Yesterday, Gavin turned 3 months old! He’s so quickly exiting the newborn stage and entering the more independent (though still very dependent) infant stage. I thought it would be nice to highlight how our little guy has grown, both physically and developmentally. Gavin has nearly doubled his birth weight over the past 3 months, weighing in right around 11 pounds now. While he was gaining about two pounds per month, I’ve noticed a slight decrease recently. From what I’ve read, this is completely normal. As babies age, their rate of weight gain decreases, particularly breastfed babies. The last time he was measured, he was 24 inches long (20 inches at birth). He is still a long and lean little guy, but has certainly filled out over the months, especially his face and thighs. His 0-3 month clothes fit him quite well (some are almost getting too small) and he now fits into some of his 3-6 month sizes as well. He’s gone from eating 9-10 times per day to 7 times per day (some days only 6). And he’s down from nine to 10 dirty diapers per day to just two to three per day…how exciting, huh? Gavin is getting very good at supporting his head, both when he is carried and when on his tummy. In fact, I think he’s actually beginning to like tummy time a bit now.
What’s more exciting are the developmental changes. He smiles at everyone, recognizes familiar faces and voices, coos uncontrollably, squeals, waves his arms and legs in glee (still a bit uncoordinated), grabs toys, delights in bright colored objects, stares at pictures, and just loves to take in everything around him. He’s become a very efficient eater over the past weeks, but there are times now, when he just wants to have a conversation with me instead of eating. He is highly distractible, but in the cutest, most precious way. He wakes up happy as a lark (never really understood that metaphor) in the mornings and flashes huge smiles when he sees me in the morning. It melts my heart. This is truly what having kids is all about!
Other changes: sleep. Gavin is now consistently sleeping in 6-8 hour stretches at night, down from waking about every two and half to three hours as a newborn. He sleeps for about 11-12 hours at night and much less during the day than he did as a newborn. I do think it is a blessing that newborns sleep so much during the day – new mommies need their rest, too, during those first weeks. So, as I posted a couple weeks ago, we’re still struggling with day time sleep. I’ve been doing an incredible amount of reading on this and I’ve self-diagnosed him with “one sleep cycle disorder”. He will sleep for about 45 minutes in his crib, the length of one sleep cycle, and then he’s not able to put himself back to sleep. Somehow he’s able to do it at night, just not during the day. So, I’ve been working diligently to help him learn to put himself to sleep. This afternoon I had success, though it may be short lived. Gavin slept for nearly three hours...waking for short periods every 45 minutes. I think, though, that it is one thing I will not be able to consistently teach him prior to my return to work (which is tomorrow). It’s difficult for me to accept this, as I’ve always been one to finish what I start. I suppose it is something that Daddy will have to work on with him this summer!
All in all, we have an adorable, loveable, healthy little man…who is growing ever too quickly!
To wrap up the “Then and Now”, here are some comparisons of “Then” and “Now”...
Our family, "Then" and "Now"
In the car seat "Then" and "Now"
In the Boppy "Then" and "Now"
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