12w1d. Brendan is only a week away from being 3 months old! Boy, did this month pass fast! He is a grinning fool now and when he gets really excited he squeals and kicks his legs. It is so adorable to see! I am always guaranteed a grinning squeal session when I wake up to him playing in his bassinet beside me. I quietly and slowly peer over the edge and wait until he sees me and BAM!- killer grins!!! Ah, the joys of motherhood!! I love how he wakes up happy- he never wakes up crying. He sleeps from midnight to noon most days!
He eats 7 !/2 oz bottles now (3 ½ scoops of formula + 7 oz water). He gets 4 full bottles and often another 2-4 oz at bedtime. He doesn’t always finish them and ends up with 30 to 32 oz per day. We had to make the switch to the larger Ventaire bottle and they look funny to us! He loves feeding time and will start to cry now when you stop in the middle to burp him! He makes bubbles now and drools considerably more than he used to.
We set up his Fisher Price Healthy Care high chair a week or so ago. I thought it was a bit early, but he sits in it rather well! It has a curved back and reclines a bit so I can put him in it just fine. I have a lot of toys on his tray to play with and he spends time in it every day while I make dinner. I love the removable tray it has too!!
Darrell and Brendan have a new game. They stick their tongues out at each other. It is so cute to watch. It used to take Brendan a few tries to get him to play but now he know what is expected of him and out pops the tongue right away!! He has more interest now in toys and rattles and can bat and kick at them a bit. He can also grab his bottle when held close to his face and pull it into his mouth, even if he is a bit clumsy at it still. He tries to hold his bottle while eating too. He also loves his 2 mobiles, but the Boyd’s Bears mobile at grandma’s house is his clear favorite!
Brendan has been swimming 3 times now and he really likes it. The swim diapers don’t fit him yet and I keep him in a onesie to keep him warm. The pool here is so cold!! His baby-buddy Mia swims too. They both have boats but Brendan’s is way too big for him. Mia gets in hers, leans back and falls asleep every time. It is amazing to put them side by side now because Brendan looks about 2 inches taller than her. She is such a petite thing. Everyone tells us that Brendan is such a big boy. I am guessing that he weighs 14 ½ pounds and is 25 1/2 inches. He is running out of room in some of his 3-6 month clothes and 6-9 month onesies fit him fine. He is still in stage 2 diapers though. We’ve been using Luvs because they are cheaper and hold everything in really well.
Bren had his first bout of constipation several days ago. After 3 firm poops, I gave him 2 oz of Gerber apple-prune juice mixed with 1 oz water twice. He tolerated it well but disappointed me with no reaction. I figured he’d really like it or really hate it. Oh, well. We took a picture anyway! I don’t plan on giving him any more juice yet, unless he gets constipated again. I look forward to starting him on rice cereal. I think he’ll really enjoy eating- he already watches us closely when we eat!
Brendan doesn’t care for being on his tummy, so he can’t really push himself up on his elbows yet. We’ll have to work on that. I also want to get him an exersaucer. I wish I had a backyard and a good tree to put a swing under! He gets fussy once in awhile and I have a hard time coming up with new things to entertain him with. I hope he learns to entertain himself for parts of the day once he starts really playing with toys.
I found some information about the birthmark on his head. It was starting to alarm us because it keeps growing. It isn’t flat, anymore, but raised up quite a bit. This calmed my fears:
“HEMANGI-WHAT? Hemangiomas, or strawberry marks, are the most common benign tumor in babies. They occur in up to 2.5 percent of newborns and are more common in premature babies and female infants. Most hemangiomas are noted within the first three to four weeks of life, though some are present at birth. They start out as flat red to blue patches on the skin and can show up in any area. With time, they enlarge and thicken.
Hemangiomas may continue to grow for 10 months to a year. Then they enter a phase of inactivity, soon followed by the last phase, when they begin to shrink on their own. About half of them will be gone by the time a child is five and 90 to 95 percent will be gone by the time she’s 10.
Treatment is usually unnecessary unless the hemangioma is somewhere it could interfere with a vital function, such as near an eye or on the mouth, or it bleeds frequently. If a hemangioma is a problem for either reason, your baby’s pediatrician or pediatric dermatologist can discuss possible treatments with you.”
I want to end this entry with a note on how happy our son makes us! He is just a delight to us and we adore him immensely! He is truly our little miracle! I wish my parents would come down to meet him soon!
The last picture turned into a really neat cartoon with some software Darrell found. Brendan is talking to Darrell after being gone for almost a week at his grandparents’ house. He loves talking on the phone to him!