Two Months Old!

Can you believe that Ian is 2 months old already? Last night he had his longest stretch of sleeping in the Nap Nanny - almost four hours! WOOHOO! I woke up at 2am (two hours after I had put him down), but then I decided to wait for him to wake up, and he didn't wake up until 3:45! Unfortunately I couldn't get him back down after that so I brought him up with me at 4:45am. I got about 6 hours of sleep last night which is an improvement (8-10pm and 12-3:45am), but I'm still tired. Hopefully I'll be able to take a nap this afternoon when Nadia naps. I am looking forward to the day when I get up in the morning and my head isn't pounding. Still this represents a big improvement compared to 3 weeks ago when he wasn't sleeping anywhere but someone's arms. By the time he turns 3 months old, I hope he is sleeping in the Nap Nanny the whole night (in between feedings), that those late night feedings last no longer than an hour (including the time it takes to change his diaper and get him to go back to sleep), and that he's also sleeping in the Nap Nanny for his daytime naps.

One month ago he weighed 5lb 14.5oz. This morning he weighed 7lb 3oz. I'm hoping he'll be 9lb by the time he turns 3 months old. His weight gain has been slower this week (1/2 ounce a day instead of 1 ounce a day), but I guess that's to be expected considering he's sick and is regurgitating so much these days. In his 1 month pictures he was wearing preemie size clothing. Newborn size clothing now fits him very nicely. Maybe by the time he turns 3 months old, he can start wearing 0-3 month clothing. :-) Just to be safe, I scheduled his baby dedication for April 18 since the suit I want him to wear for that is size 0-3 month. I've been wanting to have his picture taken at Sears in the newborn size suit since he was 5 weeks old as that's how old Nadia was in her first pictures. However I was in the hospital that week, the next week didn't work for Paul due to his advisor being at school that week, last week Nadia was sick, and I had to cancel yesterday's appointment because Ian was sick. Hopefully we'll get his taken next week before he turns 10 weeks old.

He can nurse without the shield, but we still use it most of the time. Latching on even with the shield is still a huge struggle at times. One article I read said that you shouldn't try to wean them off until they're at least 12 weeks old and that many do so easily between 16-20 weeks old. Of course many other articles say that you must wean off of it ASAP. I'm hoping he'll be off of it by the time he's 3 months old, but the main thing is that he is nursing. I'd rather have him nurse with a shield than not nurse at all! I have not been pumping, but I'll have to pump at least on Mondays and Tuesdays starting next week since I'm going back to work.

Ian has a really tight grip. I noticed this the very first day he was born as I reached out toward him while lying in my hospital bed. One time in the NICU he squeezed my finger so much that it actually hurt, lol! He often squeezes my finger so tightly that his knuckles turn white. When he's sleeping on my chest, he's usually holding my shirt or necklace with his left hand. At the doctor's office on Tuesday the nurse found it rather humorous how he grabbed onto the sleeve of his long sleeved onesie so tightly while I was trying to take it off. Once I pried his fingers off the sleeve, he grabbed on to the bracelet on my wrist. It was a challenge to get that onesie off of him!

We three are very glad that Ian has joined our family. I couldn't say that about Nadia in the beginning, but she definitely shows love for the little guy these days. I can't wait to learn about his personality, see more of his beautiful smiles, and watch him learn and grow in the coming weeks and months.