It’s crazy how fast my littlest man went from this…

tiny, scrawny little thing….

to this adorable (but HUGE!) chunker in just a few weeks!

He’s almost 13 pounds and he just won’t stop growing! He’s already in 3 month clothing, and his hiney has been big enough for size 2 diapers since he was about 5 weeks old. For anyone not familiar with diaper sizes, that’s a little ridiculous!

Micah is the total opposite — super tall and super skinny, even though it seems like he puts away more food than an average football team.

 

I can’t even begin to get over how grown up he looks!

Even though it’s natural to pay attention to the baby’s milestones, Micah has been growing up so fast the last few months that I decided to do an update on both of them. Jonah is an adorably huge, and has definitely been wearing me out with how much and how often he eats. He’s finally at the point where he wants to stay awake to play and be cuddled even when he’s not eating, and I love that he’s really smiling now (not just when he has gas). His nighttime sleeping patterns are, unfortunately, still really variable, so I’m still a bit of a mombie. His last feeding before bed can be anywhere between 9 and midnight and he seems to always wake up at 4:30 to eat, even on my days off. Apparently the fact that I work at 6 AM has trained him to be hungry about 45 minutes before I need to be awake, which is a tear inducing irony. I was expecting to have Jonah all set in Micah’s room by the time he was three months, but with his irregular sleep patterns it’s looking like that may not happen. I want to make sure Micah is still getting enough sleep, and I’m worried that the frequency of Jonah’s night feedings will have a negative effect on him.

Jonah is also getting better at holding his head up, and he loves to be able to look around and see everything. He’s cooing and babbling a ton, so I’m coaching him to say Mommy first. I can’t have both of my boys saying Daddy first! 😛

Micah has really gotten used to Jonah being around, and he tries really hard to be a good big brother. He’s always hugging and kissing him, he’ll come get me if Jonah starts crying, and he even tries to play with him. Of course, trying to explain to him that Jonah doesn’t want cars driven on his face or balls thrown at his head has gotten me nowhere, so I’m pretty much a goalie whenever the two boys are in the same room. If I can get Micah playing with a soft ball it’s much easier, but more often than not I’m fielding cars and blocks. As much as I don’t want my boys to grow up at all, I can’t wait until Jonah is old enough for Micah to really play with him.

 

Micah loves to hold Jonah and take care of him, and he’s become fascinated with how Jonah eats. He’s very vocal and he speaks and signs at least 30 different words now so I’m getting better at figuring out his questions and comments. I think he feels a little left out that Jonah gets to nurse and he doesn’t, but he seems to accept the explanation that he nursed when he was a baby and now that he’s a big boy he needs real food. It’s the same basic explanation we’re using to get him used to the idea of potty training. He’s fascinated with toilets and he doesn’t mind sitting on the potty, he just prefers to do it with his diaper on. It’s still pretty early, so we’re taking that really slowly and not forcing it. Kinsey basically potty trained herself right after her second birthday though, so I’m hopeful that easy potty training is genetic…

The biggest change I see in Micah the last few weeks is his ability to express himself, and his vocabulary. I work from 6-10 every morning, so when he wakes up I put on Netflix for him and pull out his blocks and toys so  he’s entertained until I’m done. I try to keep the shows he watches educational, and we finally found a show that he absolutely loves on Netflix: Signing Time

Even though he doesn’t seem to be learning a lot of sign language from it the repetition of words has definitely improved his vocabulary. It’s also got a lot of music, so he doesn’t get bored with it as quickly as other shows.

It’s crazy to me how grown up the boys are getting already, and it’s hard not to be a little sad even though I’m so proud of them. It’s the parent’s paradox — loving watching them grow and learn, while simultaneously wishing you could keep them little enough to cuddle forever. I can’t even begin to imagine what it will feel like to watch them go on missions, or get married, or have kids of their own…it seems centuries away right now. I’m just going to enjoy every second I have with them while they’re young, and stay in denial about how quickly they’ll be adults.