Two Months Old

Happy 2 months, baby Graham!  At the same time that I marvel at the fact that two whole months have passed since December 26, I also know there have been a few long days and nights in between.  Time is a funny thing.

In your second month, we've started to find our new normal.  Which means I'm still learning how to get us all completely and properly dressed, groomed and out the door in the mornings and have a hot dinner on the table in the evenings.

You continue to love to eat, although, you are slowly, slowly beginning to go longer between feedings - 2-2.5 hours during the day, 4 hours at night, but you had a 6-hour stretch overnight in the hotel over Presidents' Day Weekend.

Yes, we took our first overnight trip with you.  To Ocean City, Maryland, on a very chilly Presidents' Day Weekend.  You travelled well in the car, except when you were ready to eat - there was no putting you off just to make it a little further down the road first.

You smiled for the first time and now you smile at us every day, several times a day.  There is no other joy like it.

Your smile was not yet regular enough, though, to be shown off in our complimentary newborn photo session early in your second month.  Instead of the soft, candid, timeless images I'd envisioned, we ended up with heartwarmingly silly, sometimes unintentionally awkward or goofy, commemorations of your early days - let's just say none of us were having our best day that day, despite the photographer's best efforts:

Still there were definitely some sweet ones:

Supposedly there exists in the world babies who quietly, peacefully drift off to sleep for their daytime naps.  You are further proof that I do not birth any of them - like your brother, you fight sleep during the day tooth and nail.  Unlike your brother, though, at night, you eat and go right back to sleep (in your own bed for about two weeks now) - no pacing the floor to convince you to return to sleep.

Speaking of your brother, I've dubbed him the "kamikaze kisser," as he frequently swoops in and peppers your head and face with the barrage of kisses he previously reserved for my pregnant belly.  You watch him attentively when he's in view; your legs kick wildly when you can only hear him.  When you start crying, he vanishes pretty quickly, but when you and I are both at our wit's end, he reappears, asking, "Do you need any help, Mama?"  He's a great big brother, just like we knew he would be - he's so very proud of you.  We all are.

Too much these days, I focus on what you're not doing - sleeping through the night, napping easily and peacefully during the day - instead of focusing on what you are doing:  you no longer wake screaming every time you awake up - in the mornings, we actually hear you cooing pleasantly to yourself; trying to learn to suck your thumb; and slowly stretching out those overnight feedings.  Oh, and growing like a weed - you weighed 14 pounds, 8.2 ounces at your 2-month check-up today, and measured 23.5 inches long.

I have to constantly remind myself - more than I would have imagined - that these days are really very short-lived.  Just a phase that will vanish without notice.  I look up one day and realize you've settled into a regular nap routine, no longer wake in the middle of the night, and don't need me near as much as you once did.  I have to constantly remind myself that every day is just a day that moves you one more step away from me.  Then I don't mind having to cuddle with you in the early afternoon, so we can both get just a few minutes of sweet sleep and make it through the rest of our (sometimes not so short) day.  Thank you so much for coming to us - you've filled a huge hole for all of us.  We love you.