9 weeks

Justace is 9 weeks old today. He had his shots yesterday and had a bad reaction to them. Got a fever and has been miserable and crying since then. We've been giving him medicine every 3 hours and letting him sleep all day. Hopefully he will feel better tomorrow. So he now weighs 12 lbs 6 oz and is 22 inches in length. So, basically, he started out tiny in comparison to most newborns and in 2 months is still not very big in length but is huge in weight for his age. We're raising a little porker.

I still can't believe it's been 2 months since he was born! He's already started laughing a little now and then. He started smiling a while ago but his smiles are getting so much bigger and more frequent. He especially smiles a lot in the morning and after a feeding when I'm playing with him and talking to him. He still cries a lot in the evenings before bed. But sometimes when I play silly games with him or read or talk to him or even in his sleep sometimes he'll giggle.

We have a bedtime ritual every night. I feed him a bottle. Then I give him a bath and put him in his PJs. I read him a picture book then put him to bed. It seems to work well. He only usually wakes for 1 feeding during the night and it's not usually till he's slept for 5 or 6 hours. I still rock him to sleep when he's upset. I don't feel he's old enough yet to allow him to cry himself to sleep. He doesn't understand just yet and will just feel alone and abandoned by me. When he's really having trouble sleeping, like right now when he's sick and not feeling well, I will stay by his bassinet all night and day and rock him and read to him until he falls asleep again.

I am no longer exhausted all the time. Instead I am loving life as a mom. I get plenty of time to myself when he's sleeping still or contentedly playing by himself. I read so many books now. Josh and I haven't let a new baby slow us down too much. We still go out sometimes and whenever we go tot he store or anywhere we take him with us. He loves driving in the car on long car rides and he loves getting to see new places. He smiles and just looks all around wherever we take him.

I talk to Justace all the time and read to him. I sing him songs and let him listen to music and audio books when I'm busy.

The carrier my mother bought me has been a huge lifesaver. I can wear him when I am doing dishes or when he's upset and won't go to sleep. He falls right asleep on my chest when I'm wearing him and I don't have to carry him around all day long so my hands are free. He pretty much loves a clean diaper and a bottle and then being held for a while.