Three whole months

Egads! Three months old! My little baby boy is just changing so much! It definitely doesn’t feel like three months have past, but on the flipside, some days, it can be hard to remember what life was like before Sam came into this world.

Sam now weighs somewhere around 13.5 lbs (again, measured on the Wii, so only approximate, but about a 1 kg weight gain). He definitely has some good weight to him now. My arms and wrists can get sore hefting him around. No more lightness of a newborn baby. Oh, and the chubby rolls on his legs, arms and neck are so kissable! He’s still eating lots (exclusively breastfed) and we’re certainly satisfied with his continued growth.

His voice and “vocabulary” have been changing lots these days. He’s quite the chatter-box (I wonder who he gets that from?). He smiles a lot too, and his giggles & squeals of delight are so incredibly contagious. How can you not laugh along?! Sam loves when you repeat some of his baby talk back to him, that will earn you a big grin. Happiness is not the only that he expresses. His cries have quite a large range, from loud wails, pained almost voiceless screeches, to short, simple calls for attention. His exasperated sighs always make me smile, much to his dismay. I can’t wait to see how his “voice” will develop in coming months!

One of the biggest developments this past month involved transitioning Sam from sleeping in his bassinet in our bedroom to sleeping in his crib in the nursery. He was simply outgrowing the bassinet and hubby & I had reached the point where we were ready to reclaim our bedroom as our own space.

For a few nights, I started placing Sam’s bassinet inside his crib after his middle of the night feedings. He’s usually quite tired then, and I thought he might notice the change less. Placing the bassinet in the crib meant that he could get used to being on his own in a different room, but surrounded by the familiarity of the bassinet. That went very smoothly, so I moved on to placing Sam directly into his crib, without the bassinet. I started doing this while hubby was away on a business trip, in case Sam woke up crying more frequently. The first night I did this, Sam slept 6.5 hours straight, more than double his usual time! The following night he slept 7.5 hours! And so, as long as he doesn’t break free of his swaddle, he’ll sleep from about 9pm to 4 or 5am, feed & get a diaper change, then back to sleep until 7 or 8am. Once he finally wakes up for the day, he’s often so happy, not waking with a whole lot of crying, just a couple of cries to let you know he’s up. Then once he sees your face he starts smiling away! A much nicer way to start he day! Who wouldn’t be smiling after a good sleep like that, instead of waking every 2.5 or 3 hours?! So now our big boy, sleeps in his crib each night, the bassinet tucked away into storage.

One thing that has changed since he started sleeping more at night, is that Sam no longer takes long naps during the day. If you’re really lucky he might nap for an hour, but that has become quite rare. Typical nap times are 20-30 minutes. Which makes sense if he’s getting better rest at night. The exception to all of this is when he is in his stroller. If we go out and put Sam in his stroller, and keep moving, then he will generally sleep for the whole outing.

Which leads us to another change to our routine. Sam and I have started getting out of the house a lot more these days. If we can, I try to go on one outing a day, usually in the morning. I started doing this, not because Sam is likely to sleep during that time, but because we both seemed to be a lot happier with not spending the whole day in the house. Sometimes, the occasional full day at home is nice, but two days in a row of that, and I start to get into a bad mood (which of course, in turn, makes for a grumpy baby). So off we go for a walk down to Bowness Park, or a wander through the mall, or a trip to the zoo. I bought an annual zoo pass, and it is quickly becoming one of our fav destinations.

Another activity we’ve started adding to the mix is story time. Sam has a growing pile of colourful books that I read to him while we both lay on the floor together. It’s so much fun watching the expressions on his face as I read & turn each page that story time is just as much fun for me, as it is for Sam.

Sam is discovering that it can be fun to have solo time too. I regularly put him on a blanket on the kitchen floor while I make meals or pop him in his crib while I do some laundry. Recently, I started putting him on the guest bed in the sewing room while I attempt to do a little crafting. If you catch him in a good mood, freshly fed, he is content to entertain himself for about 20 minutes. Sam lays there talking to himself, taking in the world around him.

What new things will he discover this month, I wonder?