Two Months!

 Happy Two Month Birthday, Clayton!

This will be a long letter because you have changed so much in the past month! Every day it seems as if you are bigger, or are learning more things and in turn teaching us new things! You still are the most amazing baby ever. You still hardly ever cry. Seriously. I think you might cry about a total of 1 minute every day, at the most. Usually the only time you cry is when we are feeding you and we stop feeding you to burp you in the middle of the bottle. Sometimes you'll cry when you know you're alone. I am not sure how you know, but you really do! Mommy left the tv on once and left the room and you still managed to know you were by yourself and started crying. It was short though! As soon as you saw Mommy you stopped crying instantly! Other than the short little cries your preferred method of communication is still grunting! You crack us up! We were hoping that you would be cooing by now, but it seems as if you are perfectly happy with your grunts!

This has truly been a month of discovery for you. You have discovered your hands and your tongue! You love to stare at your hands and are trying to figure out just what they are good for! You haven't quite figured them out yet and sometimes you get worked up and they get to really moving! Occasionally you will bonk yourself in the face with one hand if it slips from the other! You still aren't sure how to coordinate them to grab onto your toys, but this morning, on your two month birthday, you grabbed a toy on your swing! Mommy was so impressed! You and your tongue are really funny! You will lick the water when it is poured over your face in the bath! Sometimes you just start sticking your tongue out in anticipation of the water! One day Mommy recorded you playing with your hands and sticking your tongue in and out. It was really funny and captured your new discoveries so well!

You are becoming so more alert now and are really starting to figure out this world! You will turn towards our voices when we talk to you, and you make great eye contact. The best thing too is that you now smile in response to things! It is WONDERFUL. We love your smile SO much! It is so beautiful! You are such a happy baby! You smiled for the first time right after turning one month old. You had started to smile somewhat for Mommy and Daddy at home, but it still wasn't quite in response to something that we said or did. However, one day at work, your Pop asked you if you wanted to "go ride in the back of the pickup" and you apparently thought that was hilarious and burst out into a big grin! Pop and Gia were thrilled to catch this big 'ole smile. Ever since you have smiled non-stop to all kinds of goofy things that we say! You are staying awake so much longer during the day now, so we are able to catch more and more smiles! You stay awake so often that when we were trying to take your newborn photos you wouldn't go to sleep, so we had to postpone! Silly boy!

You had a lot of "firsts" this month! We took you on your first overnight trip and you were such a trooper! We went to Lubbock for Evan's graduation and Liliana's 1st Birthday party! You were such a good baby! Mommy thought it would be hard to travel with you overnight, but you proved that you are super easy! You are SUCH a good traveler! We stick you in your car seat and you almost instantly go to sleep. If you don't then you just entertain yourself. You have NEVER cried in your car seat. A few times you fussed because your pacifier fell out of your mouth, but that was an easy fix! Thank you so much for being a good baby in your car seat.. you have no idea how much easier that makes our lives!!!

Another first was that you got to swim in a pool for the first time! Mommy and Daddy were in San Angelo for Sarah's Birthday party and her parents had a nice big pool! It was 110 degrees outside so we thought it was a good time to let you swim! Daddy took you in and dipped your legs in. At first you thought it was too cold but then after another dip you didn't mind at all! You didn't cry at all! We didn't put you in all of the way because we didn't have a swimsuit for you and your diaper was getting super heavy! ;-) We know that this summer we will have more opportunities to put you in a pool! We didn't doubt that you'd like the water since you like your bath so much!

Some other great things that happened this month were that you started to sleep longer at night, and now know that when you are put in your cradle that it means it is time for bed. Mommy usually feeds you and puts you down around 11 and then you will sleep until around 4 or 5. One night you went 7 hours!!! Now, Mommy must admit, I woke up and checked to make sure you were still breathing! After all, you had never slept that long without waking up to eat! Mommy worries when you do things amazing like that! It is a lot better now that you only get up once in the middle of the night. Now Mommy can get a little more sleep! Once you wake up to eat you normally get to sleep the rest of the night in Mommy & Daddy's bed though... Mommy likes to cheat and knows that you go to sleep super fast when you're in bed with us, so I stick you there and you go right back to sleep, meaning Mommy can go right back to sleep. I promise to not make a habit of it though... or will try not to!

Other news.. You can now hold your head up so well on your own. We will sit you on our knees and you will just stare and smile at us. You also sat in your bumbo chair for about a minute one night, but then were tired. You can raise your head so high on your own! You are even starting to be able to bear weight on your legs when we stand you up. Pop said today that you are such a big boy now because you can do all of this!

You're still great at tooting and burping! You are a true boy! I mentioned to Daddy one day that it would be so strange to us if it were our little girl doing all of these gassy movements, but when you do it, our little stinker, it is funny! However, you are still not very good at pooping! Poor baby! We had to take you to your first unscheduled doctors appointment because you had gone 6 days without a bowel movement. Mommy called the doctor after 2 days, and they told us to wait until 6!! It nearly killed us to wait that long while you were struggling. The doctor had us give you some suppositories and some tummy medicine. They mostly helped but you are still struggling. At your next doctors visit we will figure out what is going on! The doctor also had us switch to a soy based formula, so now you are only getting formula. I was sad to not breastfeed you anymore, but it has been much easier and you have been a happy baby.

We can definitely tell you are getting enough to eat now! You are getting the cutest little fat rolls on your legs and your cheeks, if you can believe it, are even chubbier now! You are so cute!!! Mommy weighed you at home and you were 11 pounds 2 ounces! We'll see what the doctor says tomorrow! Sounds like a good weight to us! We finally moved you up to exclusively 0-3 month clothing this past week. Mommy laid out your PJ's last night and Daddy thought they were too big... but nope, they fit just right! Daddy was sad that you didn't fit into your newborn PJ's anymore. You're growing so fast! It was very sad for Mommy to pack up your newborn clothes already! You're still in a size 1 diaper and they should fit for a while longer. (Hopefully so because Mommy just bought a bunch on amazon for a good price.. hehe!)

All month you have been going with Mommy and Daddy to work. You have been such a good baby! Everyone loves seeing you everyday. When Pop and Gia don't get to see you for more than a day they are super sad! You bring such joy to everyone at the office! We are still getting work done... just get to take a few more breaks now to play with you!

One more problem area has been your neck. You seem to always lean and look to the left (your right). Mommy was slightly worried about this but we're going to talk to the pediatrician and see if there is anything we need to do to help you fix that! A slight problem too has been your paci addiction. hehe... After Mommy really didn't want to give you a pacifier, I did anyway, and now... you want it! You still are a good baby and don't have to have it all day every day, but you sure do relax when you have it! You could be super tense  from tummy pains and we'll give you the paci and you instantly relax! It's kind of funny! We sure hope that you are easy to wean from the paci though, because we don't want you going to kindergarten with it! ;-)

I don't know if I have mentioned your Reveille mobile or not, but that thing is magical! If you are even slightly fussy we can lay you in your crib and turn that on and you just chill and watch the mobile! We think it is because it is Texas A&M related and it plays the War Hymn... you're a great Aggie already! You like all music, really. You love listening to Daddy and Pop play their guitars, and love when Mommy puts music on in the office or in the car.

Gia brought out Daddy's baby book and we looked at pictures of him and you when you were both babies.... You look JUST like Daddy. Same hair, same face, same everything! Don't worry, it's a good thing... your Daddy is super handsome! It's neat to see how much you look like him. Now we know you will be cute as you grow! Like we had any doubts!

The other day when we were driving home your Daddy said that we were so lucky to have you as a baby... for the fact that you are such a good baby, and for just having you in our lives. We feel so incredibly blessed to be your parents. You are such a joy! We prayed so long for you, and we know that God was smiling on us when he brought us you. We can't wait to teach you all about God. He is so amazing and works in such mysterious ways!

We love you, Clayton. You are truly a blessing and the light of our lives.

Love,
Mommy