A garden full of flowers: My Beautiful Baby Blake

I seriously have a picture taking problem! I want to capture every single smile, every sweet face, and every moment. It is hard though, because as much as I want to freeze time, and engrave every moment into my memory, it is just not possible. No matter how many pictures or movies I take, I can never capture the way his little head smells. I can't capture how his fluffy hair feels against my cheek, or how his warm body feels cuddled up against me. I can't capture our quiet nursing moments, or how his little hand feels wrapped around my finger. I can't capture how his sweet smile completely melts my heart into a giant puddle of love. It is hard that these months are flying by so quickly. As much as I just want to hold him and cuddle him all the time, it is just not possible when life has to be tended too! However, thanks to this blog, I can make sure to highlight the things I want to remember about this stage. :-)

---He is such a good little guy. He is a very happy baby, and really isn't too fussy. He is becoming more awake, and more alert. He LOVES watching what every one is doing. He loves to be held, but he HAS to be looking out so he can see everyone. He hates being held on my shoulder, or laying in my arms unless he is eating or sleeping (which is sometimes sad when I just want to cuddle my little baby!!). He just wants to sit in my lap like a big boy and take in the world!

---I love changing his diaper. Yes...you read that right, lol. His changing table is the perfect height, and he gives me the biggest smiles and coos and he stares at my face as I change him. I love how he seems to already love me and know me.

---He has started grabbing toys and he is trying sooo hard to figure out how to use those little arms and hands. He often holds them straight out in fists when he is laying down. He loves his play gym, and I have so many dangling toys that we have collected over the years between the three boys. He has a lot of things to choose from, and he is getting good at grabbing and holding onto his toys.

---He is a super drooly baby. Drool all over!! He likes his paci, but he also loves sticking his little fingers in his mouth.

---He is trying to giggle, and it is sooo sweet. He seems to have a personality in between Chase and Wesley. He seems to find silly things funny like Wesley did, and will laugh at me when I am making silly noises or tickling his tummy. He is a squeaker and makes lots of cute noises, but he seems a little more laid back like Chase. It will be fun to see how his personality develops over the next few years :-)

---His hair is starting to fall out. He still has a cute red poof on the top, but he has lost a lot. I ended up shaving off this small little patch of hair on the back of his head. He lost all of his hair around this poof, and it was looking kind of crazy, so off it went. It is exactly what happened with Chase.

---Even though he is awake and alert a lot more now than a month ago, he still sleeps pretty well for being 3 months old. He will only stay awake for an hour or two at a time before falling asleep again, so he really doesn't have a schedule yet. He takes a lot of naps still, however, he doesn't take a lot of "formal" naps. During the day, if he is sleeping it is either in my arms, in the swing, or in his carrier because he fell asleep in the car. I am blessed that every time we have gone shopping or out to eat, he has fallen asleep in the car, and stayed sleeping though most of our outing.

---He goes to bed around 9:30 still, but he has been waking up more during the night than a month ago. He usually wakes up around 1 or 2, and If I give him his paci, he might sleep for another 30 min to an hour. I usually nurse him around 2:30 or 3, and he wakes again around 4 or 5, and every hour after that. I just have to keep getting up giving him his paci to get him back to sleep. I nurse him again in the morning, around 5 or 6 or 7 depending on the morning. I am pretty tired. It wouldn't be so bad if he just woke up once to nurse, but all the other times get pretty tiring, and then the older boys wake up early, and come in right after I get the baby back to sleep and either wake him up or me up asking me to turn the tv on, or to get them a snack. Tis the life of a Mom though, and I know it won't be like this forever. :-) I do enjoy the quiet night time cuddles as he noisily nurses and gulps the milk, and gives me his big smiles.

--- He still loves his bath, but he is so long and wiggly that he is starting to outgrow his infant tub already.

---He is in size 2 diapers, and has outgrown so many clothes, it is crazy! He is soo long, that he was fitting in 6 month clothing at 2 months old. He is about 14.5 lbs!

---Since Blake has been born, the older boys have had two rounds of colds. I was sooo nervous and tried so hard to keep them away from Blake while they were sick, but that is not really realistic. I even caught a cold, and once that happened, I knew there was no keeping those germs away from the baby. However, both times he only caught a very mild cold. He had a little bit of a stuffy nose, and a minor cough, but he hardly got sick. We were so blessed. Having a sick baby is a huge fear of mine. I hate seeing my babies sick, so I am so thankful he has been really healthy so far. I'm guessing it was the antibodies in the breast milk that kept him healthy.

---When he got his two month shots (he is on a slightly altered Vaccination schedule), he fussed a little, and then that was it. He was fine, and didn't have any bad reactions after either. Huge blessing!

---He is just so sweet, and pure, and I love this stage. He is big enough to squish and cuddle now, but small enough to still have a wobbly head, and flapping arms, and that sweet innocent baby look. I love that he is taking in the world, and I love how his eyes get big and bright as he studies this beautiful world. I just love my sweet Blake to pieces, and I could kiss those sweet checks all day!! :-)