Okay, on to the Clayton part...
At about 2 and a half months right now, we have one happy little boy! At his 2mnth check up he weighed in at 10lbs 8oz which was an increase of 8oz from the week before when we went in to have a cough checked out. He was in the 90th percentile for height and 25th percentile for weight so we have a tall skinny one. This kid is growing like a weed! By now, (about 3 weeks later) I wouldn't be surprised if he was up to about 12.5 lbs. All in a span of a week, he jumped from 6 to 8 oz bottles, slept through the night consistently and moved to his own crib. It makes me really sad that he "grew up" that much, that fast. At the same time, I love watching how he has developed this little personality. I no longer have to cross my fingers and hope for a smile. I now know exactly what it takes to get an ear to ear grin.... this week it seems to be his Mama singing Nicki Minaj. I think I would laugh too :)
One thing that I've found interesting since having Clayton is the advice that people give you when you have a baby (and yes, I know that I am guilty of this as well). Don't get me wrong, I am forever grateful for advice that people give me because people have the best intentions and a lot of times it really comes in handy. However, many times, I feel like I can't relate. I always feel like I am the opposite of every mom I know right now. I don't have any interest in video/movement monitors, I don't feed on demand, I took him out in public when he was a week old, I've left him with a sitter way earlier than I thought I would, I fully believe in "cry it out" etc.... When I was pregnant, I said that I wanted to be some kind of combination of a laid back mom and a super scheduler. (I know that is somewhat of a oxymoron but I will explain) A lot of people said things like "just wait and see, scheduling isn't so easy", "it's hard to be laid back when you worry about every little thing", "everything will be so different once he is here and all of your plans will go out the window." Those things couldn't be further from the truth for me. I have no doubt that's how things are for many people and I know that people mean well in saying those things. I have always known that I would be a strict sleep/eat scheduler. Since the day Clayton was born, I woke him up to feed him at very specific times, we then played and he went back down for a nap. (Read Babywise if you are interested in scheduling, is has some good pointers.) We have done this every single day with out fail. Now, 2 months later, he is a great napper. He tends to wake himself about 10 minutes before every feeding. Even if I have to wake him to eat, he is rarely cranky. He is a great sleeper at night. At most, he cries for about 10 minutes before giving in and is fast asleep. He drinks the full bottle most times and usually makes it the full span between feedings. Don't worry, I feed him early if not. That is the scheduler in me. The laid back mom part is the fact that he can follow this same schedule ANYWHERE. I've made a point to keep our lives from being restricted by his schedule as much as possible. I will do everything under the sun for my child but I fully believe that I can meet his every need with out being confined to my house for his 4 hour naps. I take him everywhere with me. He has learned to sleep in any crib, basket, pack n play, stroller, car seat, or pallet on the floor with almost any amount of background noise (except applause.) And if by chance his whole routine is thrown off ( i.e. yesterday I had a friend visit, went grocery shopping, and took Clay to his first baseball game) the beauty of the habit is that I don't need to panic and neither does he because the next day we will reset and get caught up. He and I both love our schedule but we go with the flow of the day and fit the schedule into whatever the day holds. I haven't always received the most positive feed back from people about our feeding/sleep scheduling but I have one happy, healthy little boy and he has two very happy, non-sleep deprived parents.
Clayton is so easy going and worry free. The most stressful part our day is making sure the diaper bag is packed to my standards before leaving the house. I love being a mom and I love this kid more than I could have ever imagined.
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