Keeping Up With The Clarks: August 2012

Jameson was two months old yesterday. I didn't get this post up then because we were picking Jordan up from the airport. He was gone for two weeks, a very long two weeks, for Army stuff, but he's home now, and Abigail and I couldn't be happier!

Top Row ~ all smile!
Bottom Left ~ stretch! Middle ~ pick. me. up. now! Right ~ all these pictures are making me tired!!

Month two has brought...

*More sleep at night. Not last night, but the two nights prior Jameson slept for 6 hours, woke around 2:30am, and then slept for 5 more hours. I remember things like this happening with Abigail sporadically at first and then becoming more regular. He will take about a 2-3 hour nap in the afternoon, too. ~~He sleeps best when swaddled.~~ He has to be swaddled to sleep and I'm trying to slowly break this during his nap, because next week when he goes to daycare, he can't be swaddled to sleep (state's rule - nothing but the clothes he is wearing during naps). During the first weeks of Jameson's life Jordan thought swaddling was cruel, he called it his baby straight jacket (we have some wraps that Velcro him in), but he has come around since realizing that he sleeps so well when swaddled!

My baby burrito!

*Less crabbiness. I'm not sure if he is becoming a more efficient eater and is therefore less gassy, but whatever has changed we are welcoming it! He definitely does not cry near as much.

*More smiles!

*Two weeks without daddy. As I previously mentioned Jordan was out of town for a couple weeks this month. It was definitely a change for this momma, as he is a very hands on (and amazing!) daddy. We spent part of the time in Nebraska, which was awesome ~ my family was a huge help!

*Giggles! We have heard a few giggles in the last week or so. He just loves patti cake and smiles and will even laugh, when he plays patti cake.

*Talking to his big sister. He talks to all of us, really, when he is in his happy moods. This is normally right after he's eaten. He'll smile and babble on and on.

*Eating about 4-6oz at a time. I'm am, almost exclusively, nursing. But, about once a week he ends up with a bottle. Today one of those occurrences happened. I dropped him off at the sitter's, so we can all slowly adjust to him being there (mainly Abigail adjust to the rules there, and me adjust to being without him), and he had to have a bottle while I was gone. He drank 6oz ~ what?! I could hardly believe that he downed the entire bottle. Luckily, when we got home, I pumped 7oz, but wow. I don't believe Abigail was eating 6oz at a time until she was 3-4 months. I hope that I can keep up with him when I go back to work, but something tells me we'll be supplementing with formula shortly...

*Two big road trips. July 28th we traveled to Mercer to celebrate cousin Mason's birthday. That trip went fairly smoothly. Jameson got a little fussy towards the end, but we were able to console him for the most part. August 12th we dropped Jordan off at the airport and Abigail, Jameson and I went to Nebraska. That trip wasn't as smooth, but it was at least an hour longer. Overall both kids did great. I stopped in Rockport to feed Jameson and we all had a bathroom break, but when we were about 15min from my mom and dad's he decided he was done with his car seat, done with the car, and ready to eat again. The trip home was a little better, however I'm not sure we'll be taking any trips in the next month, unless they are absolutely necessary!

Top Left ~ that smile always gets me! Top Right ~ such a sleepy boy
Bottom Left ~ relaxing and chewing on his hand. Bottom Right ~ holding his head up

*So much love. It's amazing that my baby boy is two months old already, and I'm going back to work next week. Some of you know that when I was pregnant I questioned my ability to "share" my love with another child. Abigail and I have such a special bond (being one-on-one with her for a year while Jordan was deployed will do that to a mom!), and I couldn't imagine being able to love another child like I do her. I knew that somehow it would happen, because it's obvious when I look at my friends with multiple children (and my sister and I) that parents love their children both equally, but part of me was still hesitant about it. Well, I can say that 100% I love this little guy as much as I love Abigail. It is a different love ~ Abigail is a girl, Jameson a boy; Abigail is almost 4, Jameson is just 2 months; and I know it will continue to be different, if nothing else for the reasons previously stated (not to mention two different personalities), but they are both amazing kids. They both have such a large part of my heart and I cannot imagine my life without either of them. It is really crazy for me to think that just two months and two days ago we didn't have this little guy in our lives yet. How quickly things change!

Nap time!

Here are a few pictures from the last week. Yesterday Jameson and I made a trip to SAMS club. We got tons of compliments ("he's so cute", etc) but there was one mom who asked me how old he was. When I told her, she said that at 6 weeks she always thought "Phew! We made it!". That kind of made me laugh, but I agree. The last few nights have been better, and the random crying for no reason has faded. And, though it's becoming a distant memory, it's still pretty dominant in my mind and won't soon be forgotten.

I'm not sure how my parents made it through the first year of my life, or ever decided to have another baby. My dad says that I cried for the first year and was very colicky. My mom even said it was pretty bad and they would drive me around in the car to put me to sleep. My grandma will agree with them. You know if your grandma agrees and my mom comments that it was bad. So I will take the six weeks of crying occasionally over that! Okay, back to my kiddos :) here are some pictures from our last week!