2 months old!

Jackson James is 2 months old!  And he seriously gets cuter and cuter by the day. Helloooo blue eyes!

Of course we had to do our monthly chair photo...I can't wait to see how he grows and changes each month!

So much has changed with our little man this month, he is getting less and less like a newborn, and starting to show us more of the little boy he's going to be.  And today he put up with SO many pictures, he was such a little superstar.

Here's what he's been up to:

Sleeping (night time): Night time sleep has gotten SO much better.  This past week or so we've really gotten into a good bedtime routine.  He and Riley have a bath together, then I take him into his room and feed him and sing to him, and rock him or cuddle with him until he's asleep.  Then I swaddle him and put him in his rock 'n play in his room, and he's usually out between 7 and 7:30.  He sleeps for 4-5 hours, wakes to eat, sleeps for 2-3 hours, wakes to eat, and then sleeps another 2-3 hours, eats, and then maybe another hour?  Normally he wakes to eat, gets fed and burped and maybe a diaper change, then re-swaddled, and goes right back to sleep.  Sometimes, however, he does not want to go back to sleep on his own, and is up for a while in the middle of the night.  But this has gotten much less frequent over the past few weeks, and I think this has something to do with the fact that he no longer poops in the middle of the night (requiring a long diaper change which is sure to wake him up fully)... although this means that he has a huge blow out almost every single morning!! 

Very occasionally I will nurse him while lying in bed, and let him sleep in bed with me after he's finished.  I don't do this very often, mostly because he seems to sleep better on his own, but sometimes if I can't get him settled and I'm too exhausted, I'll bring him in bed with me.  He is very snuggly, after all...

Sleeping (day time): This has changed so much in the last few weeks, and even the last few days!  For a few days Jackson was fighting day time sleep, which made things really hard.  I tried to see if getting him in a better routine would help, and tried putting down for naps in his room every single time.  He fell asleep fairly easily, but would consistently wake after 5-10 minutes.  I was having to go into his room over and over and try and get him to sleep, pretty much leaving Riley to her own devices for a good part of the day.  That pretty much just stressed me out, and I decided to just go with the flow a bit more, and let him nap wherever he wanted, even if it meant being held a bit more.  Well, he responded extremely well to that, and now during the day once he shows us his first tired sign (usually a yawn or a little squawk), I either swaddle him up (if I plan on putting him down after he's asleep) or hold him and bounce him until he's asleep.  He doesn't cry very often, and doesn't fight sleep this way.  I'll then either put him in his rock 'n play or swing, or if I am able to hold him (if Riley is napping), then he will usually sleep for a few hours that way.  We haven't had to deal with much crying or overtired-ness lately at all, which is great!  The only not so great thing is he really just wants to be held for his naps, which is not always so easy with a toddle running around like crazy.  So our biggest challenge is getting him to sleep independently without waking every 5 minutes.

You would never know that this precious little face wasn't so good at sleeping independently anymore... Ahh well, we'll get there eventually, right?

Eating: He's still nursing like a champ, every 1.5-3 hours.  He's a pretty quick eater, so he might be done in 10 minutes, although it usually takes around 20 minutes when you factor in burping and diaper change.  He takes a bottle once or twice a week, hardly ever spits up (maybe once every other day), and is growing like a champ!  He is definitely a big boy!

This little guy weighs about 12.5 pounds, which means he's DOUBLED his birth weight!!!  Go baby, go!  He's outgrown most of his 3 month clothes now, and is actually fitting right into a bunch of his 6 month outfits.  I thought there was no way he'd fit into 6 month sleepers until I put one on him and it fit him near perfectly!

He HATES to be cold and will surely wake up if he's not nice and toasty warm.  He's learning how to break free of his swaddle, and needs to be wrapped up extra tight.  He goes nuts kicking his legs when he's laying flat on his back.  I think as soon as he can roll over he's going to be a tummy sleeper, as his favorite way to sleep is on his tummy with his head on my chest.

He's giving us tons of smiles, cooing all the time, and holding his head up extremely well. He loves to be sung and talked to, and loves to be held upright and look at the world.  He loves looking at the canvases we have on the wall in our lounge- pictures of me and Mark and Riley and him.  He likes to be outside, and LOVES to be held and walked around.  He still scratches his little face no matter how short his nails are, so he needs to wear gloves when he's awake.  He's sort of figuring out his hands are attached to his body, and is trying to get them in his mouth.  He LOVES sucking on my fingers- way more than a paci. If I can't get him to sleep or calmed down, sucking on my finger will surely do the trick.

He's still got his gorgeous Bartlett blue eyes, and he's still just the best little baby and we absolutely adore him.

And just for comparison.  Jackson at one month vs 2 months!

Aaahhh I just love this little guy to pieces!  He gets smothered in kisses every single day! :)