growing up—13 weeks (the 3 month edition)

Dear Gideon,

Sunday was your 3 month birthday. You chose to ring in the festivities with your first truly explosive diaper. We were at Grandma's, who had been away for a week and was so excited to see you. You were sitting on her lap and she heard you going. I went to pick you up, you grunted hard and there it was. Running all out the side of your diaper, onto Grandma's jeans and then onto the couch. To say it was gross is an understatement. We got everything cleaned up—including you—but Grandma's couch will never be the same.

You haven't rolled over yet but in the interim you've adopted a really neat little trick. For the past couple of nights we would put you in your crib for the evening. When we would come in to get you the next morning—yes you are still sleeping through most nights, thank you—you will be 180° from where you started. I wish I could see you in action, but have yet to catch the show.

Wait. Just like that things have changed. I wrote the above last night before I went to bed. The pictures were still on the camera so I didn't end up posting it last night. You woke up at 3:00 and when I went in to check on you I found you 90° from where you started and on your stomach. You rolled over! I put you back the way you belonged and gave you your binkie. Apparently you were hungry because within 10 minutes you were fussing again. This time Dad went in to get you and guess what? You were on your belly again! We didn't actually see you roll over, but you did it. This both thrills me and frightens me. We are excited that you've reached yet another milestone in your development but I'd rather you not roll over onto your stomach while we are all in bed. Do it during our waking hours but stay on your back during your night sleeping please. Unfortunately there is no way to convey this to you and your going to keep rolling around in your sleep—I guess practice makes perfect.

You're growing fast and have outgrown the 0-3 month size almost completely. There are still a few items that fit you at that size but I'm guessing they are bit on the big size. Kind of like how Chico's size 4 is really a size 12—but hey, it makes the ladies feel good, right? You have lots of cute clothes in the 3-6 months size and I love putting you into a funky little outfit each day. If I ever get some extra time I'm going to design you some sweet little graphics for some onesies. Hopefully you'll still be wearing them by then.

Every day your personality shines more and more. You are such a happy baby and love to flirt. You're getting more and more vocal and new sounds are squawking out of you all the time. You chat, you laugh, you make these cute little expressions with your beautiful blue eyes. Getting you to take a decent nap is one of the more difficult tasks. You will fight it until there is no fight left in you and then you'll only go down for about 30–45 minutes. You do that multiple times a day and I guess that's okay, I'd just like you to sleep a little longer at a time—like 2 hours. You'd probably enjoy it and then I could get something accomplished in one time span instead of over 3 sessions. Daddy has a different method of getting you to sleep but I find that rocking you and humming you a lullaby usually does the trick when you're in my arms. The lullaby I hum to you has words that I go over in my head while humming, but for some reason I prefer to just hum to you. Maybe it sounds better to me that way. I don't know.

Thank you so much for being everything you are. We are so lucky to be your parents and we wouldn't want you any other way. Don't grow up so fast, we want time to savor every moment with you.

Love,
Mommy

growing up—12 weeks (with video)

Dear Gideon,

12 weeks old. Wow. I know I say that all the time, but it really is mind blowing how quickly the days go by. All the cliches are true: "They grow up so fast." "You never know this kind of love until you have a child of your own." Blah, blah, blah. I guess that's why they're cliches. Anyway, this has been a really incredible week for you. First, we see this face ALL.THE.TIME.


And it rocks.

Along with that you think we are the funniest people around. Especially Daddy this week. He has started playing this game with you where he'll say, "My nose itches (while rubbing his nose.)" Then he'll rub your nose and ask you, "Does your nose itch?" You think that is hysterical!

You've really taken to noticing the world around you. Your vision has expanded greatly and you can see so much more. One of your favorite things to look at are ceiling fans. You are so entertained by the blades going round and round and when the fan is off you'll look at is inquisitively wondering why it's not moving. You're tracking everything these days and when one of us leaves the room you'll follow us with your eyes until we are out of your line of sight. We go outside with you a lot now and you really seem to enjoy it. I think the fresh air and the breezes relax you because you inevitably end up napping when we are in the backyard. When we take walks with you in the stroller you've started to stay awake longer and take in the surroundings. I like that.

You now have almost complete control over your head. You've even started lifting it up off the surface you are on when you are laying on your back. I know that must be hard for you since your head is so big compared to the rest of your body. You're really good at sitting up now to and pretty soon you'll be doing it with no assistance. I feel like any day you'll be rolling over and oh man, will you ever be proud of yourself when that happens.

Nursing has been high on your priority this week and I sure that means you are once again going through a little growth spurt. I hope it's more of a developmental one than a physical one because you are already such a big guy.

The other thing you have graced us with on more than one occasion this week is sleeping through the night. Three times this week you have gone to bed by 10 o'clock and not gotten up until after 5 the next morning. That is awesome beyond words. Please keep it up. Even if you don't, you're down to getting up only once in the middle of the night and I can handle that and still function the next day. But...feel free to continue sleeping through the night if you want. I won't mind.


Love,
Momma

growing up—11 weeks (now with verticality & spit-up)

Looking perfectly at the camera...and spitting up.

Huh?

Completely enamored with the blue elephant rattle.

Knows he should be looking at Dad, but can't take his eyes off the rattle.
With the neck roll it looks like his head is just popped on top like a doll.

Standing up with Mom. Monkey has the blue elephant.

one for grandpa p

Camouflage.

Wait? Does it disturb anybody else that it's June and I have to put my kid in a long sleeve shirt due to the weather?

sucky parenting moment #26

Three words. Two month shots.

Wednesday, Gideon had his two month checkup. He is progressing beautifully and once again the doctor commented on how great his skin looked. Um, we're bathing him? I don't know what kind of skeevy skinned babies are coming into that office, but apparently us washing him a few times a week with Johnson's Baby Wash is more than some are doing. After the basic checkup portion we moved on the part I had been dreading—the shots.

Not the shot, but the shots. As in plural. As in three separate shots in my poor baby's unknowing little thighs. It happened really fast and the nurse was great but Gideon cried so hard. The kind of cry where they don't even make any noise it's so bad. The kind of cry that when sound does come out it's like a bleat of a lamb and is accompanied by a bright red face. Then there were little drops of blood surfacing on his thighs. The nurse put on the band-aids and we were done. I picked him up and held him close to me to console him. That's when I started crying. It's heartwrenching to see your baby in pain.


Once I got him settled down I put him in his carrier and he looked at me like, "What the hell woman?" I told him, "Hey, don't look at me like that, I had nothing to do with it." Which made him smile (and then made me smile). He fell asleep in the car and I thought to myself, "This isn't so bad. What a little champ."

I was wrong. He ended up being fussy all day. Only wanted to be held or eat the majority of the rest of the day. Sleeping was minimal. Around 10 o'clock we thought he was out for the evening and he started to cry that little lamb cry again. I picked him out of his crib and the back of his head resting on my arm felt like a little ball of fire. We checked his temperature and...100.6°. Holy Crap! What do I do? That's when I started crying again. My poor little baby. I stripped him down to his onesie and brought him into our bedroom with the ceiling fan. Josh got me a cool washcloth and I wiped him down with it. I laid down with him on my chest and Josh by my side. Within a half an hour his fever had broke and he was out like a light.

"Why aren't you holding me, woman? Put that camera away and pick me up!"

On Thursday the only evidence that remained were three bandaids—Snoopy, Scooby Doo, and Spongebob.

Stats:
Head: 39.75 cm (70%)
Height: 23" (55%)
Weight: 12# 1oz (65%)

growing up—10 weeks

Gideon and Monkey go on a bender.

So sweet.

So done with the pictures.