Tennyson ~ 3 months

My little buddy is three months (actually, he's almost 15 weeks as of this posting!). Let's see, what's been going on? I'm chuckling as I write this, because life is chaotic sometimes around here. You probably noticed that, due to the lack of posts and how late they always seem to be these days. :) It's a beautiful chaotic, though, and I wouldn't trade it for a second!

I weighed Tennyson over the weekend, and he weighs 14 pounds 5.2 oz. He is a BIG boy! He's about the size of a six month old, and he is in six month clothes. I love the three month mark! His little personality is starting to come out, and I love all the little facial expressions he has right now. He has started to giggle, too, which is adorable and melts my heart. Baby giggles are the best! He loves it when we make noises for him: clucking, smacking, kissing...he finds it all hilarious. Tennyson is all about his hands these days, and he is trying SO hard to find his little thumb (either of them). He gets so frustrated when he can't find it or when he does and can't keep it in. He loves the Christmas tree and gets really excited when we lay him next to it; he kicks those little legs and just talks and talks. That's another thing he's been doing a lot of, talking. He coos and is playing with his voice all the time. He can roll from tummy to back and has really great head control. He's very alert and enjoys the mobile in his crib and on the swing, he is grasping rattles and toys (for dear life!), and he stares very intently at his activity mat toys. Tennyson LOVES Zooey! He smiles at her and just watches her. His little eyes follow her around the room all the time, as if he's trying to figure out how to do all the things she can do. He's also started to show an interest in Gideon and smiles at him. I am so excited to see how all their little relationships unfold!

Tennyson's been sleeping through the night (dreamfeed @ 11:00 until 7:30/8:00) for about a month now. He had a growth spurt that coincided with the 8 week wonder week that caused him to wake up at 5:30 a couple days, but his other sleep was not too badly disrupted. I am seriously PRAISING GOD for this and praying his sleep will continue to be protected with all the disruptions of having an older child and having to run out with both of them mid-nap or putting him down late. He is a trooper and is doing great! I decided to drop his swaddle four days ago, and he's still getting used to that. Some naps he'll sleep great and others he'll wake up mid-nap, but that could also be because we're starting the mother of all wonder weeks this week (seriously - if you know about the wonder weeks, you know this one's a doozy!). He looks so super cute in his little sleep sacks. He has not had any nighttime waking from dropping the swaddle so far.

And, the part I'm sure most of you really care about :), here's some pictures of my sweet boy:

So sweet!

"What's up Mom?"

Concentrating on rolling over

Love these little snuggles!

He was not thrilled about his first time out in the snow

 

Smoochable little cheeks!

Tennyson ~ 8 weeks

Tennyson is eight weeks (and one day) old. He went to the doctor today for his 2-month well check. He is weighing/measuring like a four month old - he is a little tank! He weighed 12 lbs. 14.4 oz. and was 23.75" long. I think he was in the 75% for weight and somewhere in the 50th for height. I can never remember the head circumference.

Tennyson continues to be pretty mellow most of the time ::knocks on wood:: even in the current wonder week eight. He has exhibited some of the signs he is in the leap, such as fussing when I put him down and wanting to be entertained more, but his fussing is nothing like Zooey's full-on wails when she was a newborn. I am waiting for the 45-minute intruder to crop up in his naps; I know this is a common week for them, and I also know the wonder week can interfere with sleep but we haven't seen it yet. One thing I did figure out just last night is that Tennyson has witching hour. His is a lot later than Zooey's was, so I think that's what threw me off. His fussy time is between 8:00-11:00; most times he will settle after the dreamfeed.

He is a cute little guy! Right now he's really "into" the curtains in his room and the pirate ship picture above his changing table. He stares intently at the curtains and smiles at the picture. He's pretty serious most of the time (like his dad), but he is content and I am able to get more smiles from him this week. Most of the time he just kind of sits back and takes it all in - especially Zooey! :) Tennyson is very alert, and we get comments on it all the time. He has started kicking and moving his arms a lot when he has blanket time, which is adorable, and he makes more cooing noises when he's playing or talking. He is also very mellow when Zooey is kind of rough when she's loving on him and when his best bud cousin smacks him in the face in his sweet efforts to hug him. I love to see all the littles interacting! It is SUCH a blessing!

Exciting for me: Tennyson has now gone 4 nights sleeping from the dreamfeed (so about 11:45) until 5:45/6:00! I feel like a new woman. An added bonus is we were actually on time to BSF, because I was able to get myself ready before Zooey even got up! :)

Here are some pictures of my chunky squeezable little guy.

Zooey wanted to do "tummy time" too

Thanks for the Mamaroo, RaRa!

Looking at the curtains in his room

Napping in the car seat...this is how a second child rolls LOL

"Who, me??"

Tennyson 7 weeks (almost!)

Sheesh, I am slacking on this blogging thing...not that I haven't been a wee bit busy. :)

The last three weeks have been a blur. I have actually been thinking about how I can't wait until January when Zooey's OT is up, and I can have four days a week at home (with the exception of church on Sundays), instead of needing to be somewhere every weekday but Monday. As I did, and do, with Zooey, I pray that God will help me to cherish this time with my littles, busy as it is.

Tennyson is doing great! I weighed him on our scale last Saturday, and he's up to 12.05 lbs. I measured him yesterday, and he's 23 inches! Wow! He's a big boy, already outgrowing some of his three month clothes and I'm sure quickly moving into six months clothes. He started smiling in his 5th week, and I LOVE LOVE LOVE those little baby smiles. The last couple of days he's also started cooing and making more noises. We have a black and white picture above our couch that all babies seem to love. Today he saw it and smiled and kicked. He was super excited to see it! He's also getting more interested in the swing and mobiles (on his swing and in his crib). He definitely "woke up" a little more this past week. My sweet Zooey girl is sick today, and he saw her on the couch when he was playing on the floor and stared at her for the longest time cooing; it was adorable! Another exciting thing was that he slept nine hours on Sunday (I don't expect him to go that long again for awhile, but he had had a rough night!) and last night he went from the dreamfeed to 6:00, so 6.5 hours - very exciting! His hair has grown a little bit; it's fuzzy, and I love to nuzzle and kiss his little head. I know a lot of people don't like the newborn phase, and it definitely has it's challenges, but there is a lot I love about it, too. I feel like I turned a corner emotionally the last week, too. My anxiety seems to be quite a bit better, but I am definitely still praying God's hand of protection over my mind. Thanks for those prayers (and continued prayers, too)! :)

So, we're a day shy of 7 weeks, but since I have a minute to post, I'll post the pictures I took today.

Week Five

 



Week Six

 



He does NOT like tummy time!

Week Seven

 



Little hands

Little feet

They love each other!

Smiling at his sister

Tennyson Week Four





This is mostly a picture post, because, let's face it - I have a lot going on right now and forgot to blog. Tennyson is a sleepy little guy still. I have to work to get him to wake up for his wake times. He gained almost a full pound this week (13 oz), though, so I know he's eating well even if it looks like he's snoozing through his feeds. All this sleepiness just means more delicious snuggle time for me! :) I love baby snuggles - it's my favorite part of the newborn phase. When Tennyson was awake this week, he started to get more interested in what was going on around him, mostly Zooey, followed by me and Ryan and a couple toys like the mirror in the picture below. I have a feeling Zooey and he are going to be buds. When he hears her voice he looks around for her then just stares at her when she comes into his sight. She also loves him so much! She gets very upset when he cries and asks me "Baby Tennyson going be alright?" So sweet!

He really likes the little bee on the mirror. He went five hours after his 11:30pm feeding twice this week - woohoo! He often has to be woken up for his morning wake time. I'm guessing he still has a little day/night confusion, which is why I work so hard to make sure he wakes up after he eats during the day. I also think he's a lot like Zooey was (and like my mom always said Sarah & me were) - he's a big sleeper. Zooey was always on the high end of sleep need for her age, and she was always on the low end of optimal wake time. She's still a great sleeper, and I'm hoping little Tennyson will be the same way. Tennyson really has a big non-nutritive sucking need. He could probably nurse all day, and he loves his paci. I have to say, it's nice being able to give that to him to comfort him.

"What's up?"

"Too tired to visit..."

"And I'm out. And passing some gas."

First trip to church in this cute little outfit. He only wore it once.

"Why, who's this handsome guy?"

LOVE his little rosebud lips

They were tasting each other...you know how babies are; gotta engage all the senses

First "real" bath

She loves him so much and is learning to be more gentle every day