Two Months

Oh, two months old...I simultaneously love this age and HATE it. One the one hand, Aaron has started smiling and it's the most adorable thing in the world. On the other hand, he won't nap EVER and fights sleep at night. Oh, and he wakes himself up to poop and pass gas, and he went from sleeping without a swaddle to being unable to calm down without one. And waking up for a pacifier. I knew these were going to be the hardest weeks, but I still underestimated how hard it would be (silly me, I thought things would be easier since he's #3 and I knew it was coming. Ha. Ha). But those smiles...those little miracles keep me sane during these weeks. But I think I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel the past few days...knock on wood...

Adorable, fussy baby

Here are Aaron's awesome skills at two months old:

*Basically outgrown all 0-3 month clothing and size 1 diapers. Love my chubby guy.

*Loves his pacifier, but we're being smarter than we were with Seth and are limiting it to when he's sleepy. Which means we get to hear his little chattering (which he does a lot of).

*Fights sleep like it's going to kill him. Believe me when I say that NONE of the tricks worked--car seat, swing, walking, swaddling, nursing, bouncing...--if he doesn't want to sleep, he won't (even if he's bleary-eyed and hysterical). The only thing that consistently works is letting him scream, which I hate to do. But when it's been 5 hours and he's losing it, you just do whatever it takes. Also, baby sleep books are crap.

Fussy baby in Daddy's arms

*That being said, he has at least established a (sort of) bedtime. It's usually around 7:45, but sometimes he likes to drive us crazy and postpone it a bit. But at least we KNOW he will go to bed at a decent hour now! (And by 'decent hour' I mean before 10 pm).

*He has impressive head lifting skills. He's months ahead of where his siblings were. Which is probably a big part of his most impressive new skill: rolling over! We thought it was a fluke, but it's been three days now and he's still going strong (unless he gets tired).

Step 1: Lift up head

Step 2: Tilt giant head to one side

Step 3: Flop over

Ta-da!

*Another way Aaron is imitating his big brother: he prefers NOT to be held. Melissa let me borrow a vibrating chair and Aaron has pretty much lived in it ever since! Notable exceptions to this rule include Jon holding him in the evenings to put him to sleep (I am not permitted to do this) and sleeping in my arms at night (I never thought I'd sleep with my baby, but when he's stuffed or gassy and not sleeping in his bassinet, co-sleeping is AMAZING). But if he's awake and not nursing, he want to be either on the ground kicking and dancing or in his chair. Stinker.

Seth wanted to make sure Aaron was warm.

*If he gets angry enough, he can scoot several inches by arching his back and kicking his legs. This has almost gotten him stuck under our dresser a couple of times.

*Did I mention that this kid NEVER spits up? I can count on one hand the number of times he's spit up since he was born.

*Loves when Seth & Catherine come to visit him in the mornings. If they're otherwise occupied (read: on the iPad) and don't come up, he gets bored and yelps at me while I get ready.

Hanging out with Daddy

*He definitely recognizes me & Jon and will give us big smiles. We've even heard some attempted chuckles, but no real laughter yet.

Such a beautiful little boy

And, for fun, a video: