So Alex is 15 weeks today. I actually had to open up the calendar and count to make sure I was remembering correctly, as if time is starting to speed up but me - not so much!

He’s been hitting milestones all over the place as of late:

• Rolling over
• Grasping
• Smiling and laughing
• Standing up when I hold his hands
• Great head control
• Toy preference

He even seems to be pre-teething a little - terrifying as my mother told me I had my first tooth at four months - a mere three weeks away for Alex!  He’s also having a little bit of weight gain issues, but we think we’ve identified and fixed that issue. He gained again this week so we’re confident that he’s back on the right track there. It’s so far the most frustrating part of going back to work. I keep getting the question “How long are you going to breastfeed him” as if I should have stopped already. Yes it’s hard. Yes it’s worth it. I’ll do it as long as he needs it.

Last weekend was his first big trip! We went to visit my parents up in Boston as a surprise for my mom’s birthday, and to celebrate the 4th. He did awesome on the ride both ways, even though we learned a few things:

• At least for now, I ride in the back with him. The difference between cranks and happy is the ability to quickly get a toy to him, or his pacifier back to him. Once he’s able to grab and hit the mouth target better it’ll be different.
• Pack double what you think you’ll need. Then pack another 50% more. Trust me.
• Toys were bought. Many, many toys. I think because he wasn’t home so much in the beginning and we were so hands on with him in the hospital meant that he didn’t have as many toys and books as he needed. We’ve since fixed this

Since he’s been home, we used the opportunity given to us by being away from our usual routines here to break a bad habit - letting him nap in the swing. I called it the artificial sleep inducer - it’s awesome, but man. Too easy to let him sleep there and not in his crib. So now all naps are upstairs. To that end, Chris (who usually is the night-night person) has started putting him to sleep in his crib. Evenings now go something like this:

• 8-9ish - Bed in Crib
• 2-4ap - Up for eating, back into the crib
• 6am - up again, and sleeps with us for another hour or two

It’s working for the most part. I do not like having him in another room for the sleeping though. But he doesn’t seem to mind, so I need to suck it up

He’s finally caught up on all of his 2 month shots (we’re delaying, doing about 1/week) and all is well there. His follow up surgery is scheduled for August 12th, so we’re hoping that day comes and goes with little fuss and fanfaire. For now, we’re just enjoy the summer with our darling boy.

Pictures:

July 4th in Boston: http://gallery.turnerhq.com/v/babyturner/july408/