This smile

makes me so happy
fills me up with joy
overwhelms me with love

What a sweet boy.
What a lucky mama.

Paxton at 2 months

Paxton had his 2 month appointment on October 27th.
Weight: 12 lbs 13 oz
Height: 24 inches
In the 97th and 98th percentiles- not sure which is which :)

Pax is loving bath time these days. We have done a few baths in the kitchen sink but we usually give him a bath in his little tub in the upstairs bath tub. When he is especially cranky in the evenings I will put him in the tub and he will calm right down.

Enjoys his play mat. Pax smiles at the animals and kicks his legs.
Mama loves those pink lips and blue eyes.

Pax is hungry here- he rolled over and began eating the play mat :).

Big Brother and Little Brother. They are so darling- they make my heart soar with love for them.

Smiles! Pax is smiling more and more.
He gives us all smiles but especially loves to give mommy smiles.

Pax and his buddy Porter. They are almost exactly one month apart.

Paxton is...

• smiling
• cooing
• giggling in his sleep
  
• loves to snuggle with mommy
• loves his swing! has taken some seriously long naps in it!
• very happy in the morning
• likes bath time
• gets tired out pretty quickly still- eats, plays for about 45 minutes then is exhausted and cranky
• once Pax is swaddled he clams down and his eyes begin to droop
  
• wakes up slowly and calmly- smiles lots when first wakes up
• wearing 3 month clothing, some bigger 0-3 month stuff and some smaller 3-6 month stuff
• loves to lay on his changing pad anywhere in the house- this has come in handy when I need to take a shower. Pax will lay there and kick and coo and smile at me.
• responds to our voices- if he hears Rowen he will turn his head from side to side looking for him until Ro comes into view, then smiles usually appear for his big brother.
• Paxton will stare at me for long periods of time. I love this. His eyes follow me around the room. If I get out of sight I usually hear a little whimper. He rarely cries hard unless he is very hungry or very tired. When I come back into view I almost always get a big grin from him. It melts my heart. As I carry him around the house he will stare at me, never looking away. I think it is so sweet. Eric said that he doesn't remember Rowen looking at me so much but it is easy to forget these things, that is why I am writing them down. I will never forget the night Paxton was born, he was born late so we were alone in our room within a few hours. In the dark hospital room while daddy slept on the couch beside our bed, Pax and I stared at each other during those short fleeting moments when was actually awake and alert. I was amazed at how alert he was at times and how calm he was. His eyes would meet mine and I couldn't look away for anything!
  
• I haven't left Paxton with anyone yet. I know he would do fine without me but I am feeling very connected to him right now. I think Eric and I will go on a date soon though.
• Paxton still dislikes his car seat. Hopefully this will change soon because we are on the go most days.
• Still likes to ride along in the Moby or the Ergo. I go on a walk at least 3 times a week and I carry Pax in the Ergo most days. As long as he is fed and changed he is pretty happy in either one.
• definitely knows big brothers voice and gives Rowen lots of smiles
  

I am sure there is more... I will be back to add on.

Camp in with Grammy and Papa

A few weeks ago Eric was in Las Vegas for a work conference so Grammy and Papa stayed at our house one night. This way they could help me with Paxton and give Rowen lots of attention. Rowen and his beloved grandparents had talked about having a camp out in their back yard but time got away from us all and the nights just got too cool to sleep outside so Grammy decided to make this special night a "camp in" instead of a camp out.

Papa and Grammy are great sports- sleeping on an air mattress when their own cozy and comfortable bed is only minutes away from our house :). Rowen loved setting up his little bed next to theirs.

Grammy and Rowen gave Pax a bath. Paxton loves bath time now. He gets so relaxed :).

Papa giving Paxton a good pat to get all of that ouchy gas out.

Grammy and Ro read lots and lots of books.

And the next morning, Papa made us a delicious breakfast- blueberry pancakes, bacon and eggs.


Papa and Grammy got to see Paxton at his best time of day. Papa took lots of photos of him in the morning light.



Rowen loved every minute of it. I am sure Paxton did too. And so did I :). Thanks Papa and Grammy for such a fun camp in!

Rowen's pumpkin

Rowen and Daddy grew this beautiful pumpkin! Rowen was determined to hold it up for the photo-he needed only a little help from Dad ;). We can't wait to carve it into a Jack-o-lantern!

Starting to smile

Pax is smiling more and more each day. It is hard to capture a newborn's smile on camera... this is as close as I have gotten.


Paxton was mesmerized by one of my friend's ceiling fans. She has little ghosts attached to it and they were whizzing around. We were laughing so hard because it is just so fun to watch a baby discover something new. You can tell by his eyes that he isn't sure if he should like it or not :).


Paxton is such a joy. And such a cutie. His eyes are so blue right now. We get comments often about how blue they are- maybe they will stay blue and we will have one brown eyed boy and one blue eyed boy.

Our Family

Rowen drew this picture of "our family". He described the biggest person as daddy, the medium person as mommy, the little person as himself and the tiny person as Paxton. The lines coming out of the top of my head is my hair- I guess that is pretty accurate these days :).

He melts my heart.

Paxton's First Month

Our little Pax is keeping us very happy and quite busy. He is truly a super sweet baby. He is easy to please for the most part and is soooo adorable! Here are the things we have learned about him during his first month of life...



At 1 month old Paxton...
Weighs: 10 lbs 7 oz
Height: ?

He is such a snuggler. I love this of course! I can carry him around in the Moby wrap most of the time. At first he doesn't like it but then he falls right to sleep and sometimes will sleep in it for hours while Rowen and I are out and about or we are at home and I am getting little things done around the house.



Pax has been snuggled by so many people who love him during his first month. His Grammy and Papa and his Nana and Grandpa have all had lots of snuggle time with Pax. Daddy gets in some time each night and Rowen would like for Pax to sleep with him all night but we are not there yet of course ;). Mommy gets the most snuggles and I plan to keep it that way for as long as I can!




He is mostly very content until the evening rolls around and then fussy time begins. It seems to last about 2-3 hours then he finally falls asleep and does really well throughout the night thank goodness. I have found that taking him outside often calms him down. Also, daddy walks him around the house so that he can look at all the lights.



Likes his swing. If we wrap him up tight and get him swinging in that thing he will sleep through lots of noise and give mommy some time to eat, feed Rowen, and sometimes get a shower.

Loves to snuggle with his Grammy. She can put him to sleep in seconds! Eric asked her to move in. That is how good she is :).



He poops so much I am amazed even as a second time mom. I don't remember this much poop with Rowen :). I am glad that everything is working well for Pax but I am looking forward to the pooping to slow down a bit!



Sleeps really well when I am holding him! Pax usually does a three hour stretch then a 4-5 hour stretch, if I am holding him. However, the past few nights I have been putting him down in the co-sleeper and he is sleeping 3 hour stretches which is still great for now! I could never sleep holding Rowen but this time with Pax I am able to relax much more and fall asleep with him in my arms. I don't sleep that great of course but at least it is sleep and right now that is all I want. I have also been putting him down for naps more and more. He has had a few long ones and then the next day I can't put him down without him crying.



Pax is still pretty much in the eat, poop, awake for about 30 -45 minutes or so then sleep for an hour or two routine. Sometimes he will go really long stretches between feedings and other days it seems like all I do is breast feed.



Speaking of feeding Paxton, he really loves his milk! He is a getting much faster at nursing and guzzles down each meal. Consequently he is gaining weight very well and is starting to show some major signs of becoming a serious chunk. I love chunky babies (Rowen was the epitome of a chunky baby) so I am loving every new roll and extra chin!



Unfortunately, Paxton had a tongue tie and a lip tie. This caused breast feeding problems mostly for me. Paxton was somehow still transferring milk really well and thus gaining weight like a champ but I was extremely sore and damaged :(. Pax had his tongue tie and lip tie clipped by an ENT (an entirely different and long story). It was a sad experience for Pax and mommy and daddy! Grammy too, she came to one of the appointments with us. However, we are through that ordeal now and are just trying to focus on getting me healed. This is proving to be more of a challenge than we expected. I am hopeful that I will be feeling back to "normal" soon.



Is taking a pacifier pretty well. We tried to give Rowen a pacifier for a few weeks but he wasn't too interested and we actually were relieved. We didn't want to have to rely on a pacifier all the time and we especially didn't want to have to wean him off of it. However, with my need to have some time without a baby using me as a pacifier so that I can heal, we have decided to give it more of a shot with Paxton. It is a life saver at times!




Paxton despises his car seat. I think he dislikes it as much as his big brother did at this age. The great thing about being a mama for the second time is knowing that it is just a phase and it will pass pretty quickly.


Paxton has met lots of new friends already. Porter is almost exactly one month older than Pax (photo of Porter and Paxton below), Callen is 2 months older, and then of course all of his older buddies- Cooper, Bennett, Josie, and all of his cousins- Olivia, Matt, Charlie, and Liz.



Paxton has truly completed our family. It just feels right- me, Eric and our two boys. I am amazed at how wonderful it feels to have my two kids here with me all the time. Eric and I are so fortunate, so grateful for our Pax!



Stayed tuned for some photos of Rowen and his "little guy".