Latham's first couple of months

These first few months of life with Latham have been busy, busy, tiring, and BUSY! Our little munchkin is an amazing little boy, and we love watching him grow and learn and smile and be himself. I know that it was nice, quiet, warm, and cozy inside my womb (or, I assume it was!) so Latham has made a big adjustment to the wide, outside world and I think he's handling it as best he can. I'm going to share lots of pictures and a little bit of text explaining all the things we've been up to in his first few months of life.

Latham himself: He was born at 8 lbs, 2.9 oz and, by 2 weeks, he was 9 lbs, 1 oz. By two months, he was 13 lbs, 4 oz! What a chunk....and I'm so glad for it. He's eating well and packing on those pounds which will help him be an energetic boy once he starts to crawl and walk and everything. I'm so thankful that he has a healthy body and that he seems to love my breastmilk and only occasionally gets gassy or spits up his food. Most of the time, he just gobbles his food and goes into a "milk coma" while he sleeps and digests. OR, he gobbles his food and then has energy for hours. It's hard to know what he might do.

Adam and I use the "Total Baby" app on the iPhone to track his feeding, diaper changes, baths, etc. It has been an extremely helpful app because my mind, at least, feels foggy a lot of the time, so this helps to keep me organized. As I go into the 3rd month of life for Latham, though, I find I'm using the app mainly just for feedings though. But the app has helped trace how much he's eating, so I can compare it to earlier and physically see when he has hit growth spurts, how he's establishing a pattern, etc. I enjoy that kind of organization!  :)  And he is eating more regularly and (kinda sorta) starting to sleep at night for longer periods of time. It helps when he's eating 2-3 hours a day rather than 6-7 hours a day too! However, he still has those days, which seem interminable, where he'll eat either a lot or a little and he's fussy and wants to be on, then off, then on again. Sigh.

Latham's sleep has been the most exhausting (bad pun intended, mainly because I'm not well-rested enough to say anything in a more clever way) part for Adam and I to deal with. Up until his 2-month appointment with the doctor, he had not slept longer than 4 hours at night. True, he would sleep for 3 hours or so, get up and feed for an hour and then be awake for a bit, but eventually go back to sleep for another 2-3 hours, and then maybe start the cycle over again. My mom and mother-in-law helped tremendously in the first few weeks. I would get up, feed him, go wake them, and they would rock him/burp him/soothe him for an hour or so until he dropped off.  Now, at least, he eats and then usually goes to sleep rather quickly. However, usually less than 2 hours later, he'll be up again, wanting to eat. After his 2-month shots, he had 3 days when he slept for 5 or 5.5 hours before waking up, but, even just last night, he slept 2h then 2 more h then 3 hours then wide awake for the day. He does get 2-3 daytime naps but, like a mom who wants to do it all, he's usually napping while we're going somewhere or else I have to clean, etc while he's down. I haven't enjoyed too many daytime naps...plus I never know if he'll wake up after 20 minutes or after 2 hours. Anyway, I'm eager for him to consistently sleep longer hours during the night. Everyone says around 3 months it starts to get better, but we shall see...

Developmentally, he can hold up his head and can push up a little bit when he's doing tummy time. However, he doesn't really show any interest in rolling over yet and he's still working on enjoying his tummy time for longer periods of time. In the last few weeks, he's really started focusing his eyes on us and looking around with interest. He seems to recognize Adam and I, which is great. And he's been smiling responsively (rather than just as a result of gas), which is wonderful. His hair is amazing--growing even more and we don't even have to try to style it. It styles itself.  :) His eyelashes have grown like an inch just this week. He's developing rolls of chubbiness and has an adorable double chin.

His name may be Latham Patrick, but Adam and I have started calling him the Little Politician (also, it has the same LP initials as his name...side benefit!). Most of the time, when we're out in public, he's a perfect little angel. He either sleeps the whole time or just smiles charmingly and quietly coos. He charms everyone he meets. Behind the closed doors of our house, though, he can squeal and shriek; he voices his displeasure very loudly and, once he decides he needs something, well, it should have been there yesterday! What a politician... we love him! I have to admit, too, that when he smiles at me, he manages to charm me. This politician is GOOD at wielding his charm; the ladies don't stand a chance!

Visitors: We've been hosting lots of visitors! Our visitors have all been super helpful with caring for Latham, doing house/yard work, taking photos, giving great advice...so we're happy to have them! I think it's extra amazing as we live 10 hours from both of our families, so all our visitors have had to travel quite a bit!
When Latham was born, Teddy (my M-I-L) and Roger (F-I-L) came; Teddy stayed for a week and Roger was able to visit again on the weekend. Then my mom flew in for a week and my dad drove in on the next weekend to visit us and pick her up. We had a week to ourselves and then Teddy and Roger came back for a few days. Sarah (a friend from college) and her husband Blake came from DC for a quick day visit. After a few days to ourselves, Bethany (Adam's sis) visited for a few days in mid-May. Luke (Adam's brother) & Laura (Luke's wife and my fellow outlaw) came up the following weekend (Memorial Day) with Anna (Adam's sis). L & L stayed for 4 days and Anna stayed for about a week. A few days after she left, we had Nick and Rachel (two friends we met at UA) who were driving through town but got to stay (with their dogs!) for a night. Then, my sister and her two children (Ethan, age 6 and Eva, age 1) came and stayed for 4 days. Whew. It's been fun, but tiring! And a few H'burg friends have come over too, though they've also gotten to see us out-and-about at church, work, etc. We'll be going to Nashville toward the end of June to see even more people. Plus, my aunt and my two "Baltimore parents" will be coming at the end of July! Adam and I aren't silly enough to think these people are coming primarily to see us....we know that Latham is the draw!

Also, Oliver has enjoyed having visitors and is doing well with Latham. I think he's still confused as to why Latham can cry and have my attention for long periods of time, but Oliver appreciates the little guy. And he's protective. If I leave a sleeping Latham in the crib to go take a shower, Oliver will lay in front of the crib to watch for intruders....AND he'll look at me with his eyes, seeming to scold me for leaving the baby. I try to explain that Latham is fine and I'm still a good mommy, but Oliver seems skeptical.

Here are some pics of our visitors! 

As first-time parents, we're working hard to make Latham's life the best that it possibly can be. As first-time homebuyers, we're trying to make sure that we keep our (brand new-to-us) house presentable and enjoyable. Adam's working full-time; I had to do a bunch of end-of-semester work in April for one of my jobs and am currently finishing up my other part-time job so I can have a free summer to spend with Latham. We're exhausted quite a bit of the time, but then I take a look at our lovely child and I smile. Also, I think longingly for the day when I can wake HIM up for school or whatever. Payback will be sweet, my handsome son!  :)

Enjoy these pictures by the great Laura Copeland!