CCB at 3 months

Heavens to Betsy, I just love this boy

At 3 months this ball of chunkiness did not have a formal doctor's appointment, so there are no measurements, and thankfully no shots this time around.

I can't get enough of this wee little man. I'm constantly kissing on those cheeks and nuzzling those rolls of his. His sticky-out-ears are perfect for munching and whispering words like "Hello handsome." Grace seems to have the same Christian related addiction that we all do. With a smile like that, how could you not?

The older he gets the more he has developed his own "look." His fair skin tone, light eyes, and light hair lead him to look a lot more like his Dad, but his nose is exactly like Grace's so he looks a little like her too. I'm sure as the days and weeks continue to fly by he'll really come into his own and truly have his own look.

Christian is developing his own personality as well, and there is one thing in particular that he loves: his schedule. I wasn't very rigid with sleep training Christian like I was with Grace. It was all loosey goosey. Around 5 weeks I started being more on the ball with an Eat, Wake, Sleep cycle every three hours. But, with the second baby, I figured that he would learn to be a lot more go with the flow and to be honest I was dreading (and putting off) sleep training him. I carted him around everywhere figuring that he would sleep when and where he wanted. Boy was I wrong. If I was out of the house and messed with his schedule, he was an absolute wreck. But, if I was at home sticking to his schedule like a military drill sergeant he was as happy as can be. I call this a "frustrating blessing." It's a blessing because he is very predictable. I know that an hour and a half after he wakes up, he wants to go back to bed, and an he will nap for an hour and a half and almost on the dot he will wake up wanting to eat. In between sleeping and eating he is happy and content. The frustrating part is, that if we are out he rarely sleeps in his carseat, he wants his bed, his blanket nuzzled in his face and he wants nothing else. Needless to say, we spend a lot of time at home.

He loves having a blanket in his face. As in, you see a picture with a big red X across it saying "Do not let your child do this," that is how he wants his blanket, all up in his grill. When I figured out the blanket trick I spent many a nap-time panicking and running in to check on him and make sure the airway I had created was still in tact. Since then we have used Grace's spare blanket that is crocheted causing there are lots of holes and breathing airways available. It has worked marvelously.

Homeboy loves my Dad. I'm not sure what is it, perhaps their co-membership in the Chrome Dome Trio, but the best smiles from Christian always came when my Dad would be holding him. Otherwise he is a hard egg to crack, not offering smiles to just anyone.

Nursing has been a battle. A battle in which I have cried many a time. I think he might have an intolerance to a milk protein, so I have started to cut out dairy to see if that helps. Or he just takes in too much air, or my let-down is too hard. Regardless, he fusses and cries and I burp and burp and burp him endlessly. Feeding him for 45 minutes to and hour is not a shocking thing around these parts. I have relied a lot on pumping and bottle feeding but I think that is making the nursing worse so I have tried to cut back. I'm continuing to power through hoping that it will get better, but my sanity is a little bit on the fence. Only time will tell.

Finally, I was at the park with some girlfriends and their kids today and I posed the question, "Did you think, when you learned Christian's name, that I had a theme going with my kids' names?" About 75% of the girls laughed and said that they did think I had a theme going, a nice little religious theme with the names of my kids. That gave me a good laugh too. When we decided on Christian's name, I remember telling Aaron, "The only negative about Christian's name is that with Grace it seems a little religious." Aaron responded back that he didn't think it mattered or that people would notice, and to be honest I didn't think about it again. It wasn't until after he was born and people would ask me "What are your kids names?" that I realized how thematic and religious sounding their names were together. I can honestly say that neither of their names were given to them for religious reasons, we just both liked the names in and of themselves. However, combined it seemed like we had a vibe going in our family. I joked with my girlfriends that we should name the next one "Testimony" or "Reverence" just for kicks. The funny thing is that when I was pregnant, and before we found out it was a boy, I liked the name Hope, and one of Aaron's all time favorite names is Faith. There is something in the water we're drinking with these names. At this point, although both names are beautiful, I don't think we'll be using them. So, in case you were wondering, there is no theme intended with the names of our children, it is purely coincidental. Oddly coincidental, but still coincidental. (Should I say coincidental one more time?)

So those are the facts of CCB at 3 months. We love him to pieces.