Three Months Old

Last Saturday we went to York--baby's first time on the city walls!

The Shambles

York Minster

Baby's first family selfie

George has finally mastered the art of thumb-sucking--he managed put himself to sleep for a nap the other day. It didn't last long, but I was thrilled!

Tummy time with the Boppy

I love that face!

Tummy Time!

George is three months old today! 

The biggest development at 3 months has been his improved sleep. We still have some rough nights, but overall, he's napping and sleeping longer and more consistently. Last night we had a sleep breakthrough--he put himself to sleep with his thumbs and he stayed in the Moses basket from 11pm-6am, with only one feed at 2am. It was brilliant!

Firsts at 3 months: First flight (first 6 flights, actually); first outgrown clothes; first time meeting Aunt Kelly, Uncle Jason and cousins William and Charlie; first visit to York; first real engagement with toys and books

12 Weeks Old

Aunt Kelly took some gorgeous pictures of George during our visit

It was so lovely to see William and Charlie with George!

We've been doing pretty well with our jetlag recovery--we had a very low-key weekend, walked up to Starbucks on Saturday and went to Roundhay Park after church on Sunday. I'm thrilled that it's Pumpkin Spice Latte season again!

On Monday George and I went to the city centre to run errands and get lunch at Tortilla in Trinity Kitchen (burritos are the perfect one-handed lunch, and breastfeeding means I don't have to hold back--bring on the guacamole, por favor!)

Enjoying his new cute Boppy cover--12 weeks old today!

Since we got back from the States, George has had another important first--his first round of immunisations! He was very good, just cried a little bit and settled again as soon as I nursed him. The nurses thought he was adorable and "a very chill baby." He had DTap/IPV/Hib, PCV, and MenB as shots and Rota as an oral suspension. He didn't seem to get a reaction or fever, but we gave him the advised 3 doses of baby Tylenol (Calpol here) and he just slept a lot over the first 24 hrs.

He also had his 6-8 week check-up with the GP last Friday (at 11 weeks) who thought he was doing great--he gave her a big smile at the start of the appointment and she goes, "Well, that's one box I can tick off--he's definitely learned to smile!" She finally measured him (we hadn't had a length measurement because they don't do it in the hospital here and the midwives/health visitors don't do it either--the NHS feels it's not useful because it's so inaccurate, yet why then do we always do it in the States?! I wanted to know his length, lol! For the birth announcement, we measured him with my sewing tape measure on the dining table, haha!) and he's 59.5 cm and weighed 5.01 kg. He's finally outgrowing his size 1 nappies and some of his 0-3 month clothes. This week we've been giving cloth another go (they were too big for him at 6 weeks, so I postponed it) and they fit much better this time (he does have to wear size 3-6 month trousers with them, though!). 

In non-medical news, George is starting to take more of an interest in books and toys these days. He loves the baby gym, the take-along tunes and his little comforter blanket toys. We got him a little Miffy one at the Amsterdam airport as a little souvenir of his first flight! He's usually very smiley and engaging when he's up on the changing mat, so I like to read him stories there after a nappy change. He loves the "Global Babies" book and nursery rhymes. The other day I read him Appley Dapply's Nursery Rhymes, and he really smiled & cooed over it. I thought it was just another Beatrix Potter book (my mom sent me home with it amongst a lot of other books and presents), but inside the front cover I saw that my grandma had given it to me in 1992--so sweet and so lovely to have it now for George! Thanks mom/grandma and grandma/great-grandma!

Two Months Old

George is two months!

Naptime for everybody! (apart from Richard, taking the photo...)

George is still sleeping a lot better these days (apart from on our trip)

Our sleeping babies

George had his first flight (and 2nd-6th flights, too...) on our trip to the States! I had a conference at the University of Arkansas, then we went up to Minnesota to visit my family

We went to the Wal-Mart Museum--it had Sam Walton's truck and office, his wife's wedding dress, and was pretty much a shrine to him. They had a cute little gift shop in the old 5 and 10 store front and a brilliant soda fountain/ice cream cafe next door.

George is not fooled by the empty ice cream cone prop

The highlight of the trip for me--taking the baby to Cracker Barrel!

Our hotel at the University was lovely and they had this beautiful crib in the room for us!

Richard and George got to spend a lot of quality time together while I was attending the conference

The conference was about Senator Fulbright, his version of liberal internationalism, and his namesake exchange program

It was at Carnall Hall, on U of A's campus

Conference participants--featuring a lot of names from my dissertation's bibliography!

At the airport on our way to Minnesota!