3 months

Mama and Mali, 12 weeks old

Our sweet little Mali (a nickname we have had for Malachi since he was born, originally coined by Adelaide,) turned 3 months old yesterday. I keep saying it in my head - 3 months, 3 months - and yet, I don't believe it. I look at that picture (above) of the little sweetie that a friend took of us last week and he looks huge to me! I'm not sure why I can't see it in person, sometimes I feel like he is still my little 7lb baby that I brought home from the hospital. I haven't weighed him in a while, but he will have another check in one month, so I'm eager to see what he is up to.

Mali, 2.5 months old, Feb 2013.

Charlie and Malachi, post-bath time. Feb 2013

Mal is such a smiley, happy baby. He coos and laughs often, each day. His personality - happy, chill, patient. He only cries when overtired. I have mostly figured out his schedule (although it is ever-changing), and so long as I get him in his bed before being overtired, he goes to sleep without a peep. This morning his first nap was 2.5 hours when I finally woke him up to eat, and now he has been sleeping for another 2 hours. He will still take another big nap today, and then a catnap around 5pm. That last nap of the day has been the trickiest - I'm struggling to figure out his waketime for that one. The rest of the day he can be up for 50-60 minutes, whereas a month ago he was still only at 35 min! A big leap.

Cowboy Malachi, 2 months old

Sadly, nighttime sleep has backtracked a bit. Malachi was regularly sleeping 9-10 hour stretches at night until about 3 weeks ago. Since then he has only made it past 7 hours a handful of times. I have heard this could be normal so I am trying to wait before having him cry in the middle of the night. I could be wrong in this, but I think I would rather wait too long to have him cry than make him cry before he is ready. To add to this, I have had a bad cough/cold for the past week and have been taking lots of cough drops and kids' cough/cold tea, only to learn that all of these things can decrease milk supply. (To see specifics, check out kellymom.com) So since yesterday I have been taking more milk plus, a supplement from Whole Foods, as well as drinking Fenugreek tea. Can I just say that I absolutely loathe the taste of fenugreek? I'm pretty sure though that just in the past 24 hours I have seen my milk supply pick back up, and I am hoping this will help Mali sleep better at night.

2 months old

Malachi loves to lay on his baby gym, but his favorite activity is being talked to. He isn't picky about who talks to him - sometimes Charlie; if Adelaide is awake she isn't too far from his side; Ben is very popular in the morning and evening hours; and mama, of course, loves to talk and cuddle with him all day long. He loves to suck on his hand and may have even found his thumb today. I'm not sure how I feel about this as we still have two other thumb-suckers in the house. Mal stopped taking a dummy (paci) a just recently. Cloth nappies are also going well for Mal, he even wears them at night without any leaking. He wears mostly Grovia's hybrid system, and occasionally a prefold inside of a cover. I had never used prefolds before but my good friend Laura send me about a dozen of them so I gave it a go. They work really well, as a nappy or as a burp rag! If I keep one in the nappy bag, I have a spare nappy or burp rag, in case of emergencies :)

8 weeks old

Adelaide entertaining baby brother

Mal loves to stare at the ceiling, which he is doing right now next to me on the bed. The air vent particularly interests him. He doesn't get the hiccups as much anymore. He is so ticklish! He loves bathtime and I don't think he has ever cried in the bath tub! He is still sleeping in the pack n play in our closet, but occasionally will nap in his crib in his/Adelaide's room, whenever I remember to put him down in there.  He will fall asleep in the car seat, too, but only randomly does he get a good, solid nap in the car seat. Usually he wakes up soon after we get out of the car. I must also mention how good Ben is with the kids and how he takes care of so much when he isn't working. Each night around 7, I am in our room feeding Malachi and putting him to bed while Ben is arranging baths and getting Adelaide and Charlie ready for bed, too. Let me say that on my end, it is much more peaceful :)

Bathtime, 2 months old

Malachi and cutie, Lennon. First play dates. 

I am loving the baby stage so much, maybe because it is going so quickly. I feel like all of my kids are running through life and I would rather they were crawling! I truly love it though and feel so blessed to be their mom and get to spend my days with these little joys.

Adelaide, Charlie, and Malachi (6 weeks)