8 weeks

 
I gave him tummy time one day and he hated it, but I let him stay there for a few minutes even though he was crying because I hoped he'd get so agitated he'd roll over.  He didn't, but he did pivot a full 90 degrees.


He can now amuse himself for 20+ minutes lying on his back a few times every day--especially in the mornings.





He seems to think that Bunny is hilarious.




He attempts to laugh, but mostly it just comes out as squeals, squeaks, and coughs.



My diet doesn't seem to be affecting his fussiness.  He's fussy no matter what I eat or drink so I've gone back to a limited amount of dairy and coffee.


Between 5-7pm every evening, he starts to get fussy.
 

He's waking up 2-3 times during the night again.  He's also having a lot of trouble falling to sleep in the first place most nights.  He'll fall asleep and wake up three or four times before he finally stays down.  Even then, he wakes up the 2-3 times at night.  Often, he ends up sleeping with me after he nurses because I'm too tired to get up and I fall in and out of sleep with him laying there beside me.  Then, when I put him in the pack-n-play next to the bed and swaddle him, he grunts and fusses quietly for 2-10 minutes.  Sometimes, I've let him stay next to me for so long that he's hungry and it's time to nurse him again.


He still makes so many grunts and squeaks when he's trying to fall asleep in the middle of the night.


He hates the changing table but is usually happy once the diaper comes off and he's laying there naked or with a new, clean diaper on--unless he's hungry.



The Moby and/or the Boba really help to calm him down at night.  Also rocking, bouncing, patting, nursing, playing bicycle with him on his back, and being upright all seem to help him a little bit.  It's very tiring for Dave and I and sometimes it really makes my back hurt.

He hates the car and it rarely calms him the way it does other babies, including his big sister.  If he is hungry or needs a diaper change, he will scream for 20+ minutes which is very distressing for me because I can't stand when he's upset.  I want nothing more but to scoop him up and calm him down which is something I can't do when driving.  I put my hand back and rub his head or face which can calm him about 20% of the time, but that's it.  Also, Bunny tries to pacify him with his pacifier or talking to him which usually only holds him off a bit.  If I'm a passenger in the car and I'm sitting with him, usually putting my cheek next to his and talking softly in his ear while I rub his head helps.  I think sometimes he just wants the human touch.


I feel that his head control when held vertically is almost completely developed.  He has fewer and fewer head wobbles every day.  Tummy head control is coming more slowly.  He doesn't get much tummy time but he sleeps on his tummy for naptime and can move his head around for that just fine, but with effort.  When I do give him tummy time when he's awake, he'll keep his head up for no more than a minute before getting very angry and frustrated.


He can support his weight on his legs.  He's been doing this for awhile now, and usually it's a response to gas or reflux.

He also kicks a lot when he's having tummy trouble.

Stretching/waking up faces--my favorite!!!

He continues to have naps on his tummy and it works well for us. 

Here's a comparison picture of Baby Bear and his Daddy. 

Here is a comparison of Bunny on the right and Baby Bear on the right.  I really love doing comparison shots of them. 

He's so cute when he sleeps. 

He's a happy, giggly little guy in the mornings.

He started having conversations with me, and later in the week, with Bunny.

Bunny adores him, of course.   She likes to show him different things and especially loves when we narrate every thing that she's doing for him.  She loves to touch him and kiss him and she's learning more and more how to be gentle with him.  It helps that he gets more and more sturdy as the days go by. 

Our first family of four photo since the hospital!  I don't know why it took us so long to do this.

He's such a tiny little guy once you see him in the bathtub.  I mean, he's big and he's been big from the start, but size is all relative at this point.  He is a tiny person no matter how big he is.

Grammy gave us some of his Daddy's old baby clothing so when I found the picture of his Daddy on the left, I had to try to recreate it on the right with Baby Bear.

I tried to couple tummy time with some butt-airing time.  He doesn't like tummy time for more than a few minutes, though, so that didn't last very long.

He started grabbing things--me, my clothes, even my hair and neck.  He's even grabbing my boob which I found completely adorable. 

In the afternoons, evenings he can get pretty fussy.  Tummy time on my legs while patting his back is one of the ways I try to help him through this.  We also walk around upright, spend time in a baby carrier, put him on his back and play bicycle with his legs, and rock. 

He usually takes at least a portion of his afternoon nap on me.  He used to take all of his naps on me but I had to transition him away from doing that because otherwise we'd have no clothes to wear, food to eat, or dishes to eat it on! 

Silly face!

 The two most handsome men in my life!

 He had a reoccurring issue with his leg turning purple and his foot turning red and swelling.  It happened again when I was nursing on the same side as before and his leg was underneath him only this time there were no bugs around to bite him.  I took him to the doctor and we're not sure whether it really was a bug bite in the first place.  Either it was, and this is a latent reaction, or he is having circulation issues.  As a preventative measure I've been  making sure that his leg isn't being pinched when we nurse and that his diaper isn't too tight around his leg. 

My two, precious jewels.  They're my treasures!