Levi had his 2-month checkup yesterday (it was actually a couple of weeks late). Can you believe he’s already over two months old? This is the appointment we were dreading. They give babies 4 shots in their thighs plus an oral vaccination, and they make the parents hold the baby down as further torture. But our little trooper did great! He cried for a minute or two but was done by the time the nurses finished the pricking.
Our little man is now weighing in at 12 pounds 15 ounces (more than double his birth weight) and 23" long (almost three inches longer than a month ago). That puts him in the 50th percentile for height (he was in the 9th percentile at birth) and the 75th for weight (up from the 13th at birth). Wow. Not that we’re trying to win a prize for biggest baby, but I’m very glad to see him growing so well. Still, though, it hit me the other day that we have a complete and functional human being in our house that is roughly the same size as our cat.
I’m definitely not one of those competitive moms (me? mom? weird.) who wants my child to be the fastest and the smartest… I just want him to be fast and smart in whatever ways he was intended to be. But I must say that I was thrilled that he measured a month or two ahead on his 2-month milestones. For us, that just means that the preemie thing and stroke are further behind us. We’re not talking college-level Trivial Pursuit or anything, but things like tracking our faces, holding his head up, smiling and cooing, supporting weight with his legs, etc. What a relief. Of course we knew that he is doing just fabulous. He seems like the healthiest little baby ever. We go back to the pediatric neurologist here in about a month or so, and at some point in here we’re supposed to see a developmental pediatrician. Those doctor visits should be more telling.
The areas we are behind on are feeding & sleeping (you know, those practical things). He’s supposed to be sleeping through the night and eating 6 ounces per sitting every 3-4 hours during the day. Um, no way. We’re not even close. He’s still grazing all afternoon and evening, and going for a max of 3-4 hour stretches at night, except for the occasional 5-hour he throws in just to tease Brad and me. As the doctor said yesterday, "Yeah, he’s just screwing with you." So we’re going to try to lay down the law and get that little boy on a better schedule. Of course I’ll still be pumping every hour or two during the day, but I think by week 16 I should be able to cut back on that too without hurting my supply. What luxury!
