Joey: 3 Months

Here we are at the end of the fourth trimester, and this baby boy is continuing to amaze and delight us all every day. I can't believe what a difference a few weeks make. He's just a plump, squeezable, slobbery, smiley bundle of love. He's got hands on him all the time and faces right up in his because nobody can get enough. Timmy remarked to me the other day, completely unprompted: "When we first had Joey I didn't like him, but now I really like him." I guess he's easier to like when he doesn't spend so much time crying. Of course as his mama, I've loved him from the beginning, but it's fun to see his siblings enjoying him so much.

There was a morning not long ago that was just one of those mornings: kids not listening to me, sniping at one another, me getting annoyed. That hour of getting everyone ready and out the door for school can be such a crucible. Then I heard Joey calling from my bedroom and was like here's one more thing. But when I brought him out everybody surrounded him and started cooing to him, loving on him and laughing. I marveled at how this baby had managed to turn our morning around all by himself. He is such a gift.

I realized just how much more he had changed in another month the other day when Annie came into my bedroom and asked, "Where is Joey?" Joey was sitting in the rock 'n play in the kitchen, the room Annie had just been in when she came in from outside. This scenario would never have happened a few weeks ago. If Joey was awake everyone knew exactly where he was. But nowadays you might walk right past him as he sits there playing with his hands and looking at the ceiling.

This past month has seen him becoming a lot more interested in what's going on around him. He is Mr. Rubberneck, always turning his head this way and that at all the different things that catch his eye: the slats of the blinds, the blades of the ceiling fan, the branches on the trees. He is easily distracted from nursing too, just by the sight of my face. He looks up at me even in the darkness with his big open-mouthed slobbery grin, and coos to me with is sweet little voice. It is charming and endearing, but also a little frustrating at those times when I just need him to eat! We spend a lot of time just staring at each other, he and I. I've also figured out how to make him laugh by nuzzling him with my chin right where his double-chin meets his chest. It's the best!

Sleep is going great. He goes down for his naps a lot more easily during the day. I just watch for when his head gets extra wobbly and he rubs his eyes. He just needs me to lay him down and pat his bum a few times, and he's off to dreamland. Sometimes I just put him down and walk away, and he's asleep when I come back to check on him. He has been consistently in bed at least an hour before we are every night -- all the celebration emojis! We have been able to watch at least one episode of The Walking Dead every night and it has been awesome! He usually wakes up once in the wee hours to eat, and sometimes a second time. He's typically up for the day at 7 and down for his first nap at 8, give or take an hour.

Joey's favorite way to ride is in this vintage Ergo from 2009 -- back when you could have any color Ergo you wanted as long as that color was black, camel or cranberry.

He still doesn't like being in his carseat. There's been some improvement -- he tolerates it for a while without crying, and he falls asleep if we go a ways without stopping at any lights. So there's a glimmer of hope for our trip to Charlotte, NC and then Ohio next month. But we need to just be prepared for a lot of crying. I'm going to bring bottles and my pump too, because I don't think he'll nurse well on the road either. Too much noise and distraction. I need to start preparing myself for the worst and just keep reminding myself that it's temporary. Another thing I just remembered is whenever we finally get him out of the seat, say after the 30-minute ride back from school, he's very sweaty. I removed that padded insert that it came with, and I always just have him dressed in a light cotton outfit, and I wish there was more I could do to keep him from getting so hot in that baby bucket. He'll be soaking through his outfits on long car rides, and that's not even an exaggeration.

He rolled over belly to back about a week ago, the earliest of all of mine to roll.

He's wearing mostly 3-6 along with his stretchier 0-3 clothes. I'm still squeezing him into the Up & Up size 1 diapers because I still have plenty left. I've also started using cloth diapers whenever we're at home during the day -- good old-fashioned prefolds and covers left over from my brief cloth diaper experiment with Timmy as a toddler. I hadn't planned on using them this time around, but at one point I was running out of disposables and expecting a delivery from Target any day, and I did not want to go out and buy more. Then I thought, well there is that bin full of cloth diapers in the closet that will work in a pinch. Once I'd used a few I decided why not use them all the time? It's easy enough to do, and it saves on disposables. He's wearing one in the picture with the plaid shorts, but they're not a good fit with those. They do work well with the snap-up rompers and pajamas he wears when we're bumming around the house. 

squishy thighs

People are always telling me, "He looks just like Timmy!" Maybe one or two people have said he looks like Delaney. I think he has the same nose and mouth has Delaney, and maybe sort of the same eyes. But mostly I think he has his own look. I put together this collage of all of them at three months, the age when they stop looking like newborns and start looking like themselves. It's fascinating to me how different they all are. If I hadn't given birth to them myself, I wouldn't even know any of them are related.

Another month has flown by. I can't believe how lucky we are to have this boy in our life.