The Fit's Gonna Hit the Shan

Tiny's hair is finally starting to grow back in. He had a full head of hair when he was born (the heartburn during pregnancy paid off), but it all fell out after just a couple of weeks. It's still got the charm of "old man" hair in the back and reminds me of Frank from the TV show "Everybody Loves Raymond". Part of me wants to just shave off the bottom part of his baldness, but realize I shouldn't. It will grow back... and it is... slowly...

His eyebrows are starting to darken and his eyes are changing, slightly, to a more brown/hazel appearance. Our hopes for a blue-eyed baby boy are fading with each day. Neither Kyle nor I have blue eyes, we just thought maybe our family genes would skip us and give him the dazzling sparklers. Oh well, he's just as cute with darker eyes.

Our little man is teetering on the brink of learning how to laugh. He smiles broadly at us and does a "huh-uh" sound. It's high-pitched and sounds like the start of a giggle. He just hasn't learned the follow-through. I am so excited at the prospect of his learning this wonderful baby skill. Baby giggles are the best! I tickle him at every chance I can, in hopes that he will bust an adorable gut.

He's rocking and trying to roll now, too. We will lay him on his back and he will rock himself from side to side. Tiny's little body will get most of the way rolled over, but his noggin will hold him back. I suppose it is larger than his body right now, so maybe it's heavy. We try to inspire his developing rolling abilities by placing Tiny on his stomach as often as we can. He is not too fond of the tummy time on the floor and would prefer to do that while laying on top of our stomachs and cooing at us. He just turned 14 weeks this past Friday, so I'm not in too much of a hurry to get him rolling. According to a child development book I skim, only half of babies can roll over by four months. So there is no need to push him, I only encourage.

This past week has been a really great week for Brady's maturation. He met his Uncle Jake for the first time and I was able to leave him with Jake for an hour or so at a time. He did not seem to care if neither of his parents were with him. It is refreshing to know that he is a calm baby even for people outside his immediate circle.

Tiny has recently learned to fall asleep on his own for naps in his crib in his own bedroom. We used to rock him to sleep in his bouncer with a pacifier when he needed a nap. Now, I've officially learned to watch him for signs of being tired. His threshold for alertness is 1 & 1/2 to 2 hours max. He is growing more able to stay awake for the longer stretches and sleeping for shorter spans. This is great for me. He officially seems to know that day is for play and night is for sleep. He can sleep eight hours at a time at night. He gets the bulk of his feedings early in the day and will eat every couple of hours before bedtime. I have learned to lay him down while he is still awake and happy. I notice if he blinks really slow and know that's a first signal of tiredness. If he starts to grab at his ears or ball his fists near his eyes, I know it's time to lay him down. He will usually also let out a little whimper. Especially if it coincides with the two-hour mark. He's been a tremendous sleeper for naps. His fussy time is shorter than ever. He fusses for maybe fifteen minutes a day. He's growing up so fast, I can hardly believe it.

Tiny is officially fitting into six month onesies. He seemed to totally skip over the three month sized clothes and he's only three and a half months old. I never really realized how fast babies really grow. There are some outfits that he never even got to wear. He just grew too fast! If our second baby is a boy, then it will be nice to still have new outfits for him. If the second little one is a girl, then the poor thing will be instant "tomboy", with or without her consent.

Our Brady is an active baby boy, bouncing in his chair and able to hold himself up for more time while he sits. His head is significantly less wobbly and he's so alert and communicative. He loves to "oooouuuuu" and "aaaah" and cough to get our attention. He does "super-fast-baby-kicks" with the help of his daddy and I have a feeling that will induce baby giggles in no time. I can not believe he has been a part of our family now for fourteen weeks. Sometimes it feels like he's been here forever and others it feels like just yesterday he was born. I still can't believe that someday in the future Brady will be on TV waving "Hi MOM", and that will be me. It is really quite an honor to have this role.

Rays and Getting more ZZZZs

My teeny tiny little boy is now officially a three month old. He's not as "breakable" to me anymore. I'm a bit more secure in the things I do with him: bath time not as slippery; feedings are quicker; diaper changing is something I can do in my sleep, and have done. He's developing a personality. I can sense when he's starting to get really tired and can seem to get him to sleep before he starts to get upset. He is getting better and better at Tummy Time and doesn't get mad about it after only a minute or two. We have "cuddle time" (to prevent flat head syndrome I've been warned about) and he is starting to be able to hold himself upright on his own more and more. His head is less "Ray Charles" and more steady on his neck. He's growing so fast. He's already moving into size 3 diapers. This means he's over 15 pounds already. It's so strange how we are running out of the size 2 diapers and with only four left, they suddenly seem like Cabbage Patch doll diapers. It seems instantly he's outgrown them.

The past week or so Brady has begun sleeping through the night. I have heard that anything over five hours of sleep at night is considered sleeping through. He slept almost eight hours last night. Of course, I stayed up to watch "The Notebook" on TV for the 80th time in my life. I got five hours of consecutive sleep because of that. Even that amount of sleep feels like an eternity to me! I remember my first couple of nights that he started sleeping through. I would wake up around five or six in the morning and search my nightstand desperately. I wondered if there was an empty bottle and maybe I just don't remember feeding him. Sometimes I would glance over to see if there was a still-full bottle from waking to feed him and falling asleep waiting for him to fully awake. Every time I had a mini panic attack, I realized he didn't wake up during the night, and no, I did not sleep through a hungry cry. A few mid morning freak outs and I was over worrying that he wasn't getting his 3AM feedings. While I am so relieved the "hard part" of sleepless nights is about over, I am a little sad too. My newborn baby is not so new anymore. He's maturing more and more every day. Some days we wake up to see a totally different baby. I swear he changes every night.

This past weekend we took Brady to his first ever MLB game. He got to see the Rays play at the Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, FL. We were so excited to take him to his first baseball game. I think it was definitely more thrilling to us to take him than it was to him. He was truly mesmerized and enthralled by the domed stadium. The lights were so bright. The cowbells in the audience were so invigorating. The announcers and the music was so much louder than we remembered... or we are now parents and notice those things. I think it is the latter. Our 12 week old boy made it six innings before he was just too upset to handle it anymore. He wailed for just a minute or two during the sixth inning and I got myself some pretty nasty looks from the rows in front of us. Must've been so horrible of me to have my baby there to them. He was there for six innings, people. It's not like I just brought him in and he became devastated instantly. The more I looked around, though, the more I did see lots of little babies. It really is great to be able to take a baby with you to a game. They don't need their own seat until they are two. Seat or no seat, I took a wiped-out Brady to the cafe where they have TVs and a bit less commotion for the poor baby. He swiftly fell asleep in my lap. Luckily, I could see the game and I didn't have to make Kyle and our friend leave the game early. In the end, it was a victory: for the Rays (beat the Marlins 7 to 3) and for our boy. He was such a great baby. He could have been a crying mess the whole time, but he wasn't. I am so glad we are starting him off early. He will be a pro at going to baseball games before he's a year old!

The boy is napping, and that is how I had the time to write. Better go do something else productive while I have the time!!