E @ 3 Months!

Why yes, yes I do have a lot of blogging to do today, but didn't want to miss out on E's post as well, so here we go!

This month, for E, was a lot more about being around for other people's firsts than it was about his.  He was there for big brother's first day of kindergarten, big sister's first day of school and first soccer practice, among many others.  He is such a good companion and easy baby through all these shifts.  It constantly amazes and thrills me. 

He even puts up with me putting hats on him to go to the store when it is 100 degrees outside.

Or setting up random photo sessions in the back yard together just because he's cute and I can.

Believe it or not, I did something similarly random towards the end of my maternity leave with B.

He did have his first game day experience and wear a lot of new OU apparel as he moved up to the 3-6 month sized clothes.  He also had his first visit to campus, which resulted in some very cute 3 month pictures with Heather that I'll share soon.   You can see his paci friend here too.  This wubanub is pretty much the only paci he will even grudgingly take now.  Sometimes it is great and he's fine with it.  Other times, not so much.  Yesterday and today we did have success laying him in bed awake with is paci and him going to sleep on his own.  Mind you it didn't work in the evening, but a girl can hope, right?

I think he is trying really hard to be a thumb sucker.  He spends so much time trying to get those hands in his mouth.  I think it is adorable.  We're still just at the mostly frustrated phase though so we shall see. 

This was, as I'd hoped, in many way's E and my month.  We spent a lot more time alone together.  We took a few more naps together, ran many errands, and spent as much time as we possibly could smiling at each other.  It rocked.  He also "talked" to me a lot.  This was mostly coos and gurlges, but he seemed to have quite a lot to say.  Some of it may have been about his feeding frustrations as the transition to just just formula did not rock. First, lots of sadness from me at the end of breastfeeding.  Then, he did not react well to the formula and went from a chill baby with a manageable sleep schedule to complete chaos.  We switched to Enfamil's Gentlease and miraculously I got my happy, chill, sleeper of a boy back.  He has for several days slept for lengthy say 6 hour or more stretches at night.  We've had those panicked is he still OK moments, but generally are cautiously optimistic that this one wake up a night could be coming, maybe even less if we got up at say 6, like normal people. 

E and I also spent a lot of quality time at the gym and then outside with the jogging stroller.  I adore running outside with him as the smiles, coos, and cute toes are awesome.  Great motivation and he seems happy too usually, save for one not so good experience earlier this week.  

Again with the incredible grin and Mr. Bear - I melt.

I am somewhat nervous about going back to work for various reasons, but most of all jealous that someone else is going to get to giggle, smile and coo with this boy for hours and get paid for it!  It is hard to get that one on one time with the bigs around, but we'll just have to figure it out, won't we?

Naps remain a bit all over the place.  Some days very long and others lots of quick naps.  The tummy/formula issues seem to be tied to that so perhaps better/more predictable naps will come this month too. 

I love his ability to bring out smiles in other people.  B does everything he can to make him smile and just lights up when he does.  E smiles easily now when he sees people he knows and is perfectly glad to smile at random strangers if they stop to chat, which many people have in our recent spice sample delivery runs. M is holding him more now and a little possessive although there have been a couple moments where she was less thrilled to have a baby.  She has no idea how lucky she and we have to have a oh so calm, smiley one rather than more of a crier.  I just adore this boy from his soft ears, snuggly head, and beautiful smiles right down to those toes.  I am so glad we had this month of extra time together. I feel so blessed and am trying hard to just look forward to the next month of change and not be sad about it.  The good news is that celebrations are coming soon with the Spice Store opening this Sunday and E's baptism the following week followed by a party with friends to celebrate.  Its going to be a good month so we'll focus on that and not all the missing him I'll do at the same time.