Yesterday James turned two months old. He’s quite a bit bigger than Stella was when she was this age, but we don’t go for his two-month check up for another few weeks so I don’t know exactly how big he is. In the 13-pound range, is my guess, which Stella didn’t hit until she was 4 months old. Sometimes just looking at him I think that he should be doing more, but that’s just because of his size. Two-month olds are kind of boring.
Adorable, but boring. James received his first hand made gift this month, the adorable fairy tale blanket he’s laying on in the pictures.
He is starting to smile more and more. Sometimes when I get him from the crib he actually smiles at me. This is huge. Not only are babies boring, but they don’t recognize your face. I’m the one that feeds him and comforts him but when I go to him he looks at me like, Who the heck are you? I love the recognition in a baby’s face, and I’m finally starting to see that in James.
He’s started to “talk” a little bit. Just some coos and goos here and there, but it’s such a fun sound. Stella was always very vocal and it looks like he might be the same way. His favorite thing is the ceiling fan. I think because of the breeze. The other morning I brought him downstairs before Wes had turned the fan on and he looked up for a minute or so before his little lip pouted out. As soon as I turned it on he was happy again. We went to the beach for the first time and he loved to be out on the blanket, just looking around and enjoying the wind. Such a welcome change from sweating in his car seat.
With the first baby you compare them to other children their age. Stella was born within a few months of several of our friends’ kids and it was hard to not look at what she was doing in comparison to what they were doing. I wanted her to be doing what the babies a month older were doing, but a month is huge in babies. She always reached the milestones and I finally stopped looking to other kids for a hard date of when she should start talking/walking/eating/etc. Now, with James, I compare him to his sister. I seemed to have blocked out all of the hard times with Stella and am only remembering when things started getting easier. I guess that’s how I was able to have another kid: just forget how hard it is.
I have been going through Stella’s baby book and it’s triggering some memories of, Oh, yeah, I did have to rock her to sleep and then not move for twenty minutes. This isn’t just a James-phase, this an infant phase. Infants require a lot of work. Some nights he goes to sleep incredibly easily and I just rock him for an extra ten minutes because his limbs are growing quickly and soon he won’t fit so snuggly in my arms. Or he might grow out of wanting snuggles.
I know I’m probably setting myself up for a lot of parents to hate me, and maybe even jinxing it, but this is part of James at two months. The last few nights he’s slept through the night – 10+ hours, that have been amazing. He had only been waking up once before that, and the last few nights that I nursed him he actually spit up all over me and I silently pleaded with him to just stay asleep. “If you’re not hungry, little man, then just keep sleeping,” I said to him. I guess he listened. So probably tonight he’ll wake up three times. Well, I had three good nights at least.
I know a lot of parents are wishing for their babies to stay small for a little bit longer, but I’m more excited about what’s to come. I’ve seen all the changes before and even though it won’t be the same as Stella, I know James will be just as amazing.
Wisdom In Madness 