Two Months with Zelie

Two months with Zelie outside of my belly. How ya like that?

I spent a half an hour Saturday buffing this girl's head in anticipation of these photos. Her cradle cap is on fleek. Her head looked great for these photos, but now it's Monday and it's already returning. 

Like her brother, she has a ridiculous amount of boogers. But she surpasses him in talent by sneezing them out all the time. I think her record is a good foot away of propulsion. Sometimes they just stick straight out so that I can snap a pic and send it to my mom who has a ghastly fear of snot. If I could just not have to suck anymore boogers out of anyone else's nose, that would be appreciated. The air is just so dry here this time of year. I'm hoping that there are in general less runny noses at our next duty station. It's plausible. 

Cheeks here sits at 12 lbs, 12 oz (81st percentile) and 22.5 inches (45th percentile). I was surprised to see that at this point, Little Will weighed more, being that she had almost a pound on him at birth. Same height though! She's just less of a blob. She likes to push up with her legs and she hates resting her head on anything. Unless she's laying flat. She has a total cone-head with a perfectly flat back thanks to it and the ultimate bald spot/mullet on the back of her head. 

She is more aware, making eye contact, giggling, and cooing. She really enjoys FaceTiming. She seems to be very observant and focused (as opposed to her brother who needed to be everywhere all at once all the time). Her tongue is sticking out a majority of the time, like in the pic above. 

Anddddd now for the Sleeps, Eats, Poops… shall we?

EATS. 

Still nursing on demand and it seems like she's able to go longer stretches between meals during the day, but I don't really know. I'm not keeping track! Her naps are getting longer and her nighttime sleep is fine, so I'm not hyperfocused on getting her into a routine like I was with Little Will. She is a quick nurser like her bro was and only takes one side per session right now. My supply seems to have regulated a lot quicker with her, so I'm not lopsided (!), but I still have pretty forceful letdown that causes her to cough and sputter a bit. Breastfeeding is still messy, plenty of leakage and spit-up, and boob diapers are life. 

We've offered her the bottle about four times in her life and she's never really taken to it. I'm not really worried about it because I have no plans to leave her. We'll keep trying though. 

SLEEPS. 

With her newfound awareness of her surroundings, she is less and less able to sleep in arms, the car seat, or the rock n play downstairs. She can get a good nap in the Moby and her naps her crib have gotten better and better. In a typical day at home, she'll take at least one long (1 hr or more) nap in her crib, swaddled with the sound machine on. This morning she went two hours and it was awesome. She typically takes a pacifier to fall asleep during the day, but not always. She usually falls asleep pretty quickly, but sometimes I have to go back in a couple times for pacifier reinsertion. 

Night sleep hasn't changed much. She'll go a five or six hour stretch in the beginning of the night if I leave her be, and then usually up every three hours after that. She'll either go down for the night at 8-ish in her crib OR she'll refuse to fall asleep altogether and stay up with the adults until 10 or so. This girl can fight sleep pretty dang hard. If she's in her crib, I like to go in and get her around 10:30 for a dream feed and then keep her in our room the rest of the night. The couple times I've done this have worked out well for only one waking at about 3:30, then up for the day at 6:30. The past few nights though, I'm telling you, she wakes up a second time at 5:30 just to fart on me. I try to nurse her, but she's not all that interested. She just has gas. Then goes back to sleep until 6:30 when she'll nurse again. 

She generally falls back asleep pretty easily at night. If I've been up longer than thirty minutes, though, I very maturely and not whiney at all make Will get up and rock her back to sleep.

POOPS. 

Z has the best pooper! She goes days without pooping. Usually she has a big diaper every three days or so. The trade-off is that her farts are THE WORST, seriously. And she farts on me all through the day (and night - see above), but I'd much rather change less poops. We go through a lot less diapers and obviously no rashes as a result. It took us FOREVER to get through a big box of Size 1 Huggies and just when we ran out (and she outgrew them), she had her two month shots in the thighs and screamed her head off when I put her in a cloth diaper. So I made Will go out and buy another big box of Size 2 Huggies and I'm guessing these will last a while, too. I'll try cloth again when those get low. But yeah, we might just stick with disposables since it's not really costing us much more. 

Time will tell, friends. Time will tell. 

LINKY DINKS.

Will at two months. 

Zelie at one month. 

And all about her birthday. 

Two Months

The kid turned two months old on Saturday. I am simultaneously wondering where the time has gone and feeling like it's been the longest two months ever. The next couple of weeks should fly by, though. On the docket: Will's first flight (to Alabama, to see his dad) and Will's baptism. 

As of Monday, he weighed in at 12 pounds, 15 ounces and is 22.55 inches long. Short, stocky, and sturdy - like his motha. You'd think for someone so fat, he'd LOVE nursing, but no. He chugs and finishes every meal in under ten minutes, one and done. He spends less than an hour a day now eating. He much prefers flailing his arms and legs and looking around to nursing. His ultimate favorite activities are still pooping and farting. Making eye contact, giggling, and cooing at whoever will pay attention to him is a close second! 

He went from the 11th percentile at birth (13 inches) to 89th percentile (16 inches) in head circumference because he takes after his dad:

Just look at that round noggin.

Speaking of his head, despite its massive size, he can hold it up and move around to follow sights and sounds. A woman at Starbucks commented that he holds his head up really well for a two month old, so you know it is a legit talent. It also makes it easier to tote him around in a carrier. He loves hanging out in the Moby wrap, bouncing around, and puking all over it.

The dogs still ignore him for the most part, though they like to get a sniff in here and there. I think Daisy and Ace are in for a rude awakening when this boy becomes mobile. He's already started grabbing stuff (namely, his pacifier out of his mouth and proceeding to become angry when he wonders where his pacifier went). I know Daisy's hair will be irresistible to tug. (Luckily, Ace chomps her hair out by the mouthful, so she's used to the abuse already! Two points for deciding to get a second dog.)

Sleep. Once or twice, he's blessed me with only one night waking, going 5 hour stretches. He's usually up twice a night to eat and any other number of times per night to kindly request a fresh diaper. (Will may not know it yet, but he's on poop patrol when he returns - and I cannot be more excited.)

He's had four bottles this past month (i.e., in his whole life). The pedi recommended two per week, but I'm lazy. He's never rejected ye old bottle when offered, though. He is known to take 5+ ounces from the bottle even though conventional wisdom states he should only be taking 3. If there's one thing he knows, it's how to cultivate mass.

Hand in hand with eating, is the fact that this kid has more gas/bodily fluids than I could ever imagine coming from such a small package. I say to myself on a daily basis, "Where does he store all of it?" Just click through the past few posts and you will read all about it. No need to hash it out again and again over here. However, I will sum up my experiences with the word "projectile." I needn't extrapolate. 

We started our two month photo shoot in Samsula-esque overalls:

Love the overalls, but he needed a nap, so I didn't get many pictures. I kind of knew it was coming; he peed all over his outfit.

"Eh, forgettaboutit."

Hence, the wardrobe change.

He always appears to be winking in photos, but really he just has a clogged tear duct in his right eye. Eye boogers = baby winks. Tricks of the trade. 

Sometimes I look at him and think "stop growing!" Maybe it's the baby acne, but sometimes he gives me a look that takes my imagination on a fast forward spiral toward his teenage years. Please, William, stay a sweet baby forever. Though you do have permission to sleep more like a teenager. 

Little Will can't wait for his daddy to come home from JAG School as evidenced by his generally uncooperative attitude toward FaceTiming. He prefers face-to-face interaction, which makes me think he's an extrovert.

And as usual . . .

Spit marks the end of this installment.

God bless you, William Hugh.

William at One Month.