MIlo at 2 months old

 It's official! Milo is 2 months old. Quite frankly that seems shocking to me. How has is gone so fast? He seems like such a real baby these days.

He had a very successful doctor's check up today. He is 23.5 inches long (50th percentile just like his sister) He weighs 13.5 pounds (75th percentile) and I don't remember his head circumfrence but it was in the 50th percentile also. He has the most perfectly round little dome. I love it.

I can't believe how much he has grown! There were a couple weeks there that we just could not keep him full.  It was like watching him grow before my eyes. Every day you could see new rolls on his legs. Every day his cheeks seemed fuller. I was happy about him chunking up because that's how we like them in this family.

 Although he can be a very serious and pensive baby, Milo is also a very smiley baby. He is WAY easier to get to smile than Olive was (because she was nearly impossible).  Usually after every meal he will just sit in my lap and smile and coo at me. I absolutely love it. He will even smile at strangers (which Olive absolutely never did) and likes to get a lot of attention. Unfortunately for the photos he was not is a very smiley mood but trust me, his smile will melt your heart.

Milo knows what he wants and will tell you. He has this intensity to him. I am serious, he is intense. He will scream until he is red in the face. Sometimes, like on a recent car ride in California where we were stuck in traffic, I am shocked at how long he will fight and how he will not just give up. Maybe that will be a good quality someday. What is harder with two kids is that sometimes I can't get to him right away so he has times that he has to cry (scream) until I help him. Fortunately he calms down pretty fast if you can figure out what is wrong. I always go through the check list in my head: he ate, he has a new diaper, he might be bored, he's probably tired. If none of those things work then we work on getting his gas out. He has had a lot of gas and an upset stomach.
The other hard thing is that he goes from happy to screaming in no time flat. You never get a build up or warning to get what he needs. It's a good thing that he is so smiley and lovey because I just try to remember that when he is screaming at me.
The saddest part is that today at the doctor we found out that he has a milk allergy. Olive also had one so I was trying to watch for the signs but the way it effected Milo was completely different. I just assumed that his fussiness was typical. Some babies are fussy and gassy and have colic and they jsut cry more.  Olive was never fussy, so I thought this was what a normal baby was like. Now I know that he was uncomfortable and probably in pain. It just breaks my heart! I feel horrible but we are hoping that he will be more content on the new formula.

 He is getting into a pretty regular schedule which I am so grateful for. He likes to be held upright so that he can see the world and what is going on and probably to help his tummy. He needs to be rocked to sleep. It took me awhile to come to terms with this because I could just lay Olive down and she would fall right to sleep. The amazing part about that is it made her very flexible so I didn't want to be stuck rocking Milo forever every time he had to sleep. I am hoping that solving his milk allergy will help in that department and he won't be so uncomfortable. My guess is that this will solve a lot of the challenging things from the last 3-4 weeks. I do like rocking him though. It is so nice to know that he feels so safe in my arms. It also warms my hearts that when others can't calm him down and I can. The rough part is that there are plenty of times where I can't calm him down and we are all at a loss, but like I said, hopefully that is over.

 Last night was the first night that he slept straight from 1 to 7 am. I was over joyed until the doctor told me he should be sleeping 9-10 hours. I think he is close though. He just might be a whole new kids in a few days here.
He likes taking baths. He likes the front porch and sitting in the rockers. He loves swinging and being in motion so usually he does great on walks. He gets bored and needs a change of scenery often. He loves being in the sling or bjorn which is nice because I need to strap him on more to get anything done. He will just snooze away when he is in there. He also likes when I sling him and vacuum at the same time. He loves his binkie still and usually needs it to fall asleep. Thankfully now he doesn't wake up when it falls out. He is still swaddled because otherwise he punches himself in the face while asleep. He also likes to sleep propped up I'm sure because his tummy hurt. Poor little guy! His life has been a bit rough. 

 Milo is my "guy". We also call him our little Milito. Olive always says "Hey dude!' to him which I love. He is getting more alert every day. He doesn't love tummy time, but he is getting much better at holding his head up. It cracks me up when he gets worn out from it because he does this wiggle trying to keep it up but it's just too heavy.  Like all parents I think that absolutely everything he does is so adorable! It has to be this way because he has pushed me to my edge more than every in my life, in both good and not so good directions. I have felt a serious connection and bond with him but have also felt lost and incompetent.  I have felt extreme joy and extreme frustration.  Thankfully Olive has gotten used to him being upset and somehow tunes it out, even when it is right in her ear like in the stroller or car. She is so used to it that even when he is laying content on the floor she will tell me "Uh oh, Milo is frweekin' out!" when he squirms around.

Milo loves his sister and tries to watch what she is doing. I love watching them bond. It is one of the best things about parenting. He is pretty lucky to have a big sister that loves him so much.

Finally, do you like his knit vest that I made him for his 2 month photos?  What a cutie!

 There have been definite highs and lows these past 2 months. We have all had some major adjustments. But, we wouldn't have it any other way!