Liam: Four Months

Likes: Standing, smiling, water, cuddling, his toys (finally), his fist (loves to suck on it)

Dislikes: Sunscreen (it was bad), sitting in his carrier (he keeps trying to scoot out of it)

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Grabbing 

Sleep: Doing alright.  There was a couple nights that I put him down with me at 9 (I work at 5am so I have to go to sleep early) and he decided that he was going to be awake at 5 and make dad be awake too, he was thrilled so we have been putting him down a little later (like 10ish which I know is really late for a baby but it seems to work) and he has been getting up at 6, 6:30 with his dad like he is supposed to.  He does normal get up once during the night to feed but that isn't too bad I figure.  Also he has decided that he no longer like swaddling so we just tuck his blanket around him kind of loosely so that he doesn't get cold.

Temperment/Personality: He is just so happy all of the time.  He smiles so much, and loves to coo and gurgle at us.  He still gets cranky when he gets hungry or gets really tired but once we feed or put him down to sleep he is normally all better.  He is becoming so aware now of everything around him and he loves to just stare at whatever new item or person he sees.

Eating: Still loves the boob. But we have his 4 month appointment on the 17th and I will talk to the doctor about starting to eat real food or see if I can hold off for a bit more

The Superficial: He is getting so big.  Compared to what he was when he was born he is huge now.  We want to say somewhere around 14 lbs so almost twice what he was when he was born.  I tried to have a glass of milk this month too to see if I could and nope, not yet.  Within a day or two his baby acne magically came back but I haven't drank any since so it has gone away now.  He is starting to get some peach fuzz hair and there is debate about what color it is but what I think is it is going to be a strawberry blonde. He is still very chunky and I love it, every roll makes me smile.

Milestones & Firsts: He can hold his head up really well now.  He loves to stand and we are pretty much his balance because he has none of that yet. He coos at us and will have "conversations".  He is grabbing at his toys and hanging on to them now, which makes him so much more fun to play with. He is also trying to sit up and according to one of his sitters he has gotten really close to sitting up by himself but I haven't seen it that much yet.

He had his first decently long car trip (45 minutes) and went to another town besides the one that he lives in.  He also wore his fist pair of shoes (I know he doesn't need them, this was done by my husband who just thought that they were adorable)  He had his first time playing with another animal (the chickens in the pictures and my parents dog he grabbed at a little.)

Favorite Baby Gear:
My new nursing cover which is amazing.  It is made from bamboo cotton so it is really soft and lightweight so Liam will actually eat underneath it.

My hands free pumping bra.  I can't believe I waited so long to get one of these, it is the most amazing thing ever to be able to pump and do other things at the same time. (it won't let me steal a picture)

His sleeper suit.  He had outgrown his first one and it was really warm on him (it was like fleece or something) so I went to Target and found another one that is more lightweight since it is getting warmer, actually fits him and has velcro so that it makes it harder for him to get out of it. (the picture is not the exact one, I can't find the right one of their website so I just chose one that is the same brand and looks kind of similar but now that I look at it this one looks like it is fleece and our isn't, it is just normal cotton)

Liam: Three Months

So obviously I am a bit behind with these and I am writing the 3 month one late so it probably won't be as descriptive as it could be because I can't really remember what he was doing then verses what he is doing now but I am going to do my best.

Likes: Baths, standing, being held, naked time, tummy time

Dislikes: Being put down, being sick, getting out of baths

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Getting healthy again

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Being sick :(

Sleep: Getting much better.  He still likes to wake up a couple times when I am on baby duty but he sleeps almost completely through or only wakes up once for Cody.

Temperment/Personality: It was bad this month.  He was sick for about 2 weeks and although it wasn't anything serious (thank goodness) he was just uncomfortable and therefore cranky.  So we spent lots of time holding him because that was the only way we could get him to relax during the day.  Near the end of the month I could tell he was feeling better because he went back to being his normal happy self and pretty much only cries when he is hungry or really tired but doesn't want to sleep (yeah it is tons of fun when he does that)

Eating: Eats like a champ, I was worried with him not feeling well that he might eat less (I was told that was something to watch for) but he never wavered   I got a new nursing cover that works amazing and he will actually eat under it (verses my old method of just putting a blanket over him, making him very warm and then he doesn't want to eat) so that is awesome.

 The Superficial: All of the skin issues have gone away!!!  He is all clear now except when I don't notice his nails have gotten long and he scratches himself.  He is getting big, I want to say a minimum of 12 lbs now (but he is probably bigger) and he is officially in the 0-3 month clothes now.

Milestones & Firsts: So the chart that I was using from Baby Center has disappeared   It has the link and when I click on it, it goes to like an article (which is so not easy to just skim like an actual chart is) and it doesn't even hit every month. So I was googling to find a new milestone chart and it is back at Baby Center they just updated the look of it so we are all good now.

He is rolling over now and does what the site calls a mini push up (which is where he lifts up his head and shoulders during tummy time).  He smiles so much which is so much fun. He holds his head up really well and loves to try and stand which he can do, we just hold him because he has no balance yet.

As for firsts he had his first sickness which was hard but he was so great during it even though we know he was unhappy about it.

(Because I am writing this post when he is almost 4 months old it isn't as thorough as it could have been but I also have realized I need to make notes of things that he does so that by the end of the month I know what cool things have happened and I don't just write about the things that happened at the end of the month)

Liam: Two Months

Likes: Eating, being held, getting played with, naked baby time, tummy time

Dislikes: Getting put in his carseat, rolling over (he pretty much cries whenever he is doing it), getting water on his face (my bad on that one but it made him scream), getting his head oiled down

Biggest Achievement of the Month: Rolling over

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Not going to sleep until late

Sleep: He seems to like sleeping for hubby, but not for me.  When hubby puts him to bed he sleeps normally until 4 or 5 when he wants to eat.  When I do it, he stays up half the night and wants to be fed at 3. And during the day he seems to be awake a lot more, so he isn't sleeping as much but when he does, he can still sleep through anything.  I wonder when he stops being able to do that and we have to be quiet when he sleeps.

Temperament/Personality: He is still very sweet and happy although when he does get upset he can really scream.  He was having some problems with his nightly feeding where he would be just so upset that the boob couldn't soothe him and hubby would have to give him a bottle to get him to calm down but he seems to have stopped that.  Other then that he spends lots of time cooing and smiling, which I love.  He is still very expressive and so fun to watch.

Eating: He eats quite a bit but he has developed a fun habit where in the evening he gets so tired and cranky that I can't get him to latch and then hubby has to give him a bottle.  Other then that he is a great eater.

The Superficial: So this has been a bad month for his skin.  He was still struggling with baby acne, and he got a case of cradle cap which meant I got to oil him down for a couple days to get rid of it (it wasn't a bad case of it though).  Then we noticed that he seemed to be getting a rash, so of course like any normal person I googled and after talking to my sister in laws, thought he might be having an allergic reaction (it was only on his torso and arms though so we knew it wasn't from his clothes because it would have been on his legs too).  Apparently one of the most common things to be allergic to is mom drinking milk.  So I have stopped eating dairy temporarily and the rash disappeared   Its very sad because I love milk but I should be able to slowly reintroduce it into my diet and he will get used to it. 

He is getting bigger and from me weighing him myself he is about 12 lbs. He also is officially out of his newborn clothes and into his 0-3 month clothes, which is fun and sad at the same time, because he is not my tiny little baby anymore.

He has the most beautiful eyelashes and his fingernails seem to always be claws, no matter how much I file them.  He is getting all fat too, he has back rolls, and leg rolls and I have to make sure I get in all of the folds when bathing him.

No Milestones or Baby Gear this month because apparently I forgot to finish writing this post, the chart that I was using for milestones has disappeared and I can't remember what he has done so I kind of suck this time.

Liam: One Month

Likes: Car rides, being held, tummy time (surprisingly enough because I heard some babies hate it) baths, eating and sleeping all day



Hubby holding Liam for the first time

 Dislikes: Sleeping at night, getting put in his carseat, diaper changes

Biggest Achievement of the Month: I would think being born should count for this one, because that is something huge ;)

Biggest Challenge of the Month: Sleeping throughout the night

Sleep: So he loves sleeping, it just tends to happen during the day.  He did this from the day he was born and it is something we have been working on.  What will happen is he will sleep all day and then at around 10 when we try to go to bed he will be awake and then normally he wakes up again around midnight or 1 and is awake for a bit then too.  Christmas night he gave us the most wonderful gift and slept for a 7 hour stretch.  When I woke up that morning hubby told me it was morning and my first question was, "Is he dead?" because I just couldn't believe he slept for that big of a stretch. 

Now we have been developing a few bad habits and I know they are bad but I figure this is my first kid so I am allowed to cheat a little because sometimes I just really need sleep.  The main one I am talking about is when he won't stop fussing, I just pull him into bed with us.  I know, I know, I have been told that when he gets older it is a very hard thing to break but when it is 3 in the morning and he is wide awake and I of course am not, it just seems easier so that I can get some sleep.

But he has been getting better lately, waking up about twice a night, which I will take. 

Temperament/Personality: He has the best temperament   He is a very calm, sweet baby and normally only cries when he is hungry (apparently dirty diapers don't bug him very much).  Another thing that is so fun is that he has the widest range of expressions.  He makes faces all the time and it is just so adorable to watch.  There have only been a couple times that he has been upset for more then a few minutes that I couldn't fix (he had a few really bad nights) for which I am very grateful for.

Eating: I am so happy to say that I haven't had any problems breastfeeding him.  Within an hour of being born I was feeding him and we have been good ever since.  Around week 3 he hit a growth spurt which resulted in hour long feedings for a bit but that seems to be over now, thank goodness.

The Superficial: He is so pretty....  No but really, he really is a cute baby, I love that he was born with hair and I dont really remember seeing him with a cone head so it must have gone back to normal pretty fast.  He is wearing newborn clothes still but some of the outfits now are starting to get close to being too small. 

The only thing that isn't good (well it really isn't bad except for looks) is that he got baby acne decently bad.  Our doctor said it was normal and would go away in about a month.  Hubby asked around to our friends with kids and one of their pediatricians had recommeded putting Aqufor on it and it works like magic.  We put it on and within a day it looks so much better.

Milestones & Firsts: Milestone #1, Being born!!!!  Other then that, he holds his head up really well.  He scoots to the point that he went over his mini boppy pillow. (Video?) He is opening his eyes a lot and will watch us, and some friends say (I haven't seen this personally) that when they are holding him and me or hubby goes by or says something he will look for us.  He makes cute baby noises (I say he is talking to us) and has a great hand grip.

He had his first bath, which he loved.  He had his first time away from mom and dad, which he had no problems with.  His first bottle (which he did fine with thank goodness). His first Chistmas and New Year.  And now that I am thinking about it, most everything is a first because he was just born so I am not sure what else to put without writing every single thing he does.

Favorite Baby Gear: I love his baby wipe warmer.  I know it isn't technically a necessary item but with how cold it is, I feel bad wiping him when the wipe is freezing. 

My boppy pillow, great for nursing and great for putting him on so that he can watch me and I don't have to have him completely in my arms.

His play mat thing (given to him by his great grandma for Christmas).  It is meant for tummy time and came with a mini boppy that you prop him up on so he isn't just lying flat on the floor.  It is very helpful so that we don't have to use one of his blankets which I think sometimes make it hard for him to move because he can't get good traction to move.

(Now none of these have links because either I didn't buy them or I got them used)