3 Months

Dear Jamesy,
Welcome to Month #3! Can you believe what a big boy you are getting to be? You are nearly double the weight you were when you were born! Since we didn't go to the doctor this month, which I do not like since I like for her to check to make sure we aren't messing you up too much, I didn't take your picture in your crib like I have the past two months. So, I just added this in on power point to your picture...

The words are a little small, but I think you can read them. As I said above, since we didn't go to the doctor this month, I'm not sure what your stats are. Weighing you with me on the scale shows that you weigh about 12.4 lbs. I'm not sure about your height - I tried to stretch you out and measure, but forget it, man, it was too hard. Let's just say, I think you are looking taller and thinner so you must be growing, lengthwise. What's going on with you this month? LOTS.

- We have had major nap situations with you. I may have talked about this last month, but we have tried to let you cry it out in your crib, etc. for daytime naps, and it just was going TERRIBLE. So, Mandy gave me the idea to try putting you in the swing for your nap, but swaddled. Now, you know we cannot swaddle you in the crib because of the rolling over (which you never really do anymore, but you did do at one time, so you never know). But, in the swing, you cannot roll over, so I tried it. It has worked like a charm, and we have really gotten on a good schedule this month because of that. Now, what's going to happen when you can't go in the swing anymore? Who really knows...hopefully you'll be older, and I'll be wiser, and we'll get you in that crib for the daytime naps - just like you do at night! You are eating once every 4 hours, approximately, and you are eating about 5 oz each time - I say "about" because 5 is the maximum - you eat anywhere from 3-5. It makes me CRAZY because I'm afraid you are not getting enough to eat, BUT because of that rice cereal being in every bottle, I think it just fills you up faster. So, you are eating, usually, at 7am, 11am, 2pm, 6pm, and 9:30pm. Your big naps are from 8:30-11am and then from 3-6pm - and you take little naps from 1-2pm and from maybe 8-9pm. The big naps are the ones in the swing when you are swaddled. It's funny because I'm SO READY for you to take naps when you take them, but for the long ones, I'm so excited when it's time for you to get up!! I love to watch you stretch and wake up!

- Your nighttime sleep is going pretty well. I really can't complain. You are sleeping still an average of 5 hours per night. 3 times this past month you have slept over that - you slept 7 hours 15 min, then 6 hours 45 min, then 6 hours 30 min - all on different random nights, but I am praying this will start happening more often. I am so thankful for how you are sleeping at night. You just wake up about 3am, after you have slept 5 hours, and eat, and then go back to sleep until 7. You have gotten very funny in your crib though. You wear a sleep sack in the crib. It has a zipper. You are turning all around in the crib no matter where I put you down. Sometimes you turn 90 degrees where your body is stretched out in the width part of the crib - not the part you are supposed to be stretched out in. So, imagine me, your mommy, thankful to be getting some sleep, and then I hear something on the monitor. Is it Jamesy? Sort of. It's the zipper on the sleep sack - because you are kicking the daylights out of the crib and you're all turned around. You're not mad or upset - you are just awake and kicking, kicking, kicking and that zipper is just going wham, wham, wham. It cracks me up - and annoys me, slightly :) I go in your room to find you, and you smile at me when you decide to look over at me.

- I think this month we may try some formula. For many different reasons, but mainly because I think it's going to help your acid reflux a ton. I've talked to the pediatrician, and we'll go to a sensitive formula. You are still drinking my milk, but since you have to drink it from a bottle so that it can have cereal every single time, you don't ever breastfeed anymore. Probably sometime this next month we'll start putting half and half in your bottle and see how you do. I have tons of my milk in the freezer - but what looks like a ton will probably last about a month if you were solely drinking that. I think we can probably make it well into 5 months with you still drinking my milk and a little formula. I'm sorry you still struggle with the reflux some, and I'm excited that this may help you. I know some people love breastfeeding (like you want to know this, James), but it has not been my favorite thing. I'm happy I have done it, because I know it has been good for you, and I have not had any major problems with it.

- You've had visitors this month! Grammie and GatorPa, Grandaddy and Nanna, and Uncle Bryan and Aunt Olivia!

- We're still giving you the Prilosec, but you are so funny about it. When we give it to you you immediately start spitting it out. We've started giving it to you during baths because it's so messy. We try to shoot it behind your tongue, but that's tough to do with you moving around!

Then your mouth is all purple and stained around it - it's very funny.

- You have started holding your toys! Not a lot of things - most of them are too heavy - but you can grasp objects! Especially your keys, and one other rattle you really like. If I hold the one you like, you'll reach out your fist and spin it. It's the one in the picture below. You are also loving Winnie a lot more - he's probably your other favorite. - If we stick our tongues out at you, you will stick your back out at us. This is because you are very smart.
- I'm singing you lots of songs still. My newest favorite is to sing the words "You are my baby" over and over to the tune of "Oklahoma". This is excruciating for anyone who hears it but you, and you love it and just smile and laugh. We've also been singing "Do your ears hang low?" and our regular favorites of "Our God is a Great Big God" and "Jesus Loves Me".
- I put you in the nursery this past Sunday for the first time - September 19. It was really hard. I'm so thankful for all the changes that have happened in our nursery because I feel so much safer about putting you in there. I know who is in there - and I know that no one else is in there but those people who are assigned to be there that day - and I know that no one can pick you up but me! I still cried when I dropped you off. I'm supposed to put a sticker on your back that has a number and some info and then take the other half of the sticker to pick you up with it...but I left both the stickers sitting on the chair outside the room - I was so freaked out about leaving you and had started crying that I got all frazzled. Don't worry, they let me get you - but I remembered the stickers Sunday night! I cried through the first part of the service. I'm so worried about you getting sick in there since you can't get a flu shot yet. I know there are going to be lots of things to worry about though in your life, and I can't protect you from everything. I'm just praying parents will be smart about bringing their sick babies to the nursery and NOT DO IT!! Anyway, you did great with the ladies in there, and I'm really thankful. They sure do love you :)
- Okay, here's something funny. You have started wanting to put stuff in your mouth. I don't think you are drooling much yet at all, but instead of wanting to really gnaw on things, well, except my hand which you do like to gnaw on, you just want to lick like a cat. It's really bizarre and funny to watch. Like, your Winnie, you just want to lick him - but he is a stuffed animal, so that is yuck - but you just do it. I think you are just exploring things. You just want to check it out.
- You are laughing and talking like crazy. I mean a lot! It feels like we are having a conversation a lot of times. You make such funny sounds - it's obvious you are learning what kinds of sounds your voice will make. My favorite times are in the middle of the night - that's when you are the funniest with your sounds. I always secretly hope you will wake up Daddy so he can be awake with us - :)

- You are looking at your feet a little bit now, and when you do, it's like you are thinking, "WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THESE??"
- I hate to tell you this, but your head is flat in the back on one side. I don't know why I didn't notice this, but Daddy noticed it a couple of days ago. I called the dr. and talked to them about it, and they just said to put you opposite everywhere. So, you lie opposite in the crib, you lie opposite on the changing table, I keep putting a towel rolled up under your head in the swing and the bouncy seat, and I'm trying to sit you up more and give you more tummy time. They said it was very common and should go away - but it does look pretty bad. You like to look to the right, so that's the way you always turn your head. I've been putting you on your tummy more, but you hate it - I mean, you HATE it. You scream the whole time and act like you can't get your face out of the floor where I'm freaking out like you can't breathe. Yikes, man. They say it's important though because that's the only way you'll learn to crawl. I hope it starts going better because at this rate, I hope you'll be crawling by the time you're 1. I mean, you hate it down there. BUT, you are doing great at sitting up. So, I've tried that more. You like to hold our hands and sit up in our laps, and sometimes in your bouncy seat, I can see you trying to do your head up like you want to sit up. We have a bumbo seat (not a bumbo, but something like it), and lots of people said they put their babies in it way earlier than now. So...I tried to put you in it -

You are okay in it, but you don't seem to like it much. I sit right with you and help your head. It has toys that go around it on a tray, so we need to try those out. You are a fan for a few minutes, but then you start crying and act like it's the most uncomfortable thing you've ever sat in. So, I get you out. We try to do 3 - 5 minute tummy times per day, and I try to put you in this big boy seat a couple of times for about 5 minutes too, every day. You are very good at sitting up though - just not the tummy time....hopefully that will come along...

All in all, it's been a great month. I am tired. I am still tired - when will I not be tired anymore? I do not know! I love you so much...still...even more than last month, I think! I am excited about holidays that are coming! I just got your Halloween bag yesterday in the mail with your name on it - I can't wait til Halloween for your costume, etc. Then, Thanksgiving and Christmas - lots of fun things coming.

One more thing and I'll go. You know Daddy has a busy life. He is a pastor and he is gone a lot - sometimes I feel like a single mom to you if he's not here for several nights in a row. A couple Wednesday nights ago we got home from church and you were awake. I took you in our room while we changed clothes and propped you up on the bed. Daddy had on old shorts and a t shirt, and I had on my pajamas, and you were just lying there on our bed. Daddy got right in your face and was sticking his tongue out at you over and over, and you started to do it back. I was sitting on the bed beside both of you watching. I think, in that moment, I just realized how blessed I was. I love the house we live in, I love our church, I love where we are, I love all that stuff, but our family is the most important. Right that second, in our pajamas, at our house, just watching Daddy stick his tongue out at you, I knew what really mattered. I mean, I always knew what really mattered and what didn't, but since you came, it just became a lot more real to me. I love your daddy so much, and I love you so much, and even though we're still in a survival mode, we're all learning and getting it together more and more! Maybe by next month we'll be pros!

Alright, my Sweet Precious! Keep growing! I love you!

Your Mommy