Every Good and Perfect Gift: hank month

Stats
Weight - 16 pounds 5 ounces (68%)
Height - 26.5 inches (95%)

This little guy is seriously a dream. He is so happy, he sleeps a ton, he eats great, he rarely cries... What a difference a couple months can make! I'm not sure what exactly has made him so great, but I think it's a combination of things:

1. He just is that way - after going through two extremely different newborn phases but parenting the exact same, I'm realizing that there are a lot of things out of your control as a parent. A lot of times the kid is who he/she is.

2. I'm a second time momma - I seriously have loved being a mom the second time around, and honestly it makes me excited to have a third kid some day (if we are so lucky) because by that time I think I'll really be a pro. I'm just not the type of person who likes new experiences, I hate the unknown. This time around stuff just doesn't stress me out as much, I'm much more accepting of the fact that everything really is just a phase and everything will pass!

3. I'm very strict about nap times! I know this may sounds silly, but I really think a well rested baby is a happy baby. And I totally notice a difference in Hank when we have a busy day out and he isn't able to nap as well.

This past month Hank was taking three 1.5-3 hour naps (usually they are around 2 hours) every day. He is a great sleeper, putting himself to sleep and staying asleep almost every time (still sleeping on his belly, sucking his thumb). If he wakes early from a nap it is almost always because he has a poop, which unfortunately seems to happen a lot! This past month I'm pretty sure Hank went through 3 sicknesses and a growth spurt, which all meant lots of poop (sometimes very green poop) and lots of changes in the schedule, but here is what a "typical" day looked like...

7:30/8am Wake and Eat
9-11am Nap
11am Wake and Eat, Playtime
12:30-2:30(ish) Nap
2:30-4pm Wake and Eat, Playtime
4-5:30(ish) Nap
5:30-7pm Wake and Eat, Playtime
7pm Bedtime (I try to sneak in an extra feeding here. I had been doing a dream feed at 9:30pm, but it didn't seem to help Hank sleep longer, so I stopped doing it, but it felt weird to have Hank's last feeding at 5:30, so the last two feedings are close together).
3 or 4am Night feeding

Hank has been doing 8-9 hour stretches at night, which felt AMAZING to me, but the doctor said given his size he could definitely do 12 hour stretches so I should push him to go a little longer at night. We'll probably work on this over the next couple weeks. His last nap is definitely starting to get shorter, and he is starting to be able to go longer between naps, but it still definitely feels like he is sleeping most of the day!

When he's not sleeping, Hank's little personality is starting to show. As I mentioned, he is super low key and extremely happy (as long as he has napped well!) He smiles and coos a ton, and I've been able to get him to laugh more and more. He loves squealing/screaming, grabbing on to anything in his reach (this is unfortunate when my hair happens to be near his hand) and blowing raspberries. I've also noticed a new found love for his sister. Hank now loves to watch whatever Lucy is doing and she often makes him smile.

He rolls over, belly to back a lot (typically in his crib when he is not wanting to go to sleep) but we have not seen him roll back to belly yet. He squirms around a lot, and can definitely turn in a full circle and move forward a bit while wiggling. He also has gotten pretty good at sitting upright although he definitely can't do it on his own, but he's getting close!

On the go - Hank still doesn't love to sleep in his car seat. If he is in it long enough he will eventually fall asleep, but he protests a lot and won't sleep that long. If we are out (which does not happen a lot) I usually try to carry Hank in the moby wrap still - he usually will sleep pretty well in that, although he is starting to get more and more picky about where he will fall asleep.

The crib shots were a little hard to get - Hank has a tendency to lean forward when he is sitting up right, as you can tell from the next series of photos...

woops! maybe I should have put my camera down and grabbed my son...

And teddy didn't stand a chance...

Anything in this boys reach goes right in his mouth

Unless of course his thumb makes it there first...

I've taken way too many photos so I think I'll end here without a comparison shot of Lucy, but let's just say they are still twinsies.

If I could title this past month I would call it: Happiest Baby On The Block OR Everybody Poops OR Thumbs Are For Suckers.

So I left off last month's update saying I received some advice from my doctor to get rid of the pacifier and see if it helped with Hank's sleep. I'm not going to lie I thought she was nuts. In fact I left the doctor sobbing thinking I was hopeless. Nevertheless, the next day I tested out her suggestion, and thought I'd give Hank 10 minutes of crying and then go get him if it didn't work. We started on his back, arms un-swaddled (so he could get his thumb if he wanted) but he was squirming around way too much. I knew he would never sleep that way. So I flipped him over and let him lay on his belly thinking I could stare at him in the video monitor the whole time, easing my SIDS fears. He cried. A lot. But almost exactly at the 10 minute mark, as I was going to go get him, he stopped, and completely passed out. He then continued to sleep the entire 2 hour nap completely on his own. WOW - I was amazed. I guess the doctor was right! That day Hank made it through all his naps crying only sometimes 3 or 5 minutes and settling himself in the middle of the nap. This was coming from a baby that had to be held almost his entire nap (which for a newborn is typically 6+ hours a day)!

Luckily, being a seasoned mom, I did not take this day for granted. I knew that it may not be for good and that it may just have been a blessing from God, giving me a little rest for one day. So the next day when my same crying technique didn't work, I didn't fret. I still tried every nap to get Hank to sleep on his own, but it didn't always work. As the month progressed Hank got better and better at soothing himself during nap time - at first he could sleep on his own about half of the time, he is now sleeping (and staying asleep) on his own about 80-90% of the time. He currently takes 3 naps a day for at least 2 hours (sometimes 3), sleeping on his belly, sucking away on his little thumb. It's precious. He also rarely cries himself to sleep anymore. I usually rock him and settle him in my arms (helping him find his thumb) and then by the time I lay him down he is nice and drowsy and passes out. He still typically stirs at about the 45min/1hr mark, but can usually get himself back to sleep.

Shortly after getting Hank's daytime sleep under control his night time sleep started getting really bad. At the beginning of the month he had still been sleeping in the swing next to our bed most of the night and would end up in bed or being rocked for part of the night. One morning after a bad night of sleep he woke up with a really goopy eye so I took him into the doctor to get it checked out. It turned out the eye goop was just drainage from a cold he had, but the doctor found an ear infection while we were there (no wonder he wasn't sleep well!) So we started Hank on amoxicillin.

That's where the poop start of my story comes in. Unfortunately, amoxicillin gives you diarrhea, so in Hank (who already had runny poops since he is breast fed) this came out as a blow out every single time he had a poop. And since he sleeps most of the day on his belly, these blow outs usually ended up going all over the front of him, his clothes and his sheets. I washed his bedding 7 days in a row one week. Ugh....

After a few days on the medicine, when we felt like Hank should be feeling better, and after continued bad night time sleep, I finally caved and let Hank sleep on his tummy one night. I know. I'm a terrible mother. But I was desperate, and Hank loved it. He slept for the first time on his own, not moving in a swing, and didn't need any soothing between feedings.

Hallelujah - we had a new baby on our hands!

Currently Hank typically has the following schedule:
7-7:30am Wake and Nurse
8:30am(ish) Nap for 2-3 hours
10:30am(ish) Wake and Nurse
11:30am(ish) Nap for 2-3 hours
2pm(ish) Wake and Nurse
3pm(ish) Nap for 2-3 hours
5:30pm(ish) Wake and Nurse
6:30pm(ish) Bedtime
9:30pm(ish) Dreamfeed
4:00am(ish) Dreamfeed

*Hank usually goes 3-3.5hours between feedings, that's why the schedule isn't exact every day, but he usually always eats around the same time. His longest stretch at night is typically 6 hours. He's gone 8 hours a couple times, so I'm hoping he is able to stretch the night out more soon!

He continues to be an extremely happy baby while he is awake and I honestly think he has now become an easier baby than Lucy. Because he can find his thumb on his own, he is great at self-soothing and sleeping (at this point with Lucy we were starting to get into some sleep troubles). The only time he cries is if we are in the car or on the go while he is trying to nap. He now does a good job falling asleep on his own in the car, but has a tough time staying asleep. This has led me to find a new love for staying home all day, knowing if Hank sleeps in his crib I will get an uninterrupted 2 hour nap, but if we are on the go I will need to carry him and he is not guaranteed to sleep (which makes him extremely cranky).

He loves cooing and smiling, batting toys on his playmate, sitting and standing in our laps and of course sucking his thumb! I haven't notice a true belly laugh, but Ben says Hank has laughed... I guess I'm just a tough judge on what a "laugh" is. Hank likes to squeal in delight a lot though. He's also gotten better at holding up his neck while sitting in his bumbo or in our laps. This past month he had not yet rolled over, but he actually just did for the first time today, so I'm sure the next month will be full of new movements as he squirms around on the floor.

No doctor appointment this month, but I think Hank is around 15 pounds. I definitely think he's slowed down a ton in the weight department, he reminds me a lot more of Lucy in that way.

3 month pictures...