Jackson: 3 Months Old

I decided I would write a monthly post detailing what is going on with Jackson and his development. I feel like the first 2 months of his life flew by so quickly. I didn't get a chance to write down when he did certain things. So now I can do it in the blog.

Jackson will be 4 months old on Monday....here's all the things he was up to after turning 3 months!

- Still the sweetest baby ever....he has such a pleasant disposition and is so much fun to be with. He is happy to be in anyone's arms and he is able to take a bottle from anyone. I'm so happy he is so flexible. He's got a lot of people who love him and who take care of him for us, and it's nice to know that he is just as happy with them as he is with his mommy and daddy.

- Teething! Ugh. It came out of nowhere too. Sam and I were totally unprepared. One night he was up literally ALL night crying. I had to drive to and from Orlando the next day for work, so I wasn't a whole lot of help in the wee morning hours, so poor Sam had to deal with him. We had no clue what the problem was...and NOTHING Sam did was helping make him feel better. I never even considered he could be teething. The next day Sam went to drop Jackson off at my mom and dad's house and my dad noticed that his mouth was bleeding. Sure enough, there was a tiny little tooth hole where the blood was coming from. Poor thing! But Orajel, Hyland's Teething Tablets, and the occasional Tylenol got us thru. We had about 48 hours of a fussy baby, but he has pretty much gone back to his normal perfect self.

- He is losing his hair :( Well, the hair on the sides of his head. The top is still nice and long (and actually growing, I think) but he is starting to get bald patches on the back and sides of his head. I am always finding little Jackson hairs everywhere. Hopefully it will grow back in quickly. I LOVE his hair!!

- Jackson now tummy sleeps. He has napped on his belly for a while, but I had no problems with that since I could watch him like a hawk. At night was a different story, since (God willing) we would be asleep and unable to monitor him. I was SOOOOO worried about it, but he has really great neck control. When we went to California, we were so exhausted and so was he, and I knew the only way he would get a good nights sleep was on his tummy. So we let him tummy sleep and he slept 8 hours straight. We kept that up and haven't looked back, and he's been doing just fine!

- Jackson has slowly but surely pushed up his bedtime. He used to go to sleep between 9 and 10 pm but he is getting tired earlier and earlier. He now goes down at about 8 pm. He fusses for his binkie usually around 3 am, and maybe a few more times after that. Around 5:45-6 am he eats and then goes back down until about 8:30-ish. As much as I don't love being up with him when it is still dark out, I am trying to enjoy that quiet time with him. He is always so sweet and mellow during his early feeding and it's nice just to sit together uninterrupted and with no distractions. The nights vary here and there (like the night he fussed for his binkie literally every 45 minutes!!), but for the most part that's how it has been.

- Jackson loves tummy time. He is so alert...he just looks around and babbles. If he finds something to focus on (like his binkie on the blanket in front of him) he stares it down like a madman. We keep thinking he will crawl early, because he really gets his legs kicking. I'm sure one day once he gets the movement down, he will not stop moving! Pretty much every time I have him on his belly, he rolls over. He really has gotten the hang of it. No back to belly rolling yet though.

- He loves his activity mat too. He lays under there and loves to look at the lights and pull on the links that hang down. Initially he would just lay there and take it all in, but now he really pulls on them. His arms and legs just move non-stop. He also squawks non stop when he is on the mat. He makes all sorts of noises. He loves to look at himself in the mirror and babble at himself.

- Jackson LOVES to look in the mirror! He smiles when he sees his own face. It's so freaking cute. When I was younger my grandpa would tell me he would give me money if I could go 10 minutes without looking at myself in the mirror. I never won the money. I think Jackson will be like his mommy :)

- We have introduced him to both the bumbo and the exersaucer. When we first put him in the bumbo, he sat there just fine and just stared at us. He didn't hate it, but he certainly didn't love it either. I think he is liking it more and more though. The exersaucer hasn't been all that exciting for him yet either. Maverick definitely interacts with the thing more than Jackson. He is perfectly content to sit there and look at everything while I play with the toys on it for him. I'm sure once he gets started with interacting with it more, it will be one of his favorite things to play with. We have a jumperoo too, and I can't wait to get him started in it. Maybe next week....

Jackson's first time in the bumbo.

- One of my favorite things that Jackson does is talk with his binkie in. When he talks with it in, he says, "Goygoygoygoygoy." It's so cute.  I wonder what he thinks he is saying, because it's literally the same thing every time. Sam and I laugh hysterically every time he does it because it's so adorable.

- He also loves when you sing to him and basically act like a fool. I put him in my lap and sing "We are Dynamite" from my cheerleading days and he LOVES it. In the mornings I also sing other "morning" themed songs and those are hits with him too. Sam holds him in his lap and moves his arms like he is drumming and makes the drumming and beat sounds, and Jackson loves that too. He has the biggest smile and he laughs. It's actually more of a "huuuuuuuuh huuuuuuuh" but that is good enough for me! We have tried video taping it, but every time we do, Jackson just stares at the camera. One of these days I will capture his smiles!

- We (actually I) got his first giggles. It has only happened twice so far. The first time we were in the car and he was just losing it. The last song I heard was, "Bad Girls" by Donna Summer in Nordstrom when I was working. So that was the first thing that came to mind. I started singing that and shaking the toys on his carseat. He went from screaming, to smiling, to giggling. It was awesome. The second time I was holding him and started tickling him under his left armpit. He was giggling and wiggling hysterically. So amazing. I love the sound. I can't wait to hear it more!!

- He just started wearing 3-6 months clothes. Most of them are still pretty big on him, and he can still fit into some of his 0-3 month stuff. He's such a peanut. But he looks bigger and bigger everyday! And the kid can eat, that's for sure ;)

I think that's it for now. I can't wait to see what Jackson has in store for us after he turns 4 months. After his pediatrician appointment, we will probably be introducing solid foods. That should be quite an adventure! I can't believe he is going to be 4 months old already. The time just flies by. We have really enjoyed every part of becoming parents. Sam and I still can't believe we have a kid...haha.