Two Months

Well I can't believe that 1) Mr. Dempsey is already two months old, 2) that time went by so fast that I am a week late in getting this blog post up and 3) that I haven't done a blog post since Dempsey was one month old!! Needless to say, we've been busy!! :)

So, what has happened in the last month? Well, Mr. Dempsey and I began going to the breastfeeding momma's weekly weigh-in group at Swedish hospital. It was a good experience and really helps to reassure us breastfeeding ladies that our babies are in fact gaining weight! They also give us a helpful sheet each week that tells us how much milk our little one's need in a 24 hour period in case you were to (gasp!) leave your baby for a day or so and needed to create a supply in the fridge/freezer.

Dempsey is proving to be more and more like his dad every day - especially in the whole body type department. At his two month weigh in he was 10 lbs, 8oz which puts him in the 22nd percentile for weight and he was 23 1/4" long which puts him in the 64th percentile for his height. For all you non-mathy types out there, that means that if we had a play date with Dempsey and 100 other boys his age he would be taller than 64 of them but 88 of those boys would weigh more than him! Needless to say he is a bit of string bean! :) He is following the same growth curves that he's been on since he arrived and that is good. And even though he's only gained a little under three pounds and grown three inches he sure has changed a lot since he was born! He even looks a whole lot different than he did on his one month birthday - check out the photo below!!

Dempsey has been coming along swimmingly in the development department. In the past month he starting holding his head up quite a bit (with some bobbling, especially when tired), he held my dad's rattle for a little bit, he starting making more eye contact and following objects (or light trails or dust or fairies) with his eyes, he definitely started noticing when the dog's would bark, starting making a lot of new sounds, and even began smiling! He sure is growing up! In early to mid April Dempsey starting smiling sporadically, sometimes when he woke up, sometimes during a diaper change, but nothing really consistent and not for any length of time that you could catch on a camera. That all changed on April 22nd when Dempsey was hanging out with his dad who happened to be singing an awesome Tom Jones song (there was a Tom Jones category on Jeopardy! that day) and that's when it happened. He broke out in the biggest smile and then kept on smiling. Then he would lift one side of his mouth then the other and then break out in another full blown smile. It was so darn cute and he's been smiling ever since (except for when he is hungry, tired, bored, overstimulating....).  And here is a photo of his first "real" smile fest!!

During this month we ventured out of the house to places other than walks, our families' homes and doctor's offices. We started taking him shopping (even just he and I) and had several very positive experiences at restaurants! We even went out for dad's 28th birthday and he just slept the whole time - that was nice of him! And the next day I took him to meet all the ladies from work for breakfast and he was happy to be passed around and soak up all the attention in the booth!

He breastfeeds really well and also takes a bottle really well. But doesn't seem to prefer one over the other - which is great for us! Everyone jokes that I say he is always going through a growth spurt due to his eating habits - but in all honesty every couple of weeks he will have a day when he eats constantly! Those days can be rather exhausting since that means that me and my boobs are fully occupied. And I, like a crazy person, generally refuse to use a bottle on those days because I think that if he is needing to eat so much that he is helping to prepare my body for the milk that he will be needing as he grows. The more he eats the more milk I will produce (right!?!). Speaking of breastfeeding - it can hurt sometimes (like a lot) even with a good latch. And lanolin is your only friend. Also, I got to learn (the hard way) that your supply goes down as you get your lovely cycle back. Yep, that's right friends. This girl, who didn't ovulate and needed fertility treatments, was one of the lucky exclusively breastfeeding mamas who got her cycle back like clockwork at 6 weeks. WTF!? :)

I went back to work during this month. That was fun. It is an interesting transition, that's for sure. I work from home which is great because I get to spend all day with Dempsey, but it does make it difficult when he is having a nap-less day because that generally means a pretty work-less day for me and making up those hours at other times (not during normal business hours). But I couldn't imagine having to drop the little guy off at day care all day and sit in an office so I am extremely grateful that I get to spend all this time with him.

I hope to post more in the coming months as this semester of school ends and summer begins. I also would like to post his three month post in a more timely manner! Until next time my friends...