Liam and Gibson: Gibson at Two (and a Half) Months Old

Gibson will be 11 weeks old in a couple of days. He is a sweet little guy and still a little snuggler.

He had his two month check up last week and these were his stats:

Weight: 12 pounds, 7 ounces (90th percentile)
Height: 24 inches (the sheet says 99th percentile, but I was told he was actually off the charts!)
Head Size: 16 inches (98th percentile)

He's a big baby! I'm wondering about the percentiles, though. I looked back at Liam's 2 month stats, and the weight and height are exactly the same, but they put him in the 75th percentile for weight and 80th percentile for height. Hmmm...It's a different doctor, but surely they use the same chart. It's pretty cool, though, that they were the same size at the same age. Liam's head was only 15 inches at 2 months, but he also had a large flat spot. I'm still not sure which way his eyes will go. In pictures, they look brown to me, but in person they are still bluish/gray. I want him to have brown eyes. He definitely has a darker complexion than Liam. He's not tan or anything, but I think he will have the ability to tan! Liam has porcelain white skin like I had, and I don't really tan. We think Gibson will end up looking more like Will. He has outgrown all newborn clothes, and wears mainly 3 month and 0-3 month stuff.

A couple of weeks ago, Gibson finally stopped sleeping on top of me at night. Since then, he divides his time between his crib and laying in the crook of my arm beside me in the bed. It's still not ideal, but I do have hope he will continue to sleep for longer stretches in his crib. I've definitely gotten used to having him close by, though. I usually wake up to sweet smiles from him.

In the past month, Gibson has started to do a whole lot of smiling! I'm the one who gets most of the smiles, and all I have to do is smile at him and his face will usually light up. Will and Liam get plenty of smiles too, though. I think I just spend more time face to face with him. I typically get lots of smiles when I change his diaper. No giggles yet, but he does make cooing noises. His first sound has been "agoo" just like Liam's was. Gibson is definitely vocalizing a lot more and does it in response of being spoken to, just because he feels like it, or if he's talking to his teddy bear. When he's upset (which isn't very often), his crying is a lot louder than it used to be. He has definitely been finding his voice this month.

Gibson does like his big brother, but I still have to keep them separated a lot because of Liam. By separated, I mean not touching, not in completely different rooms or something like that. I kind of wish Liam would just ignore Gibson a little bit more, but instead he wants to touch him and mess with him. A lot. Out of love. Out of disobedience to mama and daddy some too. When we try to get him to stop, Liam tries harder. Very frustrating. I tried letting him just see what he would do without interfering yesterday while Gibson was sitting in his bouncy chair. Liam lunged at Gibson and ended up hitting him on the belly. It made Gibson cry, but he stopped as soon as I picked him up, so I think it really just scared him. Still, these days nothing makes me angrier faster than Liam trying to get at Gibson. That's why Liam is getting his own baby doll (yes, a doll!) this week so I can tangibly teach him how to treat a baby. Hopefully that will help.

As a result of Liam's unpredictability, Gibson doesn't get to spend hardly any time at all on the floor. He would surely get trampled. He does tummy time in his crib, but hasn't gotten to play with many toys yet since Liam also tries to take those as well. Such is the life of a little brother, I guess.

I've taken both boys out by myself more this month, as in twice (as opposed to zero times). Both times went well and gave me confidence that I can handle it. Of course, when you have your second child, you realize just how easy a tiny baby is compared to when they become mobile and beyond. So yeah it's alright now because Gibson usually snoozes the whole time! In one day (actually in the span of only 3 hours), I took both boys to have their picture made, out to eat in an "estraunt," and to Gibson's two month appointment. It was exhausting, but everyone behaved.

Also this month, we went as a family to Day Out with Thomas (see previous post) but Gibson slept the entire time strapped to me in the wrap. Gibson and I also took a quick 12 hour trip to Louisiana so I could visit my dad in the hospital. My sweet friend Kelli babysat Gibson while I was at the hospital. He did great on the trip and slept the entire way there and back.

Gibson is still breastfeeding as much as he can and drinking formula to make up the difference. He does well with both and we're both still happy with the situation, and this time around I know that's the most important thing. Any day that he gets even one drop of breastmilk, I will count it as a victory. I can still count on one hand the number of times he has spit up since he was born. He likes to eat, and he belches like a 45 year old man. It's awesome. Gibson has also had eczema at times as well as the good ole cradle cap. Liam had and still has some eczema, which we found out was caused by a cat allergy. Gibson's may or may not be cause by the same thing.

This time around, I'm definitely enjoying this newborn/infant stage much more. I look at Gibson and thank God for him all the time. He is a blessing to our family for sure. At this point with Liam, we were in the middle of thrush, tummy troubles, and still being scared new parents. It's definitely easier and more enjoyable this time. I love having two sons!

Week Five: