Two months!

Two months old - January 21, 2014

So. Here we are already. Samuel is two months old!

Samuel is a sweet, sweet snuggly boy. He loves being held up against your shoulder, and calms down quickly if you pat his back firmly while in that position.

He is now awake much of the day, and content to look around at the world with his big, blue eyes. We still wonder if his eyes will stay blue or change to brown later on.

He has figured out how to smile for real! He is at his happiest right after a diaper change in the nursery, where he can look up at the colorful tree of life print above his changing table. He will stare at it, mesmorized, kicking his legs and waving his arms and smiling and giggling. (We sometimes take advantage of this and strap him in to his changing pad while we run to the bathroom or grab a glass of water.)

He is a mama's boy right now, and when he's feeling relaxed, he will lounge on my legs and look up at me and smile and giggle. He loves smiling in response to my question, "Who's my little man? Who's my little ma-an?" (You have to imagine those words spoken in the most sing-songy voice ever...) We also like playing "How big is little Sammy? He's SOOOO big!" as I raise his hands up over his head, and I've even started singing "Head and shoulders, knees and toes" with him. I love these little smily play times. We do them two or three times a day, depending on his mood.

He snuggles in to nurse and looks up at me with grateful eyes as he eats. Then he usually dozes off. Recently, he's started kicking his legs while he eats which makes for some...uncomfy moments. Tugging = YEOWCH! Also, he is a pro at wetting or dirtying his diaper in the middle of feeding. Like clockwork, he needs to be changed within fifteen minutes of finishing nursing.

He cries the loudest when he needs his diaper changed, and besides that, he really only also cries when he's hungry. If he's crying on a fully tummy with a clean diaper, we feel pretty helpless, because it's pretty unusual.

He falls asleep in the car, every time. Even if he is screaming his head off from being strapped into his carrier, within thiry second of driving, he is quiet and dozing off. This worked in our favor for our drives to and from Chicago for Christmas. He likes being worn (usually falls asleep pretty quickly), and also loves his new swing.

As far as nights go, we've struggled to piece together much meaningful sleep. Around Christmas, we managed three different days when he slept four hours in one stretch, but mostly, he's spend the first two months of his life waking up lots overnight, and only wanting to be soothed by nursing. Last weekend, we decided it was time to move him out of his bassinet in our room and into the crib in the nursery. So we started a bedtime routine: feed on one side, change his diaper, swaddle him, feed him on the other side, and rock him to sleep. Sometimes we read a book. Then down he goes in his crib.

We've done a little experimentation with sleep training, at the suggestion of our doctor. We're trying to find some balance in letting him try to settle himself, us trying to settle him through soothing touch and rocking, and only nursing when he's actually hungry. It's a work in progress. And I learned the hard way that sleep training is a super controversial topic among moms. So we're muddling through and trying to figure out what's best for Sam. The good news is that it seems the adoption of a bedtime routine has alone helped him start sleeping closer to to five hours over the first part of the night. He usually goes down about 10:30 and isn't waking up until 3 or so. Then he eats, and we try to put him back down about 4. He hasn't yet figured out how to sleep soundly from there, though.

These first two months have been beautiful. And crazy. And perfect. Samuel got to meet ALL of my side of the family at Thanksgiving (his one-week birthday!), when they all trekked out to our house. And saw everybody again when we were all in Chicago for Christmas. Matt's parents and grandma came out to visit mid-December, and we spent three weeks at Christmastime with my parents. He has traveled in the car, gone on walks in the stroller and in slings, gotten along well with our two cats, charmed everybody at church, and simply just been a huge bright light in our lives. We love you, little man, and can't imagine life without you!