Ben turned two months old on July 31st! And according to his doctor yesterday, he’s acting like a two month old and not like a preemie. That was music to our ears!
Overall, Ben is doing exceptionally well. His height is officially “on” the charts {2nd percentile} and his doctor told us at his next checkup {four months} he will be on the regular full-term baby chart instead of the preemie chart.
Currently {as of his check-up yesterday}, Ben weighs 8 pounds 8 ounces, is 21.5 inches long and his head is 32 centimeters around. He’s going to be in 0-3 month clothing any minute!
We are so excited about how well Ben is doing. His growth actually took off faster after we stopped fortifying the breast milk, which is interesting. The fortification {we added a very small amount of formula to his breast milk – 1 teaspoon per 3 ounces} was to take the breast milk from 19 calories to 24 calories to help him grow faster. I guess he didn’t need the fortification anyway!
Ben surprised Alex on Monday by rolling over! Unfortunately Alex didn’t see him actually do it and we sort of thought it might be a fluke since it’s so early. I watched him do it again today while he was doing tummy time, though! It has been so fun to see some of these “firsts” recently. He’s been smiling more and more and has been so engaging and interested in what’s around him.
As a 9-week old baby, Ben is such a happy camper. We aren’t too surprised, but he’s really laid back and loves to hang out, whether it’s on his play mat, in his chair or even in his crib. He’s a very content and easy-going baby.
Ben is sleeping really well – we are following Baby Wise {basically a sleep training method} and right now he eats about 7 times a day every 3-4 hours. At night we put him to bed after feeding him at 10:30, then he typically wakes up between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m., eats and then wakes up for the morning around 6 or 6:30.
We have a little morning routine where after Ben’s breakfast we come into the living room and he hangs out on his playmat and does tummy time. We usually read some stories to him and hang out together. It seems like one of the reasons Ben is doing so well is that he does get quite a lot of uninterrupted sleep in his crib. Eat, sleep, grow is our motto over here!
We’ve been having a great week with Ben’s grandparents here. They’re loving reading to him and making silly faces, trying to get smiles back 😉
Donna and Stan drove out here from Illinois and brought their dog, Wrigley {on the right} out too! He and Jackson quickly became pals and have been enjoying swimming and running around together.
Earlier this week Ben had his first errand day with me. I hadn’t ventured out with him to run any errands yet since Alex has always been available to watch him. I figured it would be a good trial run to take him with me and figure things out. It turns out it’s a lot more complicated to bring an infant out and about!
I learned where the elevators are at Nordstrom and that a car seat is basically the same size as a Target shopping cart, as well as that it’s always a good idea to bring a baby carrier in addition to the stroller because you can’t push a cart and a stroller, though my stroller has suitable storage for a significant amount of groceries… Most importantly, though, it’s vital for the mama to have eaten lunch before she runs errands if she’s leaving anywhere near the lunch hour. Our shopping trip was just fine, mostly comical, and Ben slept the entire time. I’m glad I had a test run with him where I didn’t have to be on a schedule and where I could have a stress-free experiment.
We can’t wait to see what’s in store for Ben now that he’s in his third month!