2 months

Gage,

Your second month has flown by! You have done so much changing this month it is unreal. It makes me sad actually!

You went from my tiny 6 lb baby to now probably closer to 10 lbs! At your 6 week appointment you weighed 8 lbs 8 oz, but since then have had your biggest growth spurt yet! At 7 weeks you started eating NONSTOP! It actually took me a few days to figure out what was wrong. For a couple of days you were fussy ALL day which is totally unlike you. I would feed you, change you, burp you, etc. and nothing worked! We were both crying by the end of day 2 and then I had an idea. After you ate, I gave you a little more in a bottle I had pumped earlier and just one more ounce did the trick! You were growing so much and so was your appetite! You were eating me out of house and home!!

That huge increase in your appetite and frequency of your feedings lasted about a week & by the end of the week you were noticeably bigger! It is crazy to me how fast you grow!

You have now started sleeping pretty consistently between 5-6 hours straight at night. Makes for a happy & more rested Momma that’s for sure! After you turned a month old, we moved your crib back against the wall, about 4 more feet away from my bed and that was a big step for us! Haha!

The most exciting thing this month has been to see your little personality develop. You are a morning person, like your Mom. You are always SO happy in the mornings and over the past week (week 7) you really began to smile at us. You love to lay down on your changing pad and have us hover over you and make silly faces & noises! You usually always smile when you are laying down looking up at us and it is just melts our hearts! Your dad can make this weird noise while he tickles your belly & that is your favorite, because it almost always makes you smile!

At about 6 weeks you became super alert, seeming to focus your eyes in on us when we talked to you. Now at 8 weeks, you can follow us across the room with your eyes and turn when you hear noises in certain directions. Especially your Momma, you can pick out my voice above all the rest. It sure melts my heart.

You LOVE music! When you are cranky we can sing to you & you will get so quiet and just look at us! Uncle Trev has also wrote you a lullaby song on the guitar and you love when he plays it to you. It’s so cute how still you get and it seems like you are just listening as hard as you can.

You LOVE to bounce! Music & bouncing are guaranteed ways to put you in a better mood.

You LOVE your Dad’s diesel truck. Whenever you are in it you almost instantly go to sleep. It’s really loud and it seems to vibrate, which you like. One day you were fussy and we drove around for awhile and you were happy again!

We have started taking you to the Alpena Park in your stroller. You also love your stroller, probably from the way it bounces you around some as we walk. We usually go eat at Top Rock and then take you down there and walk a mile or two. Daddy hogs the stroller- he always wants to push you.

You have went on many shopping trips with Mom & Gram now and you do so good! We’ve had many of nursing sessions and diaper changes in the backseat! But it seems like you like to be out & about, just like Mom.

Bath time is still a favorite here at the Smothers. Your Aunt Jess, Papa Keith, GiGi, Granny, & Poppa all have came over different times to watch you take your bath because you are just so cute doing it! You still love it & will usually pee on one of us in the process! You even pooped in there once & that was quite the experience for your Dad and I!!!

I went back to work when you turned 7 weeks and that was a sad day. I cried all morning getting ready. I went to load you in your car seat and you literally gave me the biggest smile you ever had. I bawled! Leaving you at Gram’s was hard too, but just because I would miss you. You are in such good hands with her—she is going to spoil you that’s for sure!!! Thank goodness I only have to work 3 days a week!

The mornings when I don’t work and we get to sleep in, I usually put you in bed with me after your morning feeding around 5:30 or 6. We get all cuddled up and dad usually joins in. Around 7 he has to sneak out of bed to get ready for work. Then he’ll come in and give us kisses before he leaves, and when we wake up he has a pot of coffee waiting for us. It’s the little things…. I looooove cuddling up to you. I put my mouth close to your head where when I breathe you can feel the warmth and you seem to love it, as do I breathing in your sweet perfect baby scent

We also love to kiss you. Nonstop. Your dad & I both. It probably annoys you, but we just can’t help ourselves. One day you’ll be embarrassed when we do that to you in public, so for now we’re getting all the kisses we can!

You were exactly 8 weeks old on Halloween & dressed up as Woody from Toy Story. I made you some chaps by cutting up some of your pants. You were so cute. You were fussy at Trunk or Treat at church, but when we came home you were all smiles sitting up on the couch with your stuffed Woody & horse!

The last few nights we have started rocking you to sleep and singing to you. The other night it took over an hour for you to finally go into a deep sleep, and by the end we had sang so many hymns and choruses it was crazy. But it is now my favorite time of the day. I love that you can be fussy and we can go sit in the rocking chair, pop in your paci, and sing and it calms you down. I could rock you forever, and sometimes I fall asleep and when I wake up we are both conked out in the glider and have been there for a couple of hours! Then I’ll lay you down in your crib and swaddle you. Of course, just from the waist down because you have to have your hands out. In all your ultrasounds, when you were born (literally), and from your first day outside my belly, you have always had those hands up by your face. So when I swaddle you, I leave them out. Because that’s what you like.

I love life with you. I could keep on writing about all the fun things that have happened this month, but I’ll end with this. This month you have got to be such a big boy and have been such a fun little guy to be around.

You are so loved, Gage Man
(aka: Gager, Gagey, Chunky Monkey, Skunk Butt, 410, Pooter Tooter, Dumplin’)