Charlie's Third Month

Charlie has really become more and more enjoyable! It seems like once he hit two months, he didn’t want to fuss as much and wanted to be more of a happy boy...which means more of a happy momma.

In this third month of Charlie’s life, he became a lot more reactive and I could tell that his smiles were reactions, not just gas. Mornings were his best time of day. When I would go pick him up from his crib in the morning, he would be all smiles! Heart-melting! We finally started to hear some baby cooing...but still not a whole lot.  Charlie was a great night sleeper! We moved our way up from putting him to bed by 11, to putting him to bed by 9 and he would still sleep until 7 in the morning. We continued our bedtime routine: bath at the sink, swaddle him up in two blankets (a swaddler and a Swaddle Me...the one with the velcro that looks like a straight jacket...they rock!!), nurse him to sleep, and then place him in the crib for the night. Maybe once or twice a week he would wake up once in the night for a feeding, but most of the time he sleeping right on through the night! We were thrilled! His day naps got a little better as well...most being about 30 minutes, rather than the 15-30 minute naps the month before. He especially loved (and still loves) naps in his swing while being cuddly in his big white blanket from Aunt Annette. Both of those things are must-haves around this house. 

Charlie started sucking on his hands A LOT! It was so cute to watch him discover his hands and realize that it was a great way to pass the time. He also started to make a lot of bubbles that would pool at his lips. Good old Mr. Bubbles. By this point, his baby acne had cleared up quite a bit, and his face was looking pretty good. Finally, some cute, smooth, chubby cheeks.

Charlie continued to grow, giving us some fatter thighs to squeeze. His neck was also getting stronger and stronger. For the most part, we could hold him without having to support his neck. Charlie had his two month check-up, which includes getting several shots. It was heart-breaking to see my little boy screaming with pain on the doctor’s table. We made sure to give him plenty of tylenol the rest of the day. I must say he did a lot better the following days than I was expecting. We have a strong little man. Here are his two month measurements:


Length: 24.2 inches - 75%
Weight: 12 lbs 12 oz - 50%
Head Circumference: 40.7 cm - 50%

While we were there, the doctor prescribed some medicine that Charlie could take to help with his gas. Based on the symptoms (like being fussy and arching of the back), Dr. Whiting guessed that Charlie had been dealing with some silent reflux. Silent reflux is basically where some of the acid of the stomach goes up into the esophagus because of an undeveloped sphincter that holds the food in, but doesn’t go quite as high to the point of spitting up a lot (as would be an indicator of acid reflux). We have been so lucky that Charlie hardly spits up! So a couple of weeks after the appointment we started giving Charlie Ranitidine. Charlie HATED taking it! It must have tasted really bad (it smelled awful)! We had to give it to him twice a day, and each time we basically had to force it down his throat. After about two weeks of this, without a real noticeable difference (he was becoming less fussy anyways), we stopped torturing him with the stuff.

The very last week before he turned three months, he came down with his first cold. He had a crazy stuffy nose. His breathing sounded horrible and it would wake him up and make him gag at times. So sad! We would use an aspirator to clear his nose, and he HATED that too. So basically every morning and night we were forcing an aspirator into his nose and forcing some disgusting medicine down his throat...he would just bawl and bawl! We felt like terrible parents. Not happy times. 

But here are some pictures of the happier times:

 

Halo time with Daddy

Gone fishin' with Daddy:

What a ham!...or Hambino as Jason likes to say...