Max: 3 Months

Max's third month was full with Christmas, travelling to Arkansas, and his first illness.

The Sunday after Christmas when we were driving back from Arkansas both boys began getting congested and by Monday Max seemed pretty pitiful and miserable.  He continued to get worse throughout that week and by midweek he was wheezing and having trouble nursing because he was having to work so hard to breathe, so we took him to the doctor and they confirmed that he had an RSV/bronchiolitis infection.

RSV can linger 3-4 weeks in babies Max's age (and it can also be pretty serious, so we're thankful it never got that scary for him), so we will be going in for a follow-up next week to make sure he is completely over it and in good shape for the CT-scan on the 23rd (which had to be rescheduled since they didn't want to sedate him while sick) and for his surgery, which is scheduled for January 27th. I am praying that he will be 100% by then, because our Moms are planning on flying in the weekend before the surgery to help, and also because I am just ready to get this big surgery over and done with, as it is something I have been dreading. He was back to his normal self after 5-7 days, but the cough and chest congestion lingered for a couple weeks. Right now he seems totally fine to me, but we will see what the doctor has to say next week.

Anyway, enough about sickness. Here are other things that Max is up to.

Stats: He was somewhere between 17 and 18 pounds when we took him into the doctor right before the 3-month mark. His length was 25.5 inches.

Eating: Eating is about the same this month. I think he eats probably 6-8 times in a 24-hour period. He doesn't eat during the night, but it's not unusual for him to wake up sometime in the 5:00 hour to nurse and then go back to sleep. I feel like in the past month he nurses much less for comfort than he did at the beginning, because if I try to feed him too soon, he gets very angry.

Night Sleep: He has continued to sleep great at night, although that did not hold true (understandably so) for his illness, when he was waking sometimes 5 times per night.  We have gotten him to an earlier bedtime, so now he goes down around 8:00 and sleeps until sometime between 6:00 and 8:00. Typically, he doesn't wake at all, but if he does, it is around 5:00.

Daytime Sleep: His naps are so-so. While we were in Arkansas his naps were terrible and we couldn't get him to stay asleep for more than 30 minutes most of the time, but he has adjusted back to a better routine now that we're home, and he is taking decent naps, though they are not fantastic. I think he naps 4 times, though sometimes it might be only 3. His best nap happens first thing in the morning.

Play: Max is really enjoying his play gym these days, and he also loves to observe everything going on around him from the bouncy seat. Over the past week he has been working on grasping objects (like his links) and he loves to study his hands and fingers. He still really dislikes tummy time.

Temperament: This little guy has me puzzled.  He began life just like his brother, very particular and quite fussy/hard to please, but with a few exceptions over the past few weeks, he has become quite the content/go-with-the- flow kind of baby. Even with his illness, there were only two or three days where he acted really miserable.  After that, it's like things flip flopped; he became super happy during the days, but a horrible sleeper at night. I'm hoping we can have both, so we'll see if this peaceful temperament thing continues. I just can't get over it when he is content to sit in the bouncy seat for nearly an hour while we watch tv or while we make dinner or play with Jesse...it's not something I'm used to from my experience with Jesse.