Two Months Old

This post is two weeks late, but Ethan is two months old!  He's getting big.  He weighed 13 pounds at his two month check up.  His cheeks are nice & chubby, he has a great double chin & his upper arms & legs are fattening up.  I love it!  I love roly poly babies.  Alex was always pretty lean, so I'm hoping Ethan will be my chubster.

Ethan started smiling around five to six weeks & it's not hard to get a grin out of him.  He loves when you touch his nose, cheeks or chin or dab his mouth with a burp cloth.  He's a happy baby most of the time but he can be very vocal if he's not getting what he wants. 

We've started putting him in his crib during the day for some naps with mixed results.  Sometimes he'll sleep the full hour & a half but most of the time, he only makes it for 30 or 45 minutes.  We haven't even tried putting him in the crib at night.  He's still in the bouncer chair...  He usually sleeps 8-9 hours in it (sometimes even 10!), so it's hard to want to move him to the crib.  I like sleeping too much!  I feel like I need to make the transition before I go back to work in a few weeks but I haven't been able to convince myself to just do it.  You know, it's just never a good time to miss out on sleep while your baby wakes up every 30 minutes.  It's frustrating enough during the day - much less at night when all you want to do is stay in bed!  I go back & forth between being really upset & feeling like I'm failing as a mom vs. not really caring at all & feeling like it will eventually work itself out.  It just depends on how I'm feeling at that particular moment.  I think every mom has probably felt like that at least once - at least I hope I'm not alone!

Even though he's a little picky about where he likes to sleep, he's pretty much a perfect baby in every other way.  He loves to nap in his car seat, so it's easy to run errands.  He doesn't cry much & it's usually pretty easy to figure out what he wants when he does cry.

We still think of Ethan as being a tiny newborn.  That is, until we saw him next to another newborn!  My friend came over last week with her three week old & Ethan looked so big compared to him.  I texted this picture to Michael - he said he thought Ethan was on the right at first & then couldn't get over how big Ethan has gotten.  I'm trying not to be sad that my baby isn't teeny tiny anymore.  They grow fast! 

Hard to believe that he'll be three months old soon!

Nursery Art

I saw this idea on Pinterest last fall & thought I might try making something similar for Ethan's room.

Source: newlywoodwards.com via Stephanie on Pinterest

I didn't get around to it while I was pregnant but got motivated a few weeks ago.  I loved the prints in the picture, but they didn't go with his nursery.  My mom made his crib skirt & we had some fabric left.  I went to Hobby Lobby to see if I could find a print that would match his room.  I found some super cute chevron fabric but it was blue & almost the exact color of the walls.  I wanted more contrast.  They had some other colored chevron but none were the right shade - boo.  I ended up going with polka dot minky fabric.  I found an "E" at Michaels & purchased a vinyl sticker off Etsy.  I also got the canvases at Michaels in a four pack.  I borrowed my dad's staple gun & got to work.

The staple gun was serious business.  You really have to squeeze hard & my hand was killing me after two canvases.  Luckily my parents came to visit around that time, so I put my dad to work on the other canvases.  Since the fabric I used was a little thicker, the corners were hard to get perfectly tucked but I think the project turned out really well in the end.

A big thanks to both my parents for helping me put it together & hang it!  I've found I'm pretty good at finding projects & starting them but not so good at finishing them by myself - ha.

On a side note - I've decided to start a new series called "Pin There Done That".  It will be things I've tried on Pinterest - crafts, recipes, tips/tricks - and my thoughts about the results.  No promises on how often I'll post but we'll see!

Happy Boy

Ethan's full of smiles these days...

Although, sometimes he gets a little frustrated with my photo shoots.

And this boy still has a few smiles for his mama.

I'm a lucky gal.

Favorite Things Round Two

When Alex was a few months old, I posted about my favorite baby things.  Here are my current favorite things with Ethan.

Swaddle Blankets - we still like the SwaddleMe Cotton Knit & this time we're also using the Miracle Blanket.  I like them both.  The SwaddleMe seems to keep him wrapped up tighter for longer but the Miracle blanket doesn't have Velcro that can get worn out.

SwaddleMe Cotton Knit

 

The Miracle Blanket

 

Bright Starts Automatic Bouncer - this has been a lifesaver!  We registered for a simple bouncer with Alex & he never really cared for it.  My friend told me about the automatic bouncer, so we decided to try it with Ethan.  I actually bought it off Craigslist.  I figured it was worth saving a few dollars in case Ethan didn't like it.  It's in great condition & even better - it has given me hours of sleep!  He sleeps in it every night.  We're going to transition to the crib soon (in fact, he's napping there right now) but this thing saved us when the swing, bassinet & crib wouldn't work.  My only complaint is the bouncer part has a 30 minute timer.  Ethan sleeps fine now without it bouncing but for the first few weeks, he would start fussing & crying every time the bouncer turned off.  Picture me sleeping on the couch, reaching down half asleep to push the "on" button every 30 minutes.  Not great.  But still better than being up all night...

Baby Connect App - I love this app!  It tracks feedings, diaper changes, sleep & more.  In the hospital, they ask you to write down all your feedings & diaper changes.  With this, you can track it on your phone instead.  I use this every single day.  If you've never had a baby, you might be thinking - is it that hard to remember when the baby last ate, slept or had his/her diaper changed?  When you do all these things multiple times a day, every day & you're sleep deprived, yes.  It all starts to blur together.  Did I feed him at 1:00 today or was that yesterday?  What is today?  Where am I?  This handy app will tell you when you last fed your baby & what side you fed him on last if you're nursing.  With Alex, I kept a little notebook by the couch to write all this down.  This is so much easier & you can use it when you're away from the house.  You can even keep track of baths, tummy time & a lot more.  My one complaint with this app turned out to be user error.  The main page shows you how much time has gone by since you last fed the baby, changed the baby's diaper & how long the baby has been sleeping or how long it's been since the baby woke up.  I was a little annoyed that the main page timed the feedings from the end of each feeding instead of the beginning.  Most books/experts will tell you to feed your baby every three hours during the day but you time from the beginning of each feeding, not from the end.  I could look in my "list" view to see when I started feeding Ethan but I couldn't understand why the main view wouldn't time from the beginning since that's the general consensus of baby care.  Turns out you can fix this under "settings".  Doh.  I just thought to check this - like a few days ago.  I'll just blame it on mommy brain...  In my own defense, I think the creators of the app should make this option the default.  Right??

Graco Sweet Slumber Sound Machine - we got this shortly after Alex was born but we ended up using it more after he got a little older.  I have an iPod shuffle I don't use anymore, so we loaded it up with baby friendly songs & would play them during our bedtime routine.  We discovered Ethan loves sleeping to music & this has simple lullabies that play continuously (no 30 minute timer - ha).  It seems to help him sleep longer.  It also has a white noise setting but so far Ethan has preferred music.

 

Well, my Baby Connect app is telling me it's been three hours since the last feeding so time to wrap this up.  I know my baby favorites will change as Ethan continues to grow but these are my current must haves.  Oh & one other thing - a glass of wine (for me, not the baby).  Another sanity saver!   J