2 Months

You should have seen the acrobatics I had to do to get this smile. He smiles ALL the time. Except during these photoshoots.

Growth

• Clothing: Some 0-3 month and 3 month (sad to pack his newborn clothes away!)
• Diaper size: 1
• 12 lbs 3 oz (46%), 23 in (47%)
• Head is rounding out nicely (yes!)
• I still think his eyes are blue?

Likes

• Eating, still
• Lights & windows
• Music
• Faces
• His play mat (usually)
• Being held. ALL the time.
• Being naked
• Peeing on walls

Dislikes

• Pacifiers & Bottles - he acts like the world is ending
• Tummy time (he used to like it!)
• Getting out of the bath = scream fest
• His face being covered
• Touching his head
• Shots

General

We love having Brooks in our home! It's crazy how these small babies can have such big personalities already. He's very expressive as you've seen by ALL my photos and has such good facial expressions. He's started 'coo'ing, grunting and talking a lot more lately and I love it. In the mornings after I feed him we'll just sit and chat. Plus he's in the stage where he really likes faces so it's a win-win. His crying is decreasing as I expected it to and during the day he'll fuss when he's tired or wants to be held. Evenings are still fussy but that's normal. Oddly enough when we take him out in the evenings it's distracting enough that he'll just kind of hang out. He's a good baby and I love being his mama!

He got his shots at his appointment and they weren't lying when they said it'll break your heart! I know now that I've never heard him cry from pain before because this cry was heartbreaking and new. He was cranky and tired going in so he was just a mess afterwards, poor thing. However I know it's for his best interest and I'm so thankful for modern medicine to protect my babe from these diseases. We just slept and cuddled all day, anything to make him feel better.

don't mind the red eyes, I just woke up too!

Breastfeeding

Still going well and he's still eating like a champ. He's starting to frequently eat on both sides in one sitting which shows to me that he's growing! I've stopping pumping and freezing because he won't take a bottle. Multiple people have tried, while I'm home, while I'm not home, when he's hungry, when he's not hungry, cold, room temperature, frozen and freshly pumped. No luck. He'll maybe eat .5 oz or just refuse to swallow it. I'm not sure if he doesn't understand it (it's a different sucking motion) or if he's just stubborn. It's kind of funny when I try to offer him a bottle because he'll nuzzle my shirt while crying and gives me a look like, "MOM. I know they're in there! Don't give me this fake one." We'll keep offering but it looks like Brooks and I will be buddies for a while. Side note- as a baby I never took a bottle or a pacifier so... karma.

Sleeping

I am so so so grateful that I have a good baby that usually sleeps at night (for now at least). I'll handle all the fussiness during the day and evenings if he'll sleep at night! He still goes down somewhere between 8:30-9:00pm and averages eating every 3 hours. Recently he's been doing 4 hour stretches and I'm slowly starting to see them increase. Four nights in a row he's only got up once! Not sure if this is a new normal or if he's just in a growth spurt. I was very confused waking up. He wakes up to eat and goes right back to sleep. Not very often do I have to pick him up again and I attribute that to the white noise. He wakes up for the day 7-7:30am.

When it comes to naps I try to make the first two of the day consistent when it comes to routine. We're following the eat, play, sleep cycle and it works great. I feed him right when he wakes up, then we play and I try to distract him and keep him happy until he shows signs he's tired again. I put him down for naps and let him sleep. They're usually about 3 hours. Lately he's been doing 1 hour spurts but hey, you roll with the punches.

The evenings are a little different. What ever works goes. He might be constantly eating, in the swing, sleeping on me or swaddled. Honestly what ever makes him happy during his fussy hours until it's bath time! 8pm we start our bedtime routine- bath, screaming because he got out of the bath, lotion, swaddle, boob, song, bed.

#notimpressed

My Recovery + Motherhood
Overall I'm feeling pretty good. I'm 2-4 lbs away from my pre-baby weight (attribute those last couple pounds to 'milk weight' right?) and wearing all my old clothes. Some are a little snug but it'll keep getting better. I feel fully recovered and even tried working out again. The first time was pretty hard I'll be honest but I know regaining strength in my core will further help my back pain. Speaking of which, it has gotten better and I think it will continue to get better.

As far as motherhood goes, I am loving it. I'm just overwhelmed with gratitude everyday. I'm so thankful I get to opportunity to stay home and raise our babe. I'm thankful for Dan and his hard work in his career that makes it possible for me to stay home. I'm so grateful I don't have to work outside the home and say goodbye to him everyday. Kudos to working moms- you are rockstars! I don't want you to think my life is all unicorns and rainbows. We definitely have hard days and I find the days that are the hardest are the days that I need a nap. One day he'll be an angel and the next day we'll have a poop blowout at church, you just gotta laugh! Side note: ALWAYS have a change of clothes. And a bag for poop clothes.

Mom... no more pictures PLEASE

He LOVES the Christmas Tree

So we got him a play mat because we thought he would really enjoy it (hello Black Friday deal!). I recorded his first reaction to it but here are some pictures.

He didn't know what to think and kept looking at me for guidance

Then he started crying but it was evening and almost time for bed. Now that he's used to it he loves his play mat!

Bloopers! 

Those white nostrils again ha!

No pacifiers for him but give him a hand any day!

We went to the Texas Motor Speedway's Gift of Lights and it was so cool! Brooks looked out the window a bit and saw some lights. We stopped at Santa's Village and got out to show him some lights close up. It's so fun to introduce him to new things! Then we had to go to Buc-ee's because it's right there! We walked out with hot cocoa, white cheddar and jalapeno popcorn and candied pecans, yum! It was a fun family date night.

and last but not least

Not so sure about this Santa guy!