Two months

I've decided that month 2 (weeks 4-8) is my least favorite of a baby's first year. They're out of the sleepy newborn phase but not yet on a schedule, not predictable, super fussy, and a LOT of work! That's pretty much how the entire past month has been with Cal. The easiest week of the month was definitely when the girls were at my parents. I was able to watch his signs more closely, swaddle and rock him when he got tired, and stay home when he was napping. But on a regular day, he cries himself to sleep in his car seat, gets his morning nap at the park, library, or errand running, and rarely seems to be happy while awake. I feel like he is constantly tired, but doesn't want to fall asleep. He fights it like crazy. It's so hard to get him into deep sleep stage - he loves to "sleep"with his eyes just a tiny bit open - just to make sure I'm still there. We've tried laying him down drowsy but awake, but as soon as he's layed down he becomes fully awake and starts screaming. Then we've tried rocking him completely to sleep, but we can usually count on him waking up 15-20 minutes later. Crying it out is a much better option for us. He screams FOREVER, but at least it gets him nice and tried out, and he usually ends up falling asleep on his own.

Our favorite time of the day is (the very short window) when he's awake, happy, and wanting to play. We all gather around to watch his smiles (seriously heart melting), hear his laughs (he laughed for the first time on the 24th at home, alone with me- it was adorable!) and coos (love watching his mouth trying to form different sounds), and enjoy his sweet personality.
Calvin definitely seems to very strong-willed, but we do remember Elle at this stage- she was exactly the same way and ended up totally mellowing out. I think we'll see more of his personality this coming month, once he gets into a good schedule.

Cal in his blessing suit at 6 weeks

A few things about Calvin this past month:

* He seems to be a mama's boy- I'm usually the only one that can make it all better.

* He's a big eater (and has been from day one), A few things about Calvin this past month:
* He seems to be a mama's boy- I'm usually the only one that can make it all better.
* He's a big eater (and has been from day one), he eats super fast (like one side in 3-5 minutes) and every 2 to 3 hours.
* He may be a fast eater, but the burping takes forever! And I can't lay him down until he's burped or he'll just wake back up.
* He loves his gym time- has great concentration focusing on the black and white strips.
* Surprisingly doesn't cry for tummy time (both our girls hated it)! Sometimes after I've fed him and he starts acting really fussy and uncomfortable, I'll lay Cal on his tummy and he calms right down.
* Cal loves to be held and snuggled. I love this, but I also can't handle always having a baby in my arms. I refuse to carry him around around 24/7. He's usually in his swing or gym when awake at home or the car seat when we're out. But truthfully a great deal of the day is spent trying to get him to sleep. So we're constantly bouncing, rocking, and swinging him.

* He's got some very serious faces, but if you tell him he's handsome or smile real big in his face, he'll reward you with the biggest smile ever! 

* His hair keeps getting lighter and lighter. Earlier in the month it looked like he might be loosing hair, but then we noticed how many of those dark pieces are just turning super blonde.
* Just weighed him today and according to our home scale, he's 13 pounds!

As for Calvin's current sleep schedule- it's all over the place right now, especially since Im trying to move his bedtime up. For the first 6 weeks of life, 8:30pm was his last feeding. Then Spencer would burp, swaddle, and lay him down. He'd be asleep by 9pm then up to eat at 1:30 or 2am, back down by 3am, then up at 5 or 6am to eat. It actually worked pretty nicely, except for the fact that I wasn't getting any "me" time at night. I'd try to get to bed once Calvin was layed down so that his longest stretch of sleep was my longest stretch of sleep too. 

At 6 weeks we moved Calvin out of our bedroom and started doing more of a bedtime routine - dark room to nurse before bed, quiet when rocking, no tv, no stimulating lights, etc. He hasn't taken well to the earlier bedtime. He'll be in bed by 6pm but not finally in a deep sleep until 8 or 9pm! And he hasn't been doing that 5 hour stretch anymore. Sometimes it's 11pm, sometimes 1am- I never really know what I'm gonna get. But last night was our best night yet. I fed him at 6:30, rocked/bounced him, got him nice and sleepy, layed him down, and walked out. Of course he started screaming. At 8pm (after an hour and a half of off and on screaming) I went in, picked him up, got a huge burp, followed by spitting up. Then I unwrapped him, changed his diaper, put on new jammies (everything was wet), reswaddled him (he screamed through all this), and then bounced him. In a matter of seconds he was completely relaxed and then sound asleep. I layed him down, walked out, and shut his door- telling Spencer that Cal was out for the night. Sure enough, he slept till 2:50am (that's 8 hrs. since I has last fed him)! I nursed on both sides, attempting a burp in between. I snuggled him for awhile (working on getting a burp), layed him back down at 4am, and he slept till 7:30am! I'm hoping this is a sign of good things to come this next month!