad ones. Jaren’s getting more consistent with his wake, sleep, and eat times. I’m getting longer stretches of sleep, and he’s going longer between feedings. Things feel pretty good as we start seeing the semblance of a rhythm and I get my confidence back as a mom.
Stats
Height: 23.5 inches (77th percentile)
Weight: 15.1 lbs. (96th percentile)
Head Circumference: 16 inches (91st percentile)
Clothes: wearing 6-month onesies and sleepers
Diapers: almost out of size 2’s, and can fit size 3’s
- At 5 weeks – he started cooing and smiling a lot.
- 5 weeks 4 days – we transitioned him from our room to his room, but he continued to sleep in the co-sleeper.
- 6 weeks 5 days – we transitioned him to his crib both for naps and at night.
- At 7 weeks – the first time he had only one night waking (he slept from 11:30-3:30 am, then from 4:30-7 am), but this still isn’t consistent.
A lot has happened this past month, and he is a BIG baby! Although we don’t have a predictable schedule in place yet, we do have a routine. We follow an eat/play/wake routine. If he falls asleep nursing, a diaper change is just the trick needed to wake him up. He usually stays up for an hour before his first signs of tiredness start to show (zoning out, yawning), where I’ll promptly prepare him for a nap by changing his diaper, putting him in his swaddle, shutting the curtains, and turning on the white noise machine.
We’ve tried in vain to get him to take a pacifier. I guess both my babies were not meant to be pacifier babies! However, we noticed he started sucking his fist at 5-weeks old and he often does this when he’s starting to get hungry or sleepy. We also started putting him down sleepy but awake around 7-weeks, and happily discovered that most of the time he can fall asleep on his own with minimal fussing.
2-Month Vaccinations
He got the standard 2-month vaccinations this month (3 shots and 1 oral vaccine for the rotavirus). He seemed fine right afterwards, and even took a short 45-minute nap, but as soon as he woke up he was fussier than normal. I tried shushing, rocking, and patting him but he just seemed so uncomfortable. I finally gave him a small dose of infant Tylenol, and put him down for another nap. He pretty much slept all day from 2-6 pm, and finally woke up to eat. Even though he slept all afternoon, it didn’t affect his night sleep at all. In fact, he only woke up once in the middle of the night. He slept from 8-11pm, then again from midnight-4 am, and finally woke up for the day at 9 am.
I love our son so much. As tired as I am, I look at him through the eyes of a mother and often stare in wonder at the peaceful, happy baby he is. I can’t stop munching on his enormous cheeks, and find myself squeezing his chubby arms, thighs, wrists, and belly every chance I get. It’s incredible how fast he is growing, and I’m excited to see how his personality takes shape in the coming months!
NOELLE
Unfortunately, not all months are fun and games… and month 28 with my firstborn was a particularly brutal one. Her worst week this past month happened to coincide with Jaren’s worst week of sleep (between weeks 6 and 7). Lucky us!! That was the week when I thought, “what the heck did we get ourselves into?!” – it was the week where I really wanted to escape my life, only to discover that there’s no way out.
Things have improved since then, but we definitely have a very opinionated, independent girl on our hands. She wants to do EVERYTHING herself, from opening her own vitamin bottles to dressing herself to cleaning her own snot (yes, she tried to use the NoseFrida on herself). This past month, a few new things occurred:
- She reads books to herself. She kind of memorized Brown Bear Brown Bear, so she’s been reading to ME lately while flipping through the pages.
- She learned how to put on her shoes correctly. She knows that the left shoe goes on the left foot, and vice versa (most of the time).
- She can say her name correctly now! Before, she was calling herself Yoelle. I have no idea why she wasn’t able to say the first syllable of her name because it’s pronounced the same as her favorite word, “No!”
- She can count up to 30 now. I teach her her numbers by randomly counting out loud while we stroll to the park (I’ll count houses, flowers, clouds, etc). She has a great memory, so she can easily repeat it back to me after just hearing me recite them a couple times.
- She knows how to “pump a swing” on her own, meaning she doesn’t need us to push her anymore. Growing up too fast.
- She insists on sitting on a regular chair like the adults do. No more high chair for this little lady!
I’m really tempted to get a learning tower for our kitchen. I’ve been wanting one for so long, but always manage to talk myself out of it. We have a pretty spacious kitchen, and she always wants me to lift her up so she can see what I’m up to. I think this would really allow her to thrive as her need for independence continues to increase.
This month, I constantly found myself on the offensive with her, trying to nip tantrums in the bud before they even start. We’re guaranteed either a tantrum or a huge whiiiiiiine almost every time we say no, or if we pull her away from an activity too quickly. I often arm myself with premeditated words and have to think 5 steps ahead before I approach her. It’s draining, and by the end of the day when both kids are down, I have nothing left in me.
I reread one of Mrs. Bee’s old updates on Charlie, and she gave me words I so needed to hear:
I didn’t get around to doing a 28 month update for Charlie last month because it was a brutal month. Charlie was throwing a lot of tantrums; I feared that the terrible twos had finally set in, and my sweet little boy was gone forever. A friend of mine with 2 kids older than Charlie and Olive told me that during the 2′s and 3′s, there is a continuous cycle of two good weeks and two bad weeks. Then from the age of 4, it gets better with 3 good weeks then 1 bad week. I thought it was an interesting way to look at the toddler/preschool age!
But after the epic month of tantrums, Charlie went back to being his sweet self.
It’s good to know that everything we’re going through is NORMAL. This too shall pass, this too shall pass, this too shall pass…
That’s pretty much it for us this month!
Mrs. High Heels’ Monthly Updates part 7 of 8
1. How Baby HH Came to Be... by Mrs. High Heels2. 18-Month Update: No Longer a Baby... by Mrs. High Heels
3. 19-Month Update by Mrs. High Heels
4. Noelle at 2-Years Old by Mrs. High Heels
5. Baby Boy Heels' Birth Story by Mrs. High Heels
6. 1-Month and 27-Month Update by Mrs. High Heels
7. 2-Month and 28-Month Update by Mrs. High Heels
8. 3 Month and 29 Month Update by Mrs. High Heels
GOLD / grapefruit / 4555 posts
It was so interesting reading this since Em is the same age range as Jaren. I was totally with you through the love-hell-reality! We just reached that stage too! And as always, it’s fun to read ahead and find out what I have to look forward to with H (15 months). I only wish I knew how to handle the meltdowns now when he has no words
ETA: I want the mat Jaren’s laying on!
honeydew / 7444 posts
Aww, what a little chubby cheeked cutie! I’m glad things have finally normalized for you.
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Love how honest you are when things get really tough. “This too shall pass” is what i tell myself all the time!!
hostess / wonderful watermelon / 39513 posts
What a great update! I’m not looking forward to the hell weeks!
wonderful clementine / 24134 posts
There are great tutorials on Ana White for how to make your own learning tower!
blogger / wonderful cherry / 21628 posts
His cheeks are so chubby!!
blogger / persimmon / 1220 posts
Hang in there! You’re doing great!
And thanks for the brutally honest post. Sometimes I forget that it’s not all sunshine and rainbows for other moms (and that the newborn stage wasn’t just hard and not enjoyable for me).
grapefruit / 4923 posts
oh my goodness i want to kiss his cheeks also!! thanks for your honesty about the newborn ups and downs. there are some really rough periods. i love that noelle is exploring her independence and learning new skills. regarding the tantrums, i am going to keep your mantra of “this too shall pass” when we hit that stage.
blogger / pomegranate / 3300 posts
They are absolutely adorable. I just want to pinch Jaren’s cheeks.!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
@NaturallyCathy: how many weeks is Em now? And that’s the Pingko playmat from Amazon! They also sell it at some Costco’s.
@Freckles: thanks!
@autumnlove: so excited for you today – you’ll get to meet your LO any minute now!!!
blogger / eggplant / 11551 posts
@T.H.O.U.: I’ve seen her tutorial! I asked my husband to build it, but unfortunately, he doesn’t know how to do stuff like that and doesn’t even want to attempt it. We’re not very handy around here, haha. I’ve been scouring Craigslist these past few months, to no avail.
@Leialou: Seriously, he is 95% cheeks and 5% everything else!
@Mrs Checkers: Thank you!! The storm is passing and I’m starting to see the light again.
@edelweiss: I wish I could say it were rainbow and roses here all the time, but it’s not and I don’t want to pretend that it is. Thanks for all your encouragement!! I hope sleep is going well for you.
@Mrs. Train: His cheeks get pretty red from all the pinching and biting I do all day long, haha!
GOLD / grapefruit / 4555 posts
Y@Mrs. High Heels: She was born March 3rd which was a Sunday so nearly 8 weeks now.
apricot / 370 posts
look how much fuller your newborn looks from 6 weeks to 8 weeks! amazing how fast they change.
fun post to read and relate to since i have a 5 month old and a 33 month old.
mama of 2 little ones is so hard, but so, so awesome too. the bad days are bad and it feels like it’ll never end, but then there are those great snippets of the day where you KNOW that these times will be ingrained in our memory as unforgettably worth it, like seeing them laugh and giggle at the smallest things, or running around in the back yard playing chase with shrieks of joy. stuff like that.
i like that excerpt from mrs bee, 2 weeks good, 2 weeks bad. when you’re in those 2 weeks, you pray it’s not going to be like this forever. but i do think, as soon as the toddler gets out of this stage, the baby is going to start it up, so not out of the woods yet!
honeydew / 7968 posts
Your kids are so adorable! Haha I was cracking up at the pure joy, he’ll and reality. I was at he’ll for a bit longer, but I credit that to first time mom.
squash / 13764 posts
Love this update! Thanks for keeping it real
Also, I can’t believe what a chubster J is! I love those cheeks!
hostess / wonderful honeydew / 32460 posts
How did I miss this?! J is getting so big and handsome!! And Noelle’s a beautiful little lady now! Your kids are so precious!!
Totally NOT looking forward to the crazy tantrums (although I think they’ve already started..) -.-