The One with the Three Month Update

Liam Michael you are

THREE MONTHS OLD!

We are officially out of the newborn stage.  You are now ::gulp:: an infant.  Holy moly kid, stop growing already!

What are your stats and what does the doctor say?
You haven't been to the doctor since your two month appointment, so there are no new stats to report, but I am thinking you are probably close to 15 pounds by now and maybe a little longer than the 23 inches from your last appointment.  I am looking forward to going back to visit Dr. G next month and seeing how much you have grown.  Your hair is still blond and you are getting more of it.  Your eyes are still blue, but the shade of blue has changed to be a little deeper.

What are you eating?
Up until about 10 days ago, you were eating five 5-ounce bottles of Similac Advance formula a day.  When we got back from vacation, we made the decision to increase the amount of formula you were getting at every bottle in an attempt to get you down to four bottles a day.  We were successful and you now have four 7-ounce bottles of formula every day.  You have one every 4 hours or so.  You still have one 2-ounce bottle after your bath before you go to sleep.

When do you sleep and eat?
Your nighttime sleeping is still awesome kiddo!  You are sleeping between 9 and 10 hours a night and you even did an 11 hour night last week!  You usually wake up around 6:30ish and you have a bottle with Mommy in your room.  You hang in your bouncy chair for a while so Mommy can unload the dishwasher, put on some laundry, or get Daddy's lunch ready.  We talk and laugh together and you play with your hanging toys.  Sometime between 8:00 and 8:30 you take a little cat nap in your chair.  You usually get the hiccups right before you fall asleep.  The hiccups are nothing new, since you've been getting them several times a day since you were in Mommy's tummy.  When you wake up, we read stories or play on your mat so you can look at all the toys.  You eat again around 10:30 and then we usually go and run our errands for the day.  You almost always fall asleep in the car and depending on how long the ride is, you sleep around an hour to an hour and a half.  You eat again around 3:00 and are usually awake for a while after this bottle.  Sometimes we go for a walk or you hang out in the baby carrier during this time so Mommy can get dinner ready.  You usually take another quick nap between 5:00 and 6:00 and then you have another bottle by 7:00 before we start to get ready for bed around 8:00.  You are typically asleep by 8:30.

What do your routines look like?
We still don't have any set routine for naps and Mommy is going to work on that this month before she goes back to work.  You are a cat napper right now and as long as you keep sleeping like a champ at night, Mommy and Daddy are okay with the short naps. You are still getting a bath every night and we think it's one of your favorite parts of the day.  We have been slowly backing up when we start your routine and we started your bath at 8:00 last night.  After your bath, you get your massage with lotion and swaddled in your special blankets.  You have a 2-ounce bottle and we read one of your stories.  Mommy then makes the room darker, rocks you and sings you a song for a few minutes.  You then get put down in the Rock 'n' Play in Mommy and Daddy's room.

What size clothes and diapers are you wearing?
You are wearing mostly 3 month clothes and most of your 0-3 month clothes have been put away.  Mommy is going to be washing some of your 6 month clothes soon.  You are wearing size 2 diapers.

What are some things you love?
You love your bath and the water (you already had your first dip in the pool!).  You still love to be moving and calm right down in the car once we start driving.  You like to lay in your crib while Mommy folds your laundry and look all around your room.  You notice shadows and always talk to the air conditioning vents!  You love smiling and talking to everyone.  You like being outside and are always looking around at all the sights.  You are drawn to the TV but Mommy won't let you watch any yet!  You also love to show how strong you are by standing when someone holds you.  You find it very amusing when someone sticks their tongue out at you and blows bubbles.

What are some things you don't love?
You are still not a fan of tummy time.  You are one strong little boy but you have no interest in holding your head up when you are on your belly.  You don't like it when people aren't paying attention to you and want to talk and interact with everyone.  You still get mighty angry when someone interrupts your eating, but you are mighty good at giving us burps during your bottle.  You can get a little overwhelmed when you first wake up and people are in your face and we have had a few "I'm scared and startled" cries this month.  You just get kind of fussy when you are upset and very rarely cry.

What can you do?
You smile almost any time someone talks to you and we have heard the first almost laugh sounds.  You talk and make lots of noises when we talk to you.  You make this gurgling noise at the back of your throat when you talk that is just so cute.  You put your index and middle fingers in your mouth all the time and are starting to get better about keeping them in your mouth and sucking on them.  You have started to pull yourself up to sitting when someone holds your hands and gives you a little help.  You recognize Mommy and Daddy's faces and voices.  You can hit the toys hanging above or in front of you.  You have also found your tongue and love to stick it out.

Where have you gone?
You went on another big road trip with Mommy and Nana this month.  We went to Sunset Beach, NC to visit some more family members.  We also drove all the way to the other side of Connecticut for your cousin's graduation party.  You and Mommy take weekly trips to Providence to go to our Mommies' Group.  You also went into Mommy's school to pick up a few things.
 
What have you celebrated?
You celebrated Mommy and Max's birthdays this month (they are on the same day and yes there was donut cake!).  We also celebrated two of your cousins' graduations from high school.

Who has visited and watched you?
You met some more aunts, uncles, and cousins this month during the our trip and at the parties we went to.  Nana continues to be a great babysitter and has been a big help around here.

What was Mommy's Mother of the Year moment this month?
This wasn't too bad, but Mommy left you in the living room strapped in your Mamaroo chair while she washed some of your bottles.  This seat isn't very high off the ground.  Mommy peeked around from the kitchen every few minutes to check on you and all seemed well.  You suddenly started making noises and Mommy came into the living room to find Max licking your face over and over.  You didn't seem to mind too much, but Mommy felt so bad that your face was getting assaulted by Max's tongue!

What are some of your nicknames?
Peanut, Pita Pocket, Pumpkin, Cookie, Little Man, Sunshine, Cookie Monster, Mini Me (that would be in reference to Daddy because you look so much like him!)

What are we looking forward to in the next month?
You are getting baptized this month and we are very excited about this.  We are going to have a big party for you at our house after the ceremony.  We are going to do some visiting of friends and having some friends to our house to visit this month too.  One thing Mommy isn't looking forward to is getting back into her classroom to get ready for school...she's not going to talk about that right now.

And from our photo shoot...

 You talking to me?

 Already trying to escape!

 This was right before you spit up all over yourself.

 

Mommy and Daddy are oh so in love with you, sweet boy.  You are a joy and we are so lucky to call you our son.  It's so much fun to watch you grow and change.

The One with the Road Trip

This post could also be entitled "The One Where I May Be a Little Insane."

My best friend got married last weekend.

I was the Matron of Honor.

In Chicago.

Side note: I live nowhere near Chicago.

Last year, when I found out I was pregnant, the anxiety about this whole trip set in.  How the hell was I going to be in a wedding halfway across the country with a newborn?  During the very early stages of the pregnancy, when there was still a risk of a miscarriage, I had to order my dress.  All I could think about was what if we have to do IVF again and I am very pregnant for this wedding?  Will said dress fit?  If I do have a newborn in June, how will we get out to Chicago?  I was legit stressed out about all of this.

My mom came up with what she thought would be a brilliant solution.

"We will just drive to Chicago," she said.

Here's me..."Uh drive?  You do know that Chicago is in like the middle of the country where all those flat states are, right?"

My mother loves to drive.  She drives back and forth to North Carolina like it's nothing.  And she's made about a bazillion trips up to Rhode Island from Connecticut since Liam was born (which has been a HUGE help I might add).

I don't mind driving either, but this drive seemed a little daunting.

However, we decided it was our best option.  Hubs, my brother, and my brother's girlfriend would fly out for the wedding and my mom, Liam and I would take a week or so to travel the 1000ish miles and back.

Enter the stress about packing all the things.

Do you have any idea what it's like to travel for a week with a baby?

Oh em gee.

I had no less than 700 lists going with everything we would need, piles of clothes and supplies everywhere, and more baby gear packed than one would ever need.  Plus all the things that Hubs and I would need for the wedding (because I certainly wasn't going to trust him to pack and travel with his own suit).  We also had a bunch of my brother and his girlfriend's stuff so they wouldn't have to fly with it.

My car was stuffed.

 Why yes, that is the whale bathtub.  

My baby sleeps for 7-9 hours a night since I started giving him a bath.  No way Mama was effin up that routine just because we were traveling so you bet that thing was coming with us.

You obviously don't need to see out your back window to drive.

And the KitchenAid was for the bride, not for baking along the trip.

My mom sat in the back with L and I drove.  We headed out from RI around 5 am on June 19th with plans to sleep in Erie, PA that night.  The first half of the trip was about 550 miles.

Honestly, Liam could not have been a better passenger.  He slept for long stretches and when he wasn't sleeping, he was a happy baby.  We stopped every 3ish hours to feed him which gave us a nice break from sitting in the car.

When we got to Erie around 2:00 that afternoon, it really didn't feel like we had been in the car for 9 hours.  We all got a good night's sleep and headed out early again the next morning to do the next 450ish to Nicolette's house.

Thursday's drive was also great.  We hit some traffic in Indiana, but again, Liam was awesome in the car.  He definitely got hot and sweaty in his car seat, but was really such a great baby.  We arrived around 1:45 that afternoon (which was really 12:45 central time) and got to visit with Nicolette and her family that night.  I was thoroughly exhausted and had a little meltdown about life in general but some migraine meds and sleep worked wonders.

The rehearsal and wedding were so much fun (I'm going to do a separate post about them) and Liam was a big hit.  

On Monday morning, we got back in the car and made the short trip (couple hundred miles is nothing after two days of 500 miles each!) to Columbus, Ohio where my great aunt lives.  She's a Dominican Sister of Peace so Liam had his first overnight visit to a convent on this trip!  All the nuns loved him and my aunt was just so happy to have us visit.

Tuesday morning we were up bright and early again and started the 800+ mile journey home to RI.  This was by far the "worst" day.  I use that term really loosely because Liam was still great in the car, but it was a lot of driving and I was still pretty exhausted from the wedding festivities.  We also hit some really nasty rain in the Berkshires.  By the time we got home around 7:30 that night, I was pretty cranky.  Hubs wanted nothing more than to show me the new TV all set up (remember it was set up incorrectly still) and all I wanted to do was unpack and go to sleep.  I am also one of those people who needs to get everything unpacked and laundry started as soon as I get home.  Yeah I know I need help.

So the little man is now a cross country traveler.  I think we picked the perfect age to travel that far with him because he really did sleep most of the time.  It was a great trip and it was fun to get to spend that much time with my mom just talking and hanging out.

And, guess who's doing another long car trip with her infant in about 3 weeks?  This crazy chick.  We are going down to Sunset Beach, NC to visit family.  Hopefully we are as successful with this second trip.

And I was not sorry we packed that whale bathtub.