I did take pictures when he turn four months.. but then a few days later we closed on our house and moved and gave up aspirations of writing this post on time.
Here is what I can remember: He was over 15 lbs, started raspberries, most of this month he was up late making sure we made the most of our Netflix subscription and love, love, loves his hands. He liked to be sitting up or held so he can stand and was awake longer between naps. He'd gotten more vocal, likes to talk and squawk and really gets after you if he's tired or hungry and not being attended to. Otherwise, he remained a sweet, easy charmer. Oh, and this guy loves tummy time! Loves it! He doesn't last long that way, but if he gets fussy, I can put him on his tummy and buy myself more time to finish a task because he's so happy to be on his tummy!
I can't get my camera out without making sure she's included in the action. None of the brother sister shots turned out this time.
Our little guy has woken up! He still sleeps a lot but he also smiles at you when he's awake (for 10-15-ish minutes between naps). It's the sweetest thing this momma has seen in awhile. Sometimes he's just looking around and then he catches your eye and lights up with a smile and gives you a few coos and goos. I love it.
He's getting so big! Our chunky Monkey weighs about 13.5 lbs and I haven't measured his length in awhile! He's growing out of 3 month clothes and is finally starting to fit better into the one size pocket diapers. He's been a really tough kid to diaper so far. He's stocky.. wide but short and even though his thighs are chunky, they're not chunky enough to get a good fit on diapers. Plus he's a super pee producer. Basically, if a diaper fits him in height and around his legs, it doesn't hold enough pee or keep the poop in well. If it holds enough pee and keeps the poop in then it comes up so high he can't wiggle very well to get his gas out, and it's harder to get a seal around his legs. Anyway, it's starting to get easier to get a seal around his legs but it's a work in progress. He's just been so different than Emerson in this regard.
He continues to be an easy baby. He rarely cries, although he's starting to get a little more aggressive in his communication when he's hungry. He still keeps life to a basic schedule of eating, sleeping, diaper change and smiling/cooing. So far, he will only take a pacifier when he's hungry (you know, when I don't really want him to have one, unless we're in the car and can't stop) but never when he actually wants to pacify.. then, only mommy will do. It's pretty rare though. Through most of the day he sleeps fine and needs just a little rocking/swaying to get to sleep at the most. Usually, I lay him down drowsy and he just falls asleep, we'll see how long that lasts. He needed to be swaddled most of the time until just recently. The week of Christmas/the week he turned 3 months, this changed. Previously, he'd get pretty over stimulated easily and the swaddling helped but by the end of the week he was much less sensitive to stimuli. Funny how it changed almost overnight.
What Harrison does that isn't as fun is this strange wake/sleep/fuss/sleep/wake/fuss thing from 10:30-2:00am. It's like clockwork. There have been a few nights where it ended at midnight but it's pretty reliable. I went through all kinds of worrying about things like reflux, intolerance to something I ate, etc (he also spits up more during this period), low milk supply etc.. until we realized the pattern. It is definitely worse if I've had any caffeine, like decaf coffee specifically (but thank heaven not chocolate or decaf black tea - probably because I ate/drank those things throughout pregnancy). I don't mind the alone time with him (or the netflix binging as I walk/rock/nurse etc) but the mornings are pretty rough sometimes.
Without further ado.. my chubby baby and a few with the adoring sister :). Only one more photo shoot in our (horribly lit) apartment and hopefully our house will have better lighting! Smiley as he is, it's still pretty hard to catch on camera. He has a pretty short window of awake and smiling before wanting to eat and sleep again.
Since adding Harrison to our family I've made a few compromises as a mother. I cut back my showers to what seems like only weekly, my toilets get cleaned a little less frequently, and my floors.. let's not talk about those.
Of course I've had to make a few compromises with Emerson too. She's had to be a little more independent, she's had to be a little more patient and she's had to entertain herself a little more. Overall, Emerson has handled becoming a big sister very well. She's great with Harrison (or rather, she's great about mostly leaving him alone, save for about one billion kisses, some hand holding and a few lullabies) and hasn't shown any behavior regression (you know, except she's two). The compromise with Emerson has been mostly minimal since Harrison sleeps so much but being up late and up more at night makes mornings pretty rough. I mean, mornings aren't my friend anyway but lately they've been rough. My sweet girl gets up between 6:30 and 7:30 regardless of when she went to bed the night before. My saving grace has been Pandora.
I knew I didn't want to start letting the TV be the babysitter, we've been pretty strict about no screens until she was two and still we don't let her have her own screen time but we don't try so hard to distract her when screens are around. I like to have music on throughout the day and sometimes we listen to "Emerson's songs" (aka the Raffi station) on Pandora. So when I need more sleep (so almost every morning) when Emerson says from her bed, "Mommy, is it morning time for Emerson?" I say, "Yes, but it's not morning time for mommy or Harrison" (to be fair, Harrison has usually just eaten and has just gone back to sleep). So she climbs into my bed, does various things to entertain herself and inevitably asks for 'Songs on Mommy's phone'. It's super cool for her because she actually gets to touch mommy's phone. She only gets to have it on the lock screen and she can only push the home button to turn it on to see the picture. It goes like this:
(Song comes on)
Emerson: "Oh! What this one?"
Pushes button, looks at picture: "Mommy, what this one called?" (if she doesn't recognize it) - shoves phone in my face... sometimes dropping it. Ow.
I tell her and she goes back to reading a book, playing or whatever she's doing when I'm trying to sleep until the next song comes on.
Repeat.
She's always been a musical girl. She's the type of kiddo that sings what she's doing to any random tune (e.g., to the tune of Are You Sleeping: I am painting, I am painting, yes I am, yes I am). Now she's also singing 'Emerson's songs' all day long. Random bits of different songs or the same lyrics over and over. It's stinking adorable.
Here are a couple of examples of her singing. It's hard to capture the real ad-lib ones. Either my phone isn't handy or the surroundings are too embarrassing to immortalize.
There are a few songs that come on her station that are nostalgic for me and some that I genuinely like. This one in particular, I love what it says.
You & Me Frances England
You and me happy as can be Flying through the park on our bikes On a Sunday afternoon You and me rolling on the floor Practicing your somersaults, your cartwheels Your donkey kicks and more How did you grow so big overnight How did you get so smart and bright Yesterday you were asleep in my arms Today you're growing off the charts I'm so proud of you You and me drawing pictures wild and free The paint flying, your smile brightens up the room You and me reading books in bed Your head on my shoulder Your eyes on the pages ahead How did you grow so big overnight How did you get so smart and bright Yesterday you were asleep in my arms Today you're growing off the charts I'm so proud of you I'm so proud of you
I mean really, how did she get so big overnight? It's true though. I am so proud of her. She's two, yes, but she is also so sweet and dare I say it, smart. I love to see her brain working away, figuring out how to say what she's thinking and how to share her ideas. This is the sweetness that makes it okay that she's not my baby girl anymore, she's just my girl. And while I'll always treasure the memories of her asleep in my arms, I'll treasure these memories too and look forward to making more.
Harrison, sweet, sleepy Harrison. How has it already been two months!?
Our little monkey has started waking up a little. He's alert a few times a day before he starts reminding me how much he likes to eat (I mean, look at him. You don't get cheeks like that by just sleeping). We've started taking real baths, which I'm not sure he really enjoys but Emerson sure does. She's pretty sure Harrison is the best bath toy ever. We've started getting some long looks in the eyes and some different coo-ey noises. We even get the very occasions smile, and are looking forward to more of those. He's trying so hard to get full control of his neck, and he's getting close!
At his 8 week check up (2 weeks adjusted) he was 10lbs 9.5oz and 21 inches long. I figured he was over 10 lbs since his newborn clothes were getting pretty tight and he was starting to fit into 0-3. He's getting so chubby! I've really soaked up his sleepy and cuddly stage, and I'm still enjoying it because he does still sleep a lot, but I'm also looking forward to more of those smiles and continued development.
We were a little late getting his 2 month pictures but I finally managed to accomplish it during a nap time, so no sister appearance in these ones, unfortunately.
A little bit of a smile!
aaaaaahhhhhhh - chooooooo
Almost have that head under control.
And now I'm done holding my head up. We pretty much love dolling him up!
This is getting old mom!
My dapper dude.
I mean, just look at that face!
We love this sweater!
She LOVES it when I let him sleep in her bed for one round of glow worm (10 minutes). I keep a pretty close eye on the monitor but so far she's been great and it's pretty adorable to watch her stare at him, stroke his cheek or kiss his fingers.
Harrison never ceases to amaze us. At four weeks he was already 7lbs 12 oz and 20 inches long. He is wearing newborn size and newborn cloth diapers. He's just growing out of the tiny g diapers we used until now.
I'd love to tell you all the things he's doing now but really, all he's doing is sleeping, waking up to eat and letting me squeeze in a diaper change. I have to remember he's not even due yet, so he's doing exactly what he should be doing: growing. I'm soaking it up though. He sleeps on me while we do puzzles, while we shop, while I make dinner and right next to me while I sleep. He is the definition of eat, sleep, poop, repeat. And I love it. I mean, who gets to enjoy their newborn phase for over 4 weeks!? We sure love this little guy!
Photographically speaking... our apartment is a lighting nightmare. Then there's the matter of my photographer's assistant. She adores her brother and loves to help mommy. It's a little hard to keep her out of my shots though ;). I keep reminding myself that this is our story, this is our life. Poor lighting and all.
We had planned on using the same newborn photographer that we used for Emerson, she was so great! However, given the circumstances after Harrison's birth I decided to try to take a few newborn pictures while we were staying with my parents. I wasn't sure wed be able to coordinate (or afford) professional pictures so if I could just get one shot I was happy with then we could use that for announcements and a canvas.
It was a little tricky with my very hands-on toddler assistant, and of course I hadn't planned on this (any of it, including having the sweet guy) so I didn't have all of my camera equipment with me. In the end, after much time editing and getting help from friends.. I was happy enough with one of the poses.
This cradle was mine (for my baby dolls) when I was a girl. My dad made it for me and it's pretty special, so I loved that he just fit in it for these pictures.
