2 Months

I can't believe how much our little boy has grown in the last 2 months.

No seriously.

At his 2 month check-up earlier this week he weighed in at a whopping 14 lbs 10 oz and measured 24.5 inches long, putting him in the 90th percentile for weight and the 94th percentile for height (according to the World Health Organization)! Oh, and his head measured 16.5 inches which brings him to his most impressive growth percentile- 99th. Little dude's got a big melon! At least he's in the 90's for everything so he's not disproportionate in any area.

It's incredible how much his personality is starting to show. He's smiling a ton and making all kinds of noises. We feel so lucky to have such a laid-back and mellow baby! The only times he's really fussy are when he's hungry or tired. Other than that, he's one happy little guy!

He loves his Baby Einstein Neptune Activity Mat and we also just bought him the Tiny Love Nature's Serenade Mobile and he's completely mesmerized by it:

More than any other time, he's most likely to smile when he's getting his diaper changed- I guess I'd be pretty happy about getting a fresh diaper too!

It's amazing how non-picky he is about eating. He'll nurse, take a bottle at room temperature, or take a cold bottle straight from the fridge without batting an eye. As long as he's getting something to eat, he doesn't care how he gets it. Breastfeeding is still working out well for us (despite a rocky start) and we haven't had to supplement with any formula. Yep, that 6 lb 7 oz weight gain since birth is all from exclusively breastfeeding. If someone would have told me that he would be growing like this from breastfeeding alone, I would have told them they were crazy. I still can't believe it.

Hubby G and I are both worried that when we decide to have another child (we're not in any rush right now though, so don't get any ideas!) it won't possibly be as smooth sailing as it has been so far with Baby C- he's such a good baby! As if we needed further proof of this fact, this week he started sleeping through the night fairly consistently- about 9 or 10pm all the way to 5 or 6am.

Ok, so if I was reading this post- especially if I was a new mom, I might want to punch me in the face right now. Because come on. Life with a 2 month old is not all sunshine and rainbows and angels singing from the heavens 24-7.

That is definitely true. I've got a post in the works right now about a big part of this adjustment to life with a baby that is definitely not sunshine and rainbows and has definitely been a struggle.

But right now things have gotten easier and we're adjusting to the wonderful addition to our family. And even the parts of the journey that aren't so great are easily overshadowed by the good parts.

My Favorite Baby Gear

Now that Baby C is here and I've had a little over a month to actually use a bunch of the baby gear that we got, I thought I would share some of my favorites so far! My favorite is our BumGenius Elemental cloth diapers, but since I just wrote about them last week, I'm not including them in this list.

In no particular order:

Moby Wrap

Since I got the wrapping technique down (it definitely takes a little practice), I've been using my Moby almost daily. I have a hard time getting Baby C to nap in his crib during the day, so oftentimes I'll put him in the Moby so that he feels like he's being held but I have two free hands to get a few things done! Baby C almost always falls right asleep in it and it's very comfortable for me as well. The only drawback is that both Baby C and I can end up getting really warm in it, especially when the weather is warm.

Angelcare Monitor

I'm so glad that we purchased the Angelcare monitor! Aside from letting you hear any noises baby is making, it's main feature is that it's a motion monitor. There are two sensor pads that we put underneath Baby C's crib mattress. These sensors track any movement happening in the crib and they are sensitive enough to track really slight movements- like Baby C's breathing. If the sensors detect no movement for 20 seconds, an alarm goes off. In addition to monitoring motion, the Angelcare monitor also tracks the room temperature and can be programed to sound an alarm when the room gets above or below your set temperature range. Having this monitor made it possible for Hubby G and I to be comfortable with putting Baby C in his own room in his crib from day 1. Even though you can only do so much to lessen your baby's risk for SIDS, the fact that we know we'll be alerted right away if our baby stops breathing gives us a ton of peace of mind. Plus, now we don't need to worry about transitioning Baby C from a bassinet to his crib or from our room to the nursery.

Total Baby iPhone App

If you've got an iPhone I definitely recommend spending the $4.99 to buy this app. I use it constantly and that's no exaggeration! This app allows you to track feedings, diaper changes, baths, and it has a miscellaneous section so that you can track whatever else you want. In the first few weeks when baby needs to be fed every 2 hours, this app helped me keep track of that and since I'm breastfeeding, I could also keep track of which side Baby C had last nursed on. It's also important during those first couple of weeks to monitor the number of dirty diapers baby has so that you know if they're getting enough food, so being able to track the diaper changes is also really helpful. Since I love data and tracking, I've used this app to record every. single. one. of Baby C's feedings and diaper changes since the day he was born! I used the miscellaneous section of the app for myself- I tracked when I had last taken pain medication so that I would know when it was safe to take another dose. For me, having all this information right at my fingertips in my new mom, sleep-deprived, state is a huge help. PLUS I can sync all of the data from the app to Hubby G's phone and vice versa, which will be really helpful when I go back to work. You can also email all the data or export it as an Excel spreadsheet so that it's all really accessible. I printed off the first two weeks of data to bring with us to Baby C's first doctor's appointment because I was so jazzed about having such accurate data. I'm a total nerd.

Eddie Bauer Diaper Bag

I think we went two different Target stores a total of 8 times before we actually tracked this thing down! The first time we saw it we weren't 100% decided that it was the one we wanted and later when we did, it seemed to be sold out everywhere (at least in the brown color, which is what we wanted). Anyway, we finally got one and we are really happy with it. It's not really girly at all, so Hubby G doesn't mind carrying it. He actually likes taking it- he says it makes him feel even more like a dad- it's so sweet! The bag has plenty of room in it. Inside I've stuffed:

• At least 6 disposable diapers
• Our Skip Hop changing mat
• 2 cloth diapers
• An extra shirt for me
• An extra outfit for Baby C
• 2 wet bags
• A blanket
• 2 burp cloths
• Pacifier wipes
• Hand sanitizer

I'd say that's pretty good!

Baby Einstein Neptune Ocean Adventure Gym

Baby C LOVES this. His favorite part- the fish mirror. He stares at himself in that thing all the time! he doesn't have enough motion control to actually reach out and grab the other toys that hang on it yet, but he's pretty darn happy just hanging out on the mat and taking in all the fun shapes and colors. The mat is soft and easily folds, so I also like that this will be easy to travel with.

Star of the Show

My friend gifted us with this awesome and perfect bib:




So true!

(my friend found it at Target in case any other fellow bloggers want to go looking for it!)

Cloth Diaper Love

Before the arrival of Baby C I posted here about our decision to use cloth diapers. I researched like crazy before making this decision and researched even more afterward to make sure I had the whole washing thing figured out.

Well, we started Baby C in his cloth diapers a week ago today and I am IN LOVE. I love:

• How soft they are
• How easy they are to use
• That we never have to worry about running to the store to buy more diapers
• That the whole washing process is not nearly as hard or time consuming as I thought it might be
• How cute his little rear end looks in them
• How on-board Hubby G is with cloth diapering

I can't say enough good things about them! We have 24 of the bumGenius Elemental All-In-One, One-Size-Fits-All. Here's the color break down that we've got:

1 Bubble (a really light purple color)

3 Noodle

1 Sweet (a really light green-ish color)

1 Butternut

3 Clementine

3 Grasshopper

3 Moonbeam

3 Ribbit

3 Twilight

3 White

24 diapers seems to be the perfect amount for us. So far we've never felt like we didn't have enough between washings, and we're washing a load of diapers about every other day (we wouldn't want to go longer than that anyway). Because our diapers are just one piece, we don't have to mess around with covers or inserts- it's all just one piece so the process is very similar to putting on a regular disposable diaper. The only difference is that we have to gather and fold a section of the liner in the front as we put the diaper on- this is because the liner is a little too long when we've got the diaper snapped down to the smallest rise setting (since our diapers are also one-size-fits-all). This isn't a big deal though and it's actually kind of nice because it gives us an extra layer of absorbency.

Since we've been using our cloth diapers we've hardly had any leaks- when we were using the disposables we had leaks multiple times a day. Like I mentioned, the washing hasn't really been a hassle at all. We were spraying the diapers off into the toilet with the simple spray bottle I had gotten from the hospital when Baby C was born, but that got old pretty fast because we would have to fill the bottle up multiple times to spray off just one diaper. To remedy this, I found this tutorial for a diaper sprayer and headed to our awesome local hardware store (the same place that was super helpful when I replaced the thermocouple on our water heater) where I showed the tutorial to another very helpful employee who rounded up all the supplies I needed and even assembled it all together as much as possible right there in the store! I just had to make a couple simple connections when I got home and viola- we've got a diaper sprayer that works great!




I never thought I could get so much joy out of DIAPERING of all things in life, but I really do love our cloth diapers. And in case Hubby G is reading this- that doesn't mean I necessary love changing diapers all the time, I just love the fact that we're using cloth diapers :)