3 Months of Johnny!

Johnny,

Today you are 3 months old! It is hard to believe that just 3 months ago I was laying in a hospital bed being monitored like crazy, given oxygen on and off, and being moved into different positions to keep your little heart happy until Dr. Norton could come in and start the induction process. I was so excited to meet you, so happy to be anticipating that moment of getting to hold your little body, and letting all the mommy love finally wash away the incessant worry I had over your pregnancy. Call me crazy, but your birth experience was the best yet for the complete opposite ends of the spectrum from before and after you were born that kind of mimics my feelings as well. In the moments leading up to your birth it felt like all hell had broken loose, like I was on edge, like I was a caged animal ready to rip anyone to shreds, there was chaos and things got hectic...and then you were born...and all of that melted away into absolute peace (and sobbing from me), but things automatically became still, and clear, and peaceful. Thank you for that!

This month has been an explosion of you doing more and more and being interactive!!! But we should start with the basics. You still sleep a lot in the day, usually getting an hour to two hours between each feeding. Occasionally in the evenings you will stay away between feedings, but that is a shorter time span anyways. You like to cluster several small feeds together at that time and will goof around with the bottle. Mommy tried to nurse you the other day to see what would happen and was pleasantly surprised with an awesome latch. You still won't work hard at it though so not much happened, but I was pleased you didn't completely reject the idea! You sleep great at night, from 10:30 or 11 until 7:30. You take awhile to get into deep sleep and we can hear you fidgeting and grunting to get comfortable in your bassinet in our room. In the morning when you wake up, it's so hard to take you seriously that you are hungry because you are so patient to wait while I pump. I will hear tiny little cries almost like a "Hello? Don't forget about me!" and those are usually spaced out a bit. You like to spend time in your swing and Mommy tries to put you in there for a longer afternoon nap so she can get a little bit done while your sisters sleep.

You are rolling over from side to back and side to tummy and will pull your torso in either direction as I help guide you into rolling over from back or tummy. You tolerate tummy time fairly well and will lift your head up frequently. Sometimes your head is still a little wobbly and sometimes you carefully look around and take in all of your surroundings before plopping it back down on the mat. Many of our friends and family have commented on how wiggly you are becoming, so typical of a little boy to always be moving, kicking, and lurching around. In your therapy, we have been working on sitting you up more and more. Obviously this is supported sitting in our arms, but I kind of regret exposing you to this new upright lifestyle. You seem to like being vertical a lot more than being horizontal and that means holding you up a lot more or propping you into the crook of the sofa (with supervision of course). You will slowly slide down from this position in the sofa or sometimes lurch forward and land face first into the cushion, but you much prefer it to laying down. 

You are very verbal and will talk to us as we play with you or hold you. It's so funny to hear your little man voice, definitely deeper than the girls, more guttural, and still having that baby raspiness. You are so expressive and started smiling more this month, deliberate smiles to reward people that are making you happy. Your smiles in your sleep are sweet and small, your smiles when you are awake are large and feel so pure that you are so happy. Yesterday when feeding you a bottle, Mommy was looking down at you and you paused, gave me a big smile, and let out a tiny little laugh. You must have been very satisfied with that meal! Your eyebrows are very expressive and you will raise one or both of them in response to things we do or you see. It is so funny to watch those tiny, translucent little hairs arch over your eyes as if to say "Are you kidding me?"

Johnny, I would say that I hope you know how much we love you, but I really think you know more than we do how much we love you. You never have that baby expression in your eyes that says love me. Instead you seem confident in the fact that you are loved beyond measure. You seem calm and collected and to me, you almost project an aura of knowing that you are something special. It is definitely an answered prayer as when we were learning about your diagnosis, I would lay hands on my belly and pray to God to love my child extra for me because I wasn't sure how to love you. God definitely worked on me and my heart has extra beats pounding away just for you and you are so completely loved and desired. You have been such an amazing addition to our family and I thank you for three wonderful months!!!

Love,

Mommy and Daddy