The Tough Times Make You Stronger: Grady is THREE Months Old!

Is it weird that I think "Its ONLY been three months?!" Sitting in that hospital bed, meeting Grady for the first time, seems like an entire year ago. Pregnancy seems like a decade ago. I guess because life has changed so much, its hard to recall what life was like before we met this little (big!) dude. I know life will surely begin moving at light-speed now that Ive mentioned how slow its moving, but Im good with that, too. I love the baby phase, but Im also excited and ready to see Grady move away from the newborn days and into the active-learning phase of babyhood. :)

Our Daily Schedule
Grady is super predictable lately which makes life so much easier! He wakes up, has a bottle, stays awake for an hour, and goes back down for a nap for two hours. Still, 45 minutes into each nap he wakes for a binky just like Whitney did at this age. He doesnt wake at the 45 minute mark at bedtime, but at every nap, I can set a clock by that 45 minute binky call.

Activity
Our days still find us running all over the place fulfilling Whitney's social calendar, but Grady is so awesome about going with the flow. He sits back and watches, taking everything in with wide-eyes. Sometimes I wonder when he is going to "perk up" and get loud and start tackling the world. But then I realize that life would be even crazier if he was fighting to get out of his carseat at Whitney's gym classes, or screeching through church, or causing a ruckus everywhere we go, so I am learning to appreciate these quiet, less-active days. He rolled over for the first time yesterday, and Eric's dad was here to witness the event! We cheered him on as he figured it out, and then startled him with our claps and excitement when he made it over. He's rolled a few times today, so I dont think its a fluke. Im actually kinda surprised. He "should" be rolling by now, but I rarely put him down. Bad, I know. But he's only awake for an hour at a time, and about 15-25 minutes of that hour is spent taking a bottle. So when we have him bright-eyed and ready to learn, I like to have him in my lap "talking" to me and Whitney :) I realized that I am creating a monster, so I have started putting him down more often (which, thankfully, he enjoys as much as my arms and back appreciate it!) and have probably only put him on his belly a handful of times. I was putting him on a small pillow that is meant for tummy time and came with our playmat, and sure enough, the second time he was on that elephant pillow, he rolled off it. I dont count that since it was an "assisted roll", but that was just a few days ago, so it didnt take him long to figure out the motions. :)

Sleeping/Napping
Grady's awake-sleep cycle is pretty easy to predict and, thankfully he is getting really good at falling asleep in random places like his carseat during a loud ballet class or in my arms at an even louder birthday party. He has teased me with several solid nights of sleep, but without him eating much yet or being super active, he isnt ready to sleep through the night. Or, I should say, he is probably READY and he is certainly CAPABLE, but I have no clue how to make that happen. If he would eat a bigger bottle right before bed, I bet he would sleep later. And once he is sitting, playing, crawling, reaching, rolling all day, he will wear himself out and need more sleep at night. But for now, we are just going at his pace. I would love to have him sleeping through the night before Whitney starts school next month, but we'll see.
*Side note: Grady falls asleep for the night around 7 or 7:30. He sleeps until at least 2am, but usually 4-5am. That is a solid block of 9 hours of sleep. I suppose that IS technically "sleeping through the night". Its just not "MY" night since I dont go to bed til after 11pm most nights. I might try waking him for a bottle three hours after he falls asleep or right before I go to bed, just to see if that helps hold him over to a reasonable morning hour....I'll even settle for 6am.....but 4 and 5am is just WRONG. lol

Eating
Grady eats four ounces every three hours during the day. He is starting to watch food as it moves to my mouth, and then laughs as I chew. And just today he was smacking his lips as I ate my salad. Grady struggles to poop right now, so I am sorta nervous to give him any cereal and cause more constipation than we are already dealing with, so I am not sure we will start that mess next month as planned. My doctor suggested giving him some water and/or some pear juice watered down each day to help with is constipation. We've tried it for the last few days but the jury is still out. He is still on the gentlease formula for gassy/fussy babies, and that was working well, but then our week at the beach seemed to constipate him even more than usual. I am guessing the different water or the extra heat/humidity dehydrated him a little. We will see what this week brings and if the poopin' issue is still a struggle, then I might call the doc.

Personality
Grady gives us small glimpses into his personality here and there, but he still seems so "newborn" to me. We get smiles...big, gaping, open-mouthed smiles that melt my heart....and some back and forth "conversation" with cute babbling "Ahh-gooo" and "bbbbb", but he is still really just our Meatball. Happy and content to just chill in a bouncer watching the world go by. He hasnt reached for any toys yet, but will grasp them occasionally when a ring or teether touches his hand. He likes to sit up and look around the room, often focusing on specific objects with a quizzical look on his face. He's not an unhappy baby, but he isnt a super-smiley, easily-excitable baby either. He is cuter than words though :) He has started to really take an interest in Whitney, looking around the room for her if he hears her voice. And though she is still a moving target, he is getting better at tracking her down. I hate to make it sound like he doesnt have any personality, but I think we've only touched the tip of the iceberg here. If he is anything like his Daddy, he will sit back and watch all the drama unfold, only speaking when absolutely necessary. There is probably some loud-mouthed, squealy, bubbly, super-excitable three month old baby girl raisin' heck out there in the world who needs a "Future Mrs. Grady Bass" onesie. They can even each other out the way Eric and I do :)

Sibling Fun
Whitney continues to LOOOVE her baby brother. She wakes up asking about him, goes to bed praying for him, and asks, "Can I seeee him??" about a gazillion times every day. She stops mid-breakfast just to come give him a kiss or hold his hand. She likes to show him his toys and ask him all the questions she hears me ask: "Is today the day youre gonna roll over, Gwady? Huh? Are you gonna poop today, Big Guy? Are ya? Gwady, who's dat big man? Are YOU dat big man? Awww, you are soooo CCUUUUTE!" I think she got a dose of even more fun when our buddy Easton visited us last week. Easton is almost six months old and is super interactive. It amazed me just how much difference there is between a three month old and a six month old. Easton can grab toys, reaches for faces, "talks" more than Grady, and is just an older kid in general. Whitney LOOOVED Easton. She thought he was the coolest thing EVER. (And he IS pretty cool!) I think the bond she feels with Grady will grow exponentially, and their relationship will get even more fun for her when Grady can finally start "doing" things.
Its fun to hear Whitney say things like "Gwady is an easy baby now. Wike *I* was! But he wasnt always an easy baby, was he Mommy?" She is just repeating what she's heard me say, but its funny that she says it when Grady is being especially cute or talkative, like she "gets" that this is what "easy" is, compared to his crying and throwing fits in those early weeks.
As I talked to Grady on his changing table this morning, I said "WHO is our big three month old today??" and Whitney came RUNNNING into his room and said, "***I*** am THREE!!!" So I had to explain months vs years, which she then declared "cool". :)