James: Two Months!

The second month with our sweet James has been a month of learning: learning his temperament and personality, learning what he likes/ dislikes, learning his schedule and learning to fall completely in love this this little boy. The month started off a little rocky with a cold. We have had a slight cold circling around our family for a couple of weeks. James seemed to have two rounds of it and seemed just a tad more fussy than usual. We also started off the month with a growth spurt (at least I think). He was wanting to eat more frequently and closer together and even had a couple of nights of waking up every 2 1/2-3 hours (which means like an hour of sleep for mom) which was not fun at all. Thankfully, toward the end of the month, we started to get in a rhythm are are doing quite well. During the day, James eats, has play/active time where he likes to be talked to, interact with his big brother and be included in our activities. If I leave him alone for too long, he starts complaining and get super happy and smiley when I include him in the action. He then naps and then starts the whole cycle over again. James is becoming more active during the day and more interactive with other people. He will smile when he is smiled at and will 'talk' to you. He loves the word 'Ah-goo' and will say it back to you. Hearing those little baby coos and smiles melts my heart every time.

We were very blessed and had help from family members for the first month! I was kind of terrified being left alone all day long with two kids under two. Not that we don't have some not-so-good days, but I would say that we are doing pretty well. It took me a week or two to get into the swing of things, but now I would say we have a good routine going on. I have yet to go out in public alone with both boys, but hey I will get there someday. Baby steps ;)

Going from one kid to two kids is not double the work, it is like quadruple the work! It seriously feels like I am going non-stop all day long, bouncing back from one kid to the other. And I know everyone says that newborns are such hard work, but I really feel like the newborn is the easy one and the toddler is the hard work! Besides having to feed a little one pretty frequently, he is easy and will just lay back and chill and watch us, or is sleeping. Now, I did pray for a very easy and happy baby and I am so thankful that the Lord has answered that prayer! It is so fun to see my two boys interact with each other and I am excited to see their relationship grow and develop as James gets older. Zach is already trying to include him in so much stuff (trying to have him sip out of his cup, offering him food to eat, giving him a crayon so he can color and giving him the toys he is playing with). I think they are going to be great friends and will have some pretty crazy memories together as they grow up! 

Eating
James is still strictly breastfed and nurses every 2 1/2-3 hours. He does not go any longer than 3 hours during the day. At night, he has started to stretch out his feedings and can go a good 7-9 hours, then usually every three hours after that. He hit a growth spurt earlier this month and was eating more frequently.

Sleep
At this moment in time, which can change at any minute, James seems to be a better sleeper than his big brother was. I prayed for a good sleeper because honestly, I feel like sleep has been my biggest struggle with Zach. I have been working on starting good sleeping habits with James from early on. I think part of our problem with Zach was that he had such bad habits for such a long time and it was hard to break.
 
During the day, James naps after his eating and active time. Napping is still an experimental project right now. At the beginning of the month, James really liked to nap in his swing and would fall asleep pretty quickly and would sleep on average 45 minutes to 2 hours. I am really not wanting to form any bad sleeping habits. Toward the end of the month, I have been working on having him nap in his "crib" (aka pack n' play). Having him sleep in there has been a hit and miss with the length of the nap. I notice when he starts giving me his sleeping cues, hold him for a few minutes then set him down in the crib. If he wakes up, I usually pat his chest for a few seconds until he falls back asleep. We have had a good week or so of him napping in the crib (yay us!) Most of the time he naps 30-45 minutes but has gone a few times for over an hour and I have had to wake him up to eat. Although he does nap longer in the swing, I want to instill good sleeping habits early on and have sacrificed quantity of sleep over quality. James is still sleeping in our room at night because his big brother is still in the crib. We did move him from the rock n' play sleeper to the pack n' play. I did not want him to get used to sleeping in the rock n' play and thought the pack n' play was more like an actual crib. I wanted him to get used to sleeping in a larger/flat space. I am still experimenting with his bedtime. At the beginning of the month, he was awake more in the evening and have his last feeding between 10:00 and 11:00. Toward the end of the month, he has been going to sleep between 8:00 and 9:00. I was doing some 'dream nursing' with him, but he didn't really seem to eat that much and didn't make much of a difference. At the beginning of the month, he was still waking up every 3-4 hours at night. There were some nights where he was even waking up every 2 hours. It was brutal. Thankfully, the last couple weeks, he has been going 7-9 hour stretches of sleeping at night. He still loves to be swaddled to sleep. It appears that he does not like his pacifier too much so we have stopped giving it to him. Honestly, we are completely fine if he never has one (although much to his brother's disappointment). His older brother LOVES his pacis and is starting to be weaned off of them. We are fine if James never has this habit, thus never having to break him of them. 

Play
James's play time is right after he eats. He is very alert and active. He loves being talked to and will talk back to you. It is the. cutest. thing. ever! He is so smiley and happy. It just melts my heart. Not that I am biased, but I do think I am his favorite person right now ;) (Don't worry- Zach has totally switched to having Daddy be his favorite person!) I feel like I could just sit and talk to James all day and not get tired of his smile or the little noises he makes trying to talk to me. He enjoys laying on the ground, kicking his legs and flailing his arms. Zach likes to lie down next to him and hold his hand. If we are busy in the kitchen, James likes to sit in his bouncer and be involved in watching our activities. He also enjoys his play mat and staring that the animals hanging down, or looking at himself in the mirror. I have definitely started to be more disciplined with tummy time. I have been doing it, but not super long, although he gets other forms of tummy time with either the football hold, or being held against my chest. The doctor said he should be getting 30 minutes a day, so I have definitely been trying to do that by breaking it up in chunks. Not going to lie, tummy time is harder to get in with two kids for some reason. The practice is helping though because James is holding his head up for longer periods of time and is switching looking at different sides with more ease now.  

Likes: eating, being around people, baths, being naked, being swaddled, being talked to/ smiled at, the word 'ah-goo', mom

Dislikes: waiting to eat, drying off after a bath, pacifiers, being in car seat when the car is not moving, tummy time

Size
Weight: 12 lbs. 12.5 oz. (84th percentile)
Height: 23 inches (66th percentile)
Diapers: Size 1
Clothing: 0-3/ 3 month
Nicknames: Jamesy, Jamesy Boy, Little Baby

Milestones:
Dedicated at Church: 2.8.15
Mom's first solo day alone at home with two boys: 2.10.15
Smiling: 2.14.15
Transitioned to pack n' play for sleeping at night: 2.18.15

A Note from Mom
James, you have grown so much this past month. I know that I am probably going to be saying this every month, but this past month you moved from being a newborn to an infant. It is so crazy how much you can grow and change is just a short amount of time. You are such a sweet little boy. I love your smiles, your coos and your talking. One of my favorite things is when you are eating and you stop just to smile at me and talk to me. I was a little afraid as to how our family dynamic would change with another kid, but the addition of you has made our family 100 times better. I love being a mommy to the two most precious and sweet boys. Zach loves being your older brother and can't get enough of you. Your daddy treasures the time that he gets to spend with you either in the mornings or evenings. You have brought more love and joy into our lives and have made our family so much more awesome. I thank the Lord for you everyday because you truly are a gift from Him!  

Two Month Pictures

**James's hair has a slight red tint to it in some lights, including some of these pictures. We are waiting to see if he is going to take after his daddy and be a redhead or stay brunette. We shall see!**