3 months!

On November 19th Jackson turned 3 months old! I still need to take his pictures though...I want to take them early in the day when he's happiest and we've just been so busy that we haven't had a chance yet. I was going to do them this morning but I have a cold and feel really crummy and I don't think the little man is feeling so hot either. I'm thinking we'll do them Thursday morning.

Our dr doesn't do a 3 month we'll check so I don't know his stats but he's becoming so chubby! He's mainly in 3-6 month clothes now, although his 0-3 onesies still fit and he's still wearing 0-3 and 3 month sleepers, the 3-6 ones are way to big! We went shopping last weekend and bought some new clothes! I think I have an addiction to buying him cute little clothes! It's so fun to shop for tiny cute clothes! I get his Christmas outfit! He's in size 2 diapers and I HATE paying for expensive diapers! I bought pampers when I was pregnant and I always bought them on good sales. Well this last time we needed diapers I tried Huggies because they were much cheaper and we didn't like them. They are narrower then pampers and they leaked on Jackson. So I bought small packs of Luvs and up & up diapers to try since they are both much cheaper and we really like up & up. We'll be using those from now on! And they are only like $0.14 a diaper!

Anyways...Jackson is changing so much everyday! He's becoming more aware of his surroundings every day. I love to just sit and watch him. You can tell that he's learning new things. Everything goes straight into his mouth and he's getting much more coordinated about actually getting things into his mouth. Sometimes he's so talkative. He loves to play "boo". We use a blanket or burp cloth and cover his face for just a second and pull it off and say boo and he smiles so big! He may have sorta laughed once or twice but it was more of a smile with a happy noise not a full on laugh or giggle yet. Josh tickles his tummy and he smiles like crazy. He's still not a fan of tummy time but he loves to sleep on his tummy. At night he's still swaddled but during the day we let him nap on his tummy when were right there next to him. His head control is pretty good though. He loves laying on my chest and he'll lift his head up and look all around so we consider that tummy time!

He sat in his stroller (without the infant seat) for the first time while we where out shopping on Saturday and he likes it! I leaned the seat back but not too far so he could be comfy and still look around. He loves sitting up and being able to look around and be right in the action.

His hands are always moving. We call it frantic hands. He grabs everything and he's holding his toys now and of course putting them in his mouth. He grabs the washcloth in the bath now too and loves to put it in his mouth.

We ordered him a jumper for Christmas and it should get here tomorrow, I'm sure we'll open it right away.

Some nights he sleeps better then others. We are working on getting him to bed easier. He usually goes down at 10 so this week were aiming for him to be asleep in his bed by 9:45, next week we'll aim for 9:30, then 9:15, then 9. I'd love it if we could get him to have a 9 pm bedtime. That way I can go to bed a little earlier some nights if I'm really tired or I could stay up to get some things done without feeling like its so late. He usually wakes up to eat around 3-4 am but has gone as late at 6 am. I wish he's go 9pm - 6am! But I'm just happy he's only waking up once. He's still in his little bed in our bed and I don't know when we'll try to move him to his room. My in laws are getting us a video monitor for Christmas so maybe that'll make it a little easier to put him into his room. Some mornings if he wakes up at like 5-6 am I can bring him into bed with me and we can sleep longer. One morning he slept until 9am with me! It's funny because I'll put him in the middle of the bed at least a foot away from me and in his sleep he'll wiggle his way as close to me as he can get.

Here's some pics:
Playing with his ball:








Bath time:








Playing time with momma:














Sleeping, he had been much farther to the left and wiggled his little butt right up against me:


Playtime with his kitty:











And with his new paci plushie! We loved the wubbanub but he stopped taking the soothie paci awhile ago and has been taking the MAM ones, well I found this that works with it and he loves his monkey!

Weekly randoms

With being back at work, having a (almost) 3 month old, and the holidays right around the corner life is super busy so I think I'll try to so a weekly bullet point type list of updates. Of course I'll still do J's 3 month post, but for now here are some randoms:

*Being back at work sucks, the hardest part, aside from missing my baby like crazy, is probably the exhaustion. I am so tired.
*Pumping at work sucks. Its kinda nice to have the extra break but I feel sorta bad, like maybe people think I'm not working hard or I'm taking longer to pump then I should or something, I don't know how to explain it. No one has done anything to make me feel this way, just my work ethic I guess that makes me feel that way.
*Another thing that sucks about pumping is worrying about getting enough milk. It's stressful.
*Jackson is now drinking a 5oz bottle every 3 hours! I used to give him 3oz when he'd have an occasional bottle. Then when I went back to work we started doing 4oz because that's about how much I pump each time, well that wasn't keeping him satisfied so we went up to 5oz!
*When I went back to work and J started having more bottles he started sleeping longer, like 10-4. Well since going to 5oz it's gotten even better. He slept until 5:30 yesterday and today until 6:30, ate, then back to sleep until 8! Yay! I woke up at 5:30 though and I pumped with the manual pump. I try to keep it upstairs and pump if I wake up in the middle of the night. I think it helps keep my supply up and it gives me an extra bottle. I got 5 oz and didn't even pump until I was empty because I knew he probably wouldn't sleep a lot longer.
*Josh's work made changes to their health insurance and they now cover spouses too. So he added J and I to his insurance. Its about $100 more then what we are paying now but worth it because I will be able to go part time now!
*As of the first of the year I will either go part time at hobby lobby or work for josh! I can't wait. I wish I could do it now but the insurance doesn't start until January 1st so I have to stay full time to keep my insurance with hobby lobby until then.
*J is growing out of his 0-3 and 3 month clothes. Today I'm going to start putting away the clothes that don't fit and replacing them with 3-6 and 6 month clothes!
*I hate baby clothes sizing. Especially Carter's. They go 3, 6, 9 months etc instead of 0-3, 3-6, 6-9. So it confuses me. 6 month clothes sound so big but they are pretty much the equivalent of 3-6. And I hate that all the brands are so different, like he can still wear newborn size circo (target brand) onesies but another brand 0-3 is too small! Sizing should be the same across all brands!
*There are at least 10 short sleeve size 0-3 onesies in J's closer that he's never even worn and probably won't wear. I bought/was given WAY to many 0-3 onesies. It also never occurred to me that he wouldn't wear short sleeve onesies much because its cold so I put him in long sleeves much more.
*I discovered Carmel macchiato coffee creamer so I've been putting that in my coffee with whip cream and Carmel sauce...I'm addicted...it's so yummy!
*We are going to see if we are candidates for LASIK. We bought a groupon that was $100 and gives you $1200 towards it at a popular well known place here and now I need to make appointments for our consults today. With the deal we have to do it by December 31! I'm so excited! I hope I'm a candidate! It would be so nice to not have to worry about glasses and contacts!
*I hate this time of year at work. It's busy because of the holidays and people are so rude. It sucks because I love Christmas but it makes me wish it was already over.
*I hate that I have to work so much during the holidays. I feel like I'm going to miss out on a lot of J's first Christmas, but I know I'm not really really missing anything because he's so young. He has no idea what's going on.
*J is changing so much. He loves his hands and they are always in his face, he sucks on them and rubs his eyes and face. Anything he can get his mouth close to he tries to lick and suck on.
*J's nails grow so fast I feel like I'm constantly cutting them. And if I don't cut them often he scratches himself. He has a nasty little scratch on his nose right now :(
*I need wasn't planning on having professional pics done for J's 3 month pics, I was just going to try to do our own little photo shoot at home but now I'm thinking I might have pro ones done because I could also get our Christmas card pics out of it. There's a new photo place down the street that's only $89 so I'm thinking we'll just do it there. I need to call and make an appointment really soon.
*J has also been fussier lately in the late afternoon and evenings, hopefully he gets over it quickly.

And now for some pics:
Wearing a 3-6 month outfit:


Last night at bedtime someone was wide awake! He was being so cute, smiling at me with his bink in his mouth so I pulled it out and he was smiling away at me:

12 weeks!

How is it possible that my baby is 12 weeks old already!!!

A few days ago I felt like he grew so much overnight! Clothes that fit him fine days before were getting too small! He looked bigger! Crazy, right?! He's personality is starting to come out more. He loves to "talk" especially when he's laying on his changing table (in his room and the pack and play one in the basement) I hung toys above the one in his room and he "chats" with them. He smiles more and more and seems like he's on the brink of laughing. He has discovered his hands recently and figured out how to get them into his mouth. The loves to suck on/lick his hands...and anything else he can get his mouth close enough to! When I'm holding him with his head on my shoulder her tries to suck on my shoulder! He also kinda bats at his toys, but he's still working on that skill! His sleep has become more consistent. He has a bath at 8:30 followed by a little awake time and then a bottle of pumped milk. Josh gives him the bottle while I pump. And then bed at 10. He's been sleeping longer and longer, but some nights he'll wake earlier. Usually it's around 4-4:30 but sometimes as early as 3. If he wakes earlier then that I just put the binky back in and he goes back to sleep easily. I try the binky first and try to get him to soothe himself back to sleep with that until I know he's hungry, then I feed him and he goes right back down. His second stretch of sleep isn't as peaceful as the first. He usually has bad gas leading to a poop in the early am so I think that's why. He's usually up to eat again around 6-7am and then will usually snooze another hour or 2 after that then we get up for the day and get him dressed. On the mornings I work I either feed him or take him down to my mom and warm up a bottle of pumped milk. Then I get ready and pump right before I leave for work. Tomorrow I am going to try to pump on my way to work. We'll see how that works out!

Jackson loves being able to sit up and look around at everything. His head is still a bit wobbly so the bumbo seat doesn't work so well yet, well we went to ikea and there high chairs are super cheap and have a pretty high back so his nana bought him one and he loves it! He loves being able to look around at every one!



He's also been trying and sometimes succeeding at holding his bottle!






Sleepy baby:





Trying to eat Sophie's face:


Tummy time:


Trying on his new hat:





He's got the pouty face down!:




















He's so adorable! I love him so freakin much!

On a side note, I absolutely hate having to work. I hate being away from him. I miss him like crazy. And I only worked 2 partial days and I'm already exhasted. Working full time and taking care of him is too much. I honestly don't know how long I'll be able to handle it. We decided I would work full time thru the holidays and then I'd either go part time or quit and work for josh as soon as he has a position open up. I don't think I can make it that long. We'll see how this week goes, but I'm anticipating a major melt down, between missing my baby and being exhausted its bound to happen. Even with him sleeping longer I'm still not getting enough sleep. I always wake up way before him and have to pump because my boobs hurt and I want the extra milk I get from that pump session. I just want to stay home and take care of my baby!

11 weeks!

A lot going on this week! Nana (my mom) will be getting here tomorrow and I'll be working half days Thursday and Friday before going back to work full time Monday (not even going to go there right now because I'll have another melt down and start crying).

But little man is getting so big! He's smiling more and more everyday and "talking" I think he's on the verge of laughing! But since 3 months is coming up I'll save the update stuff for then. For now some pics of the little dude!

First- Jackson sleeps best close to me (and so do josh and I) so he was sleeping in the pack and play and most nights ending up in bed with me in the very early morning hours, he'd sleep great, me not do much. I was afraid one of us would roll over on him or something. I'd been eyeing the letter bed things that go in between the parents in the middle of the bed but they are $69.99. Well I went to kid to kid to see if I could find a cheap pack and play with a changing table thing on it for my mom to have in the basement and I found a little bed thing! $12.99!! Woohoo! And he sleeps really well in it! So now our pack and play is in the basement. Here's a pic of the little bed!


Tummy time:











"Playing" with Sophie





He likes to lick everything he can get his mouth close to now:


Pouting. I couldn't get a very good pic, but how am I going to ever say no to this face?!:


His new hat I got on etsy:


His even adorable when he yawns!

Jackson's first Halloween!

Yesterday was Jackson's first halloween! I did a little photo shoot with him at home to get some pics for his first Halloween. We got him a super man costume (just a sleeper with a cape). We handed out candy for a little while but he was having a fussy day.




























Handing out candy:


Passed out:


Sleepy super baby: