[+] weighs 19#10oz as of this morning. He is such a chunk and I can't believe how close the gap between him and Mark is getting. I can't wait to see if they basically end up the same size sooner rather than later.
[+] still only has his bottom two teeth but there are days I swear when I stick my finger in there I'm going to feel a new top one popping through. His gums are all sorts of swollen up there but so far nothing's come out yet.
[+] is still battling the constipation game and we're trying to get a handle on it. After trying more diet related changes with really no improvement we've gone to the "bigger guns" as they say. He gets daily Miralax in either a bottle or mixed into his pureed food and we picked up an infant probiotic with vitamin D. We've switched up the formula he gets (even if it's just one bottle a day we'll try anything). He also gets lower fat yogurt for the probiotic effect but decreased fat content to hopefully not block him up as much. We offer him prune juice daily and are still avoiding the big constipating foods but basically can't just feed him straight prunes all day every day so we've been a bit more lax on his food choices.
[+] absolutely loves food, speaking of eating. Seriously if he cries and you feed him something he's happy as a clam. Lately he's eating purees, baby puffs, teething biscuits, halved blueberries, pieces of bread, noodles, squished avocado, bites of cheddar biscuits, greek yogurt, scrambled eggs, cottage cheese, french fries and basically everything he can get his hands on.
[+] isn't mobile yet but I think he's getting closer. He hates being on his back at all unless he's getting over the top excitement and play from one of us. He sits playing with toys and can successfully get from sitting to laying if he tries to reach for something. He also "crawls" fairly well into our laps and over our legs but I think it's because something is helping him hold his belly up. Ha! He's also much more content standing with us, even next to furniture, so hopefully we're making some gross motor progress soon.
[+] just switched from three naps to two after what seemed like a daily struggle to get him down especially for his first nap of the day. We're actually really pleased with this schedule change because it seems like he's sleeping better and now his afternoon nap overlaps with Mark's which is a huge plus. This also means he eats five instead of six times a day either nursing or bottles.
[+] has learned to blow raspberries and it's the cutest thing ever. Fairly consistently if you blow them at him he returns them back at you. In all honesty we haven't been very good at "teaching him" things like waving hi or sign language etc etc (life with two kids problems!) so it's nice to see him picking up on stuff regardless. He also lifts his little arms up if he's sitting on the floor and you ask him "Uppie Pat?"
[+] nicknames: Pat Pat, little love, buddy, chunky
[+] likes: eating, his big brother, Ollie, momma, his Zutano booties
[+] dislikes: getting into his carseat, putting on his sleep sac, being constipated
[+] am still nursing Pat and the fact that I can say that is extremely rewarding. At this point with Mark he was getting mostly bottles of formula and I had officially thrown in the towel at this point. While I have a sneaking suspicion our time might be dwindling (i.e. decreasing supply) I'm so much more at piece with it. I'm hoping to give it my best effort in the next few weeks to get the supply up a bit but actually found myself thinking the first of the year might be a good time to switch exclusively to bottles and just pump as much as I can without the stress of it. Well see what happens because I still really love nursing him which is entirely different than with Mark but it feels good to be at this place.
[+] have completed all my residency interview travel and I'm both thrilled and scared at the same time. The novelty of traveling wore off relatively quickly and selling yourself on basically the most important "job interview" of your life gets extremely exhausting after a while. Now comes the daunting task of actually figuring out where I want to end up and hoping I match even somewhere (!!!) so keep your fingers crossed for me in the coming months.
[+] get so much joy being this boy's momma! He open mouth kisses me on an hourly basis when we're home playing. He literally throws himself from J's arms toward me or cries and whines until I pick him up when I get home from work. He snuggles into the nape of my neck and sometimes just wants to sit snuggled in my lap staring up at me. He is the mommas-boy I always dreamed of.
[+] am thrilled that I have changed my schedule and officially get two weeks at home with my boys around Christmas. Yesterday was my last day of my rotation and I won't go back until after the new year. Granted the month of January is set to be one of the most demanding I've had since Pat's been born but with how much I love Christmas time and this season of the year I couldn't have asked for anything better. Bring on the festivities and the Christmas music and the cookie baking and the holiday cheer!
