I know I’m a few days late with this one, but with Sylas’ birthday party and Thanksgiving festivities in the same week, I’ve been a little bit busy.

Ivan has changed so much this month! His doctor appointment is Wednesday so I will insert his growth stats here (13lb, 24in). He lost most of his hair save a couple patches on the sides and top of his head and is just now starting to get some of it back in. He is holding his head up very well and can do those baby push ups when he has tummy time (though he still doesn’t like it). I know this isn’t technically part of his update this month because he did it yesterday (Dec 5), but he rolled over for the first time from back to tummy. He seemed very surprised that he did it and didn’t fuss about being on his tummy like he does when I am the one that put him that way. He coos and blows bubbles and will flash a smile when he sees you make eye contact. He had his first big belly laugh on November 13. He is a very sober baby though. You really have to work hard to get him to laugh and once he laughs at your sillyness, he won’t laugh again unless you do something different. He will smile occasionally, but most of the time he just looks at you with a perplexed look on his face. He is happy for the most part even though he is so sober. Evenings are still our hardest part to get through. He just gets grumpy until its bath time. I try to bathe him between 6:30 and 7 so that he still has a good bed time, because shortly after the bath time routine, he eats and falls asleep for the night. Sometimes he gets fussy before 6 and I have to find ways to entertain him to hold off on bath time. We also tried the baby walker and bumbo for the first time this month. He likes it for a while (longer than just being on the floor) but he would still rather be held. Baby wearing is my life saver! He still doesn’t take good naps during the day either. I had about a three day stretch where he took a three hour nap around 4pm but that didn’t last long before he was back to cat napping. He sleeps for half an hour several times a day and I don’t know how to fix it. Right now, I’m having to swaddle him at bedtime just to get him to sleep but it doesn’t work for nap time. He rubs his eyes like he is tired but he fights it really hard. I plan on talking to his pediatrician to see how we can fix it.

He is still nursing about every 2-2.5 hours which is really hard sometimes when I have lots of stuff to get done (partly why I’ve been neglecting the blog). At night he will do every 3 hours though. He still chokes and spits if I try to feed him any more after he has let me know hes done. I guess he will have to outgrow it eventually, right? We will just have to weather it out. I am still pumping at least 5oz extra daily and have considered donating some of it because my deep freezer and kitchen freezer are both full of milk. I am running out of room for new milk and I would hate to waste it. His BM schedule is still a little strange to me. Sylas went with about every feeding or at least twice a day but Ivan will go days without going. And if its been a while since he’s gone, he will have a whole day where hes extremely stinky and then within the next day or so he will explode his diaper. I have a probiotic that the doctor gave him as a sample but I have yet to try it. I thought that it was just a fluke but its been a good month now and he’s still doing it.

He is still in 0-3 month clothes and in size 2-3 honest diapers; the size 2 sometimes slide down on his bottom and he has some baby crack going on so I got some size 3’s and they fit better. Pampers size 2 still fit him well though. I hate how much of a size difference there is between brands. Sylas never outgrew the size 3 but the ones that I have leftover from him since we have potty trained are huge on Ivan. I don’t get it.

Another month come and gone! When I look back at my pregnancy photos, I can’t help but feel incredibly blessed to have this little babe in my life.