Porter | Two Months

Sweet Porter-P is two months old today!!

I'm not going to do a real form-style post for these monthly updates with my third baby. In fact, dear Porter, I hope you appreciate the fact that I'm coherent enough to blog at all right now! Consider this my ultimate gift of love;) We've endured a bit of a rough patch with the heavy hitters of newborn life: eating and sleeping. We are doing much better now, but a few days ago we were S-T-R-U-G-G-L-I-N-G, my friends. Like, woah, mommy seriously lost her mind and we hit a few all-time lows in regards to handling life. Truman and I got sick, my baby wasn't sleeping or nursing and it just was just so ugly. Better now. Thank you, Lord.

 Nursing: remember how Cecelia refused all bottles and only wanted to nurse? Porter is proving to be her exact opposite as he seems to prefer his milk immediately and in large quantities (i.e. the flow of a bottle, not breast). I only know this because after a particularly grueling day when he was popping on and off the boob, grunting, squirming, and seeming generally irritated while nursing I tried a bottle. He gulped it down and I *knew* that we were playing with fire. If I oblige him and give a bottle, I am convinced that he will completely stop nursing because it's too much work. Originally I worried that my supply was low all of a sudden but I definitely have plenty of milk, it's just not shooting out constantly and mister impatient seems upset with mother nature's flow rate. Oh Porter, don't do this to me now! We've had to work extra hard at being patient (both of us, for sure), had to spend a significant amount of time in the dark/quiet nursery away from any distractions (ahem, loud siblings), and sometimes I had to trick mister P into nursing by quickly removing the pacifier and inserting my boob into his very sleepy mouth. Score one for mommy with that sneak attack method.

 After our wake up call with having to really WORK at nursing, I have the upmost respect for moms that have seriously struggled to breastfeed for whatever reason. I haven't taken Truman and Cecelia's nursing success stories for granted by any means, but it really did shake my confidence like none other as Porter seemed to fight the boob with every feeding. Those few days of uncertainty were enough to make me question whether my baby would wean himself entirely too early for my liking, and it was a huge hit to my breastfeeding confidence. Cue the hormonal panic attack because I am nowhere NEAR ready to stop nursing my last baby. We pulled through this time, but I do worry about starting back at work in three weeks because he'll get his beloved bottles and might make me pay for it when we are back together. Who knows. But much love to the mamas that have put in many days and weeks and months of DIFFICULT breastfeeding---such a scary, low time for me and I feel extra grateful to be going strong again after those rough days.

  Sleep: Sigh. Porter started waking up every 1-2 hours all night long, RIGHT around the same time he began hating the boob. This was also the same time I fell victim to a random fever/body aches and chills. We were a bundle full of laughs last weekend, aren't you disappointed you couldn't party with us? I think we are back on track with fairly typical newborn sleep, though. Porter goes into his swing in the nursery around 8pm. He usually wakes up to eat around 11-12, so a 3-4 hour stretch at first is all we can hope for, I'm afraid. (Waahhhhhh, he used to be SO much better in those early sleepy weeks when he first woke at 3am!). After a few feeble attempts at nursing him in the glider and replacing him in the swing in the nursery, I am now just bringing him into our bed after that first wake up. MUCH easier to embrace the 'whatever works' mentality and nurse often without watching the clock after that. We both feel a lot more rested in the mornings without the mental tally mark of wake ups, blissfully unaware of how 'good' or 'bad' the night was.

He won't cuddle, nurse, and co-sleep with me forever so might as well enjoy it now! No schedule for naps yet and P still loves to be worn or held, hates going into his crib or swing for naps. It's anyone's guess if he will sleep for 2 minutes or 2 hours but you can bank on the fact that his eyes will snap open within moments of contact with the crib. Daytime sleep routine does not yet exist for Portie. Someday it will happen and it will be glorious!

  Personality: He's amazing. I realize my perception is heavily skewed by the intense love I have for my boy, but Porter really is such a great baby. When he is awake he's smiling his face off at anything he sees fit. He'll chill on the play yard alone for awhile but really prefers to be surrounded by his interactive siblings and parents. He loves to stare out any windows and it's a big bonus if we walk him around outside so he can inspect every leaf on every tree. He likes to take a bath, enjoys a good diaper change, and rarely spits up because he values a solid outfit choice. I guess I'd label Porter as my 'Happy Cuddle Bug,' if you asked me about his personality. I really cannot wait to see who this child grows into with time, but right now he's pretty much the best. (Note that I can successfully block out the rough patch of eating and sleeping, still madly in love with this baby in general).

 

 He is rarely fussy but everyone is entitled to a few bad days, babies included. Most of the time swaddling, holding and walking him outside with the pacifier worlds wonders for his discontent. Otherwise his dark nursery with white noise and possibly nursing will do the trick. We've only had a few instances of true inconsolable crying and luckily they lasted less than 30 minutes each time. This is quite wonderful for me to report because I recall Cecelia having much more frequent Fah-REAK outs in life by two months. My memory of Truman as a baby does not include any crying ever---how is that for some major momnesia??

It should be mentioned that Porter still believes his car seat is a torture device. This is a record for Time Spent Hating Road Trips by any of my children and it's basically pure misery for all involved. Therefore, we walk most places whenever possible. Life is way too short to hear my baby lose his voice over the screaming. This phase can pass WHENEVER and we will be more than happy to see it's dirty face go!

  Superficial: Poter is the cutest! His ears are huge, his head is of the torpedo-egg-shaped variety, his eyes are a pretty blue and he hasn't lost any of his fuzzy baby hair yet. Acne was gone a few weeks ago and cradle cap still at bay. His two month appointment isn't for another two weeks but he's just now fitting into a few 3-6 month outfits due to his length. Sometimes I think he's roly-poly FAT and other times I think he's my tiniest baby yet. We'll see in a few more weeks but basically, he is adorable. The smiliest, sweetest, handsomest Porter I've ever met! It's actually difficult for me to choose pictures for this post (which are only from the past week, since his 8 week post!) because there are so many of him smiling--what a great problem to have.

 



fave.


Egg head with huge ears!


ears!


belly!
 

collar!


  Motor stuff: P does alright with tummy time, sometimes showing off mad neck skillz but other times revolting against the concept with his cheek placed firmly against the ground. He likes to be held upright (to see the big world around him!) and I can tell his head control is much better lately. He's accidentally grabbed his dangling animal friends that hang from the play yard and it sort of freaked him out, until he realized it was fun to yank their chains a bit.

 

  Baby of the Family: Truman and Cecelia cannot get enough of their baby brother. I sort of thought the novelty would have worn off by now but they love him so hard, it actually causes issues at times. Fighting over who gets to hold him, who gets to hand mommy his diaper, who gets to find the lost pacifier are all 'sweet' in their own way but not really. They both ask where he is, if he is awake, and they're constantly kissing his head and making googly eyes at their bro. He eats it up and I can't wait to see how the dynamic between Truman and Cecelia's relationship changes as they interact more with mister P.

My boys:   

And my little guys:
 

 I love this baby so freaking much, and never want this sweet time of maternity leave to end. But at the same time, I'm very much looking forward to watching him grow up and hit milestones and become his own little person even more than he already is.

Happy two months, Portie. We love you!