And Suddenly My Newborn Was Three Months Old

It feels like Mr. Everett Holden is growing up SO fast.  Here are a few thoughts about our Everett boy and how he's changed during the last three months:

Sleeping  

We FINALLY have him sleeping in his crib at night, but it's somewhat comical how I have to maneuver his sleeping body into the crib.  I wish I could take a video of the process, but it would never turn out since his room is so dark at night.  I seriously lay my tummy against his tummy when I put him down, then slide my right arm from under his bum, move that arm to under his head, and then slide my left arm out from under his head.  Then I put my right hand on his chest (where my chest used to be) and slowly back away.  It's a ridiculous process, but it works.  At his last doctor's appointment, the doc (who I love, by the way) recommended letting him cry it out to fall asleep . . . I tried, but I just couldn't do it.  I'm all about sleep training, but I decided I like feeling the weight of a sleeping newborn in my arms too much to give it up yet. As a result, we kept letting him sleep in his bouncy seat (he's still napping there for the most part), until the crib method started to stick.  That bouncy seat was his favorite place in the world for quite some time.  We could almost ALWAYS get him to sleep by bouncing him in it (not just using the vibration button, but physically rocking the seat).  He's now so big that his bum skims the floor when he's sitting in it, and his feet hang off the edge.  Chad can usually still bounce him to sleep in it, but I don't have the same luck.

He CAN sleep through the night and has done so several times.  The first time he did this was the first weekend in October, and he slept for 8 hours straight for two nights in a row.  I of course woke up both nights, terrified that he wasn't OK/filled to the brim with milk (since I'm sort of a Moo Cow right now), so it was kind of wasted on me.  He then went back to waking up once or twice a night.  The last couple of nights he's done a great job again, so I think we're on our way to a more consistent sleep schedule.  Once he's eating solids, I'll be more comfortable sleep training him, especially since I know he can go all night without eating.  

Our little chunk in September:

 This rattle was Chad's when he was little.  Both Kaden and Everett have both loved it!

 Kaden's buddy, Jack, LOVES babies and always begs to hold Everett.  This is him holding Ev after Joy School one day in September (I love that Everett's almost as big as he is!):

Does he look like Kaden?  

I get asked this question a lot.  I guess my answer is that they definitely look like brothers, but that Everett has his own look.  For starters, he has a lot less hair than Kaden had.  Kaden's eyes were also much lighter. They were a deep blue gray for a long time and even now are more of a golden brown.  Everett's eyes are straight chocolate pools.  He's going to have deep brown eyes for sure.  He's also chubbier than Kaden (not that Kaden was a tiny baby, by any means), so his face it a bit rounder.  Even so, at certain moments, and in certain photos, I look at him and he could be Kaden's clone.  And of course, everyone that sees him says he looks just like his Daddy, so Chad's genes have definitely dominated once again.

 We love his little elfish ears.  We have no idea where his pointy ears came from, since neither Chad nor I have this trait.

Everett woke up from a nap one day while I was finishing something up downstairs.  I asked Kaden to go comfort him for a minute until I could get there.  This is how I found the two of them:

 Personality

I honestly LOVE this phase of babyhood.  Everett is so smiley and talkative, and it's absolutely adorable.  He is an extremely good baby.  As long as he's fed and rested, he is content.  He is SUCH a smiley baby.  It doesn't take much to get him to flash you a huge grin (it is hard to capture his smile on camera, however, since he almost always gives me a deer in the headlights expression when the flash goes off).  We were at the grocery store the other day and the lady at the checkout just peeked in his car seat and he was instantly beaming.  It's probably a result of having to compete for attention.  If anyone gives him one-on-one time, they're golden.  He also has the cutest laugh ever--right now it's that deep, throaty baby laugh that's more of a chuckle.

He seems to have a much more laid back personality than his older brother, which we are hoping sticks as he gets bigger.  (Not that we don't love Kaden in all his assertive, strong-willed, mini-me glory, but we're thinking maybe Everett can help balance things out a bit.)  He's much more patient and relaxed as an infant than Kaden was.  He's so easy going.  Sometimes I feel guilty that Everett's whole existence is pretty much shuttling Kaden from one adventure to the next.  Our schedule definitely revolves around his older brother. He takes it all in stride though, napping in his car seat, stroller, or Ergo when a nap at home isn't in the cards.

Everett LOVES bath time!  As soon as he hears the water running and start stripping off his clothes he starts to chuckle.   

 Pacifiers and Bottles

Everett's not interested in these at all.  We're still working our hardest to get him to take both.  I know there are a lot of anti-pacifier folks out there, but I would MUCH rather have him be attached to a piece of plastic that I can take away than this:

 The kid always has his fingers, thumb, or fist shoved in his mouth.  It's adorable now, but a hard habit to break when kids get older.  As for the bottle, I keep praying we're going to find a nipple that he'll take.  So far, he only wants milk straight from the source.  Don't get me wrong, I love the precious moments I have snuggling him while breast feeding, but it would certainly be nice to have another option when that's just not convenient.

Playtime

Everett is so close to rolling over!  I think he'll be like Kaden though and be too lazy to follow through with it. He's just content to lie like this instead of pushing himself all the way over:

He can hold rattles and small toys now, and it's pretty awesome watching him to respond to these things. He's even semi-attentive when I try to read to him and Kaden together, especially if we pick baby books instead of Kaden's big-boy ones.  

He LOVES watching his big brother and thinks everything Kaden does is incredibly awesome.  Kaden can always get Everett to smile or calm down if he's fussing.  I can just see the wheels turning in his baby brain--he wants to be able to do everything Kade does.  I'm so glad they already share such a sweet bond as brothers.    

I can't believe my baby is already three months old.  I told Chad the other day that I LOVE this stage, but it makes me sad that he's already here.  That means he's going to be even bigger before I know it!