**SO, I saved this draft 2 months ago… I’m thinking I’m just going to publish as-is and work on little Henry’s 3 month update. Dang. I guess this is life with two kids :)**

I can’t believe my big little man is already 8 weeks old! It’s most definitely been the fastest 8 weeks of my life. They have been challenging at moments and so full of love I could explode (although at some moments my head is bordering explosion for other, less glowy reasons).

Anyway, for the past 4 weeks, I’ve been meaning to write a “one month” update for Henry… so I’m thinking I’ll just get it all out now!

Sleep
Henry was a great sleeper right out of the womb. Honestly, I can’t remember the first couple of days, but I feel like he was already doing 2-3 hour stretches. By week 2 or 3, his night stretches were anywhere from 4-7 hours, followed by one or two 2-4 hour stretches. It was magical. I should also mention that during this time, we believed that Henry had a “witching hour” between 7-9 pm.It really seemed to turn out to be that he was just ready for bed at 7 and needed us to actually “put him to bed.” Once we discovered this, we swaddled him and I would go in a dark room with him and feed him/rock him to sleep. This is when his bedtime moved from 9-11pm to 7-9pm.

By week 5/6, he regressed. I was anticipating him sleeping through the night like Charlie did at that age, but instead, he dropped his long stretch down to 3-4 hours and then demanded we cosleep the rest of the night. At this time, he also got his first cold, so I just cuddled him through the night(s) and developed quite the stiff neck. Over the past week or so, he’s gotten back to his long stretch. He goes to bed quite regularly around 7:30/8pm, sleeps 6 hours followed by a 3-hour stretch and then usually 1-2 after that. Most of which is done in his bassinet (although every so often I fall asleep nursing him). I should also note that in his first few days, he did seem to have his days and nights confused. I made a very deliberate effort of napping him in brightly-lit rooms and making sure he was swaddled for night sleep. It worked quickly and easily.

Henry is now getting more regular with napping, too. He seems to nap every day around 9/930 (either on our way to drop Charlie at school or once she’s dropped off). This nap lasts anywhere from 1-3 hours. The other more consistent nap time is at around 2/230. This is a great one because it coincides with Charlie’s nap. YAY for “free time.”

All in all, the first 8 weeks haven’t been horrible in terms of sleep. I have discovered that I operate pretty well with 6 hours of interrupted sleep. As long as I get that much, I can make it through the day. I’d say I’ve been pretty lucky in this department.

Size
Henry is a giant. At his 2 week appointment, he was in the 100th+ percentiles and just a week later when I brought him to the doctor, he was already significantly bigger. As a side note, Henry had milk residue all over his tongue for the first 3ish weeks of life. I convinced myself that he had thrush and immediately took both of us to the doc to be checked. Turned out to just be milk residue and a paranoid mom.

Anyway, upon birth, Henry was immediately in 0-3 month clothes. He didn’t fit in any of his newborn clothes. We had him in newborn diapers for about a week, but quickly switched him to size 1, as those pesky newborn dipes were just too small.

At about 7 weeks, we switched Henry to size 2 diapers and started transitioning to 3-6 month clothes. He still fits in some of his 0-3 stuff, but it all depends on the brand. For jammies, he’s pretty much only wearing 3-6m.

It will definitely be interesting to see what he weighs at his next appointment. He feels huge and so heavy to me! Hopefully he’s building up my arm muscles.

Skin
When Henry was born, he had the smoothest most delicious skin ever. I don’t remember Charlie feeling so soft and smooth. It was just perfect. By 3-4 weeks, he developed some baby acne on his face that soon after took over his arms and chest, too. The acne only lasted a week or two and then his face/skin just got super dry and scaley, which led to a mild case of cradle cap.

With some aquaphor, olive oil and determination, I got rid of his cradle cap within a week. Now, his skin is on its way back to…