the valentine nest: Arlo at 2 months

Mr. two month old has begun wooing our hearts with his grins & sweet sounds all day every day. We are glad he has survived another month with 4 older siblings including two extremely unpredictable ones : ) His cheeks are filling out & he has started to resemble his brothers a bit more.

TWO MONTH STATS

12 pounds & 13 ounces

23.5 inches long

both 65% percentile

This means he has gained 5 1/2 pounds & grown 3 inches...it's safe to say he's getting plenty!

In the picture above he is snuggled with the softest blanket that Aunt Jenny made & sent from Poland. It made him smile for the camera. We have missed the Polish Valentines so much & it makes me sad they aren't here to meet our newest babe but our FaceTime & messaging have helped keep up with each other. I never mentioned that on the day Arlo was born Aunt Jenny & Uncle Steve sent a voice recording of them singing "Happy Birthday" to Arlo. I had tears rolling down my cheeks. They were the first to sing that song to him which is so special & I look forward to telling him about that someday.

Back to Numero Cinco....

EATING: He has settled into a more consistent routine of nursing during the daytime hours eating around 7:30 am, 10:30 am, 1:30 pm, 5 pm & 7 pm. He goes down for the night & usually wakes between 2 & 3 am, has a very business like feeding after a couple grins then crashes till 7ish. When he is ready to eat there is no postponing. He is in attack mode & attempts to latch onto noses, chins, shoulders etc. He's all smiles when his tank is full.

SLEEPING: This is another area in which he is becoming more consistent. Who doesn't love a good night sleep other than Anson right now ; ) After a day & a half of baby boot camp over Thanksgiving week he is falling asleep on his own every time he goes down. I say boot camp but really he didn't cry for more than 5-10 minutes which had already been happening here & there while I tended to another kiddo. He naps between each feeding but I think he may be close to dropping one of those. His afternoon nap is longer than the rest & we aim to keep him up between 5 & 7 pm even though it makes the bath & bedtime routine even more intense. If it is completely crazy we put him in the swing which he doesn't like too much. It calms him just enough but he rarely falls asleep there.

Night time has been amazing lately. He falls asleep by 7:30 after eating around 7. He then does his long stretch which is somewhere around 6-8 hours. One night he went nine...that was fabulous. After that middle of the night feeding he is asleep at the end of the feeding & doesn't fuss when back in bed. He makes it till morning & our goal is to get everyone out to the kitchen & breakfast on the table so I can feed him while we eat. A major change this month was flipping him to his tummy to sleep. He is our 4th tummy sleeper, Eloise is the only one that preferred her back. His scooting across the bed is what earned him the cradle to pack n play upgrade. His room is cozy, he's in a sleep sack & enjoys the hum of the sound machine. I'm about to order one of those for every bedroom...loving it!

He is loving older siblings for the most part minus the overabundance of attention he receives at some point each day. He does seem very relaxed when he looks around & notices it is only adults....I feel that way too each evening.

Here are a few shots of this cutie at 2 months old....