Berend: 2 Months

I know I’m one of those people who doesn’t think the first month goes by very quickly with a new baby, but the second month does. I can’t believe our Little B is 2 months old already!

Age: 2 months on 15 July 2018
Weight: about 12.5 lbs (12 lbs 14 oz on 25 July)
Height: about 24″ long (24.21″ long on 25 July)
Teeth: none
Clothing Size: 3-6 months & 6 months 
Diaper Size: close to size 2 in disposable and newborn in cloth
Milestones: He can roll from tummy to back, his head control has improved a lot, he give big open mouth smiles, and he “talks” to us!

Likes: Nursing, pooping, staring out windows and at high contrast patterns, smiling at his family, standing on our laps, baths

Dislikes: Waking up, having gas, being overtired, not being fed immediately, his car seat

Sleeping: Berend is still sleeping swaddled in a bassinet in our room (or in the living room during the day). He usually takes a couple of good naps (about 2 hours) and several catnaps during the day. At night, bedtime is usually 10pm at the latest and sometimes as early as 8:30. He is still up every 2-3 hours until around 5am. That’s when he starts working on gas/poop and is too restless to sleep. I usually lay him on the bed to bicycle his legs or jiggle him back to sleep in between toots. Once he gets all of that out of his system, he usually goes back to sleep for a couple of hours. In a 24 hour period, he’s averaging about 16 hours of sleep a day.

Eating: Berend seems to be eating well based on weight gain. He normally nurses a very short amount of time (5 minutes or less) during the day. I wish he would nurse for longer since he still is eating every 1.5-2 hours unless he’s napping. At night he tends to nurse for longer because he’s calmer and sleepy. He’s been cluster feeding a bit in the evenings, although not to the extent that Gerrit did!

Mommy Update: I’m doing much better this month! But I can definitely feel this sense of hopelessness when I first wake up in the morning after a rough night. Just goes to show how much sleep deprivation can affect you. Normally I feel like myself again though. I feel much calmer and more patient, which definitely helps me get through my days. Andrew has commented more than once that I seem much happier with Berend at this stage of infancy than I did when Gerrit was this age, so I think I’m bouncing back more quickly emotionally this time. I believe a good part of this comes from knowing how quickly it goes by this time around too.

One thing I feel like I should mention since people probably think it’s a bit taboo to talk about: gender disappointment. I wouldn’t even say disappointment in my case, I guess. I had a gut feeling that Berend was a boy throughout my pregnancy, but a big part of me hoped I was having a girl, knowing this was our last baby. While I’m thrilled to have another little boy, I did go through what I would consider a “mourning” period for the daughter I’ll never have. I had and still have a great relationship with my own mom, and I really wanted to experience that with a daughter of my own. But Andrew pointed out that I could still have a close relationship with my sons as well, and that’s so true. Once I came to terms with that, combined with my depression and anxiety symptoms decreasing, I started feeling more connected to Berend. I’m excited to see what kind of kid Berend becomes and what things we’ll bond over.

This month I also got a little braver. We went out to the 4th of July festival on base as a family, despite me having anxiety about Berend being fussy. I also went out to lunch with a friend with the boys (without Andrew), followed by a trip to Walmart by myself with the boys. Berend did better than I thought he would for all of those outings, minus the car rides. He is not a fan of the car seat!

I lost a few more pounds, so I’m just a little under my pre-pregnancy weight. I’m hoping to stay at this weight until I decide to start working on losing weight again later this year. I definitely haven’t been eating great, resorting to quick meals most of the time. I know I’ll feel better once I start cooking healthier meals again.

Memorable Events: Berend’s 2nd month was pretty low-key. It was very hot, so he and I really didn’t get outside very much. It was way too hot and humid for him to tolerate being in the Moby wrap. He did spend some time out on the blanket a few days though!

Probably not super exciting for Berend, but he started wearing cloth diapers every day this month! I had a hard time getting into it at first, because he was so small, and I felt like I didn’t know what I was doing. But as I started feeling less overwhelmed, I decided to get back into using cloth during the day.

Berend celebrated his first Father’s Day with Andrew! He didn’t give Dada anything this year (besides his presence haha) but Gerrit made him a cute card.

Another first holiday for Berend was 4th of July! We didn’t do anything on the 4th because it was very hot, and we weren’t going to stay out late enough for fireworks anyway. But I still took the opportunity to dress my boys in coordinating outfits!

He also went to his first festival: Liberty Fest, the 4th of July event Little Rock AFB put on the weekend after Independence Day. He slept through the entire thing, but Gerrit had a lot of fun!

And Berend’s July photo of the month:

And a cute brother picture, because Gerrit insisted:

We love seeing Berend being more aware, especially when he gives us those big open-mouth smiles! We can’t wait to see his personality continue to develop next month. We love you, little bear!