2 + Months

This last weekend I got to meet our friends' new little addition, Quinn...she was born on the 13th (my mom's birthday), and weighed 8 pounds and was 21 inches exactly.  Now, granted Grady had 9 ounces on her when he was born, but their length was the same, and all I could think as I stared down into her sweet, sweet face was GRADY IS HUGE!  :)

Actually, I don't think he's that big, but he's certainly not hesitating in the growing department!  Our little guy is basically out of 0-3 month clothes...especially the ones with feet.  I haven't packed them all up though - while some certainly still do fit him, I think it's a little bit of denial on my part too.

I'm going to parallel this post to Grace's 2-month post in style...here goes...

Playtime:  Grady is a big fan of smiling these days - yeah!  Love them (and need to get more pictures of them...apparently he's not interested in posing).  To get smiles, all you have to do is talk to Grady - he'll love you, guarenteed.  Grady also likes his swing (most of the time) and is really starting to enjoy his little play gym.  It's neat to see how he can focus on the hanging objects now and be enteretained by them.  We've tried out the Bumbo seat too as you can see below...I'd say he was neutral about it.  Grady also is, just like his sisters, a lover of baths.  As night time often equals a little fussiness, I often start bath a little early 6:00-30ish...often, he'll get his and then happily hang out in the bathroom while Liv and Grace take their bath or shower too.

Not the greatest picture...but a sort of smile.  :)

Eating:  Doing super!  He eats about every 3 hours during the day...at night, it's all over the place.

Liv took this picture...a funny face, but it shows 

that Grady's a good eater - hello, double chin!

Sleeping:  Similar to what I said for Grace's 2-month post, we're working on it.  Every once in a while I get a really amazing nap, but so far, I haven't figured out the trick to making these a "for sure" situation.  I've begun using that "pick up-put down" method if Grady wakes up too early, and sometimes I can get him to go back to sleep and other times, I can't.  Patience.  I'm really ready for 2 good naps a day with one smaller one in the evening though instead of 5 little ones, and I think Grady would say the same if he could...he's amazingly happy after a nap that lasts longer that 30-40 minutes (which is his usual amount right now).  I have hope...I went through this stage with both the girls and they turned out to be excellent nappers.

Schedule:  I'd say Grady is up fairly consistently between 6:30 and 7:30 every day...and he goes to bed about 7:30 at night.  During the day I'm doing my best to follow the EASY schedule (eat, activity, sleep, you (mom/Grace) time, but it's hit or miss in terms of success as Grady doesn't always sleep long enough for me to feed him again right when he wakes up.  Again, patience.  At night, Grady is trying on some longer sleeps, but he's not consistent with these...sometimes I get a 4 hour chunk, sometimes 5, and three time 8!  The positive part of getting up at night is that it's usually pretty quick as Grady doesn't require too much to go back to sleep after eating.

Favorite Things:  His sisters!  Besides the things earlier mentioned, Grady loves Olivia and Grace and smiles at them a lot!  Thankfully, he also doesn't seem to mind getting held, squished, and/or poked by them either!  At night, Grady likes to be cradled to sleep - with his head on my left arm I might add.  This used to be the case for during the day too, but now he's drifting off more often on my shoulder.  Grady sometimes loves...and sometimes hates...his paci - not sure what direction he'll go in this department.  He also likes to face out and see what's going on now that he's getting more sturdy.  I've had him in the Baby Bjorn a few times, and he's seemed to like this.  He's pretty good about getting carted around on errands too - can't wait till we can start going on walks once it gets warmer.

What He Can't Do (Yet):  Sleep for long periods of time, enjoy long periods of tummy time (although this is how he takes most of his daytime naps), grab objects, roll over (although he did do this once!)

What He Can Do:  Smile!  Coo and ahh at you - so cute!  Follow objects, make huge messes in his diaper, hold his head fairly steady, and stare intently at anything bright or that has good light/dark contrast.

What I Hope:  In the next few weeks, I hope we make some progress with naps and longer night stretches.  And, I hope Grady continues to stay healthy (a major feat considering the rest of our health - more on that later).

PS - A funny reminder...on Grace's 2-month post, I wrote that I really hoped Olivia would start calling Grace, Grace instead of Baby.  I had forgotten how she didn't use Grace's name for so long - little stinker!  :)