Desmond: 3 months

As Ben put it, Desmond is a quarter of a year old today. After that statement I told him to never talk to me again. It really put it into perspective for me how soon my baby's first year will come to an end. It's exhilarating and heartbreaking all at the same time. I love having a baby and a toddler, even in the moments that are difficult. In the last 3 months I have experienced some of the most challenging moments of my entire life, but I've had many more joyous moments. God knows just how to balance the hurts with a precious belly laugh from Des or a rare snuggle from Kai. Parenthood is definitely a rollercoaster.

At 3 months Desmond is still growing quickly as ever. At his 2 month appointment he weighed 14lbs 15oz., so basically 15lbs. and I'm sure he's closer to 17 by now. Everyone marvels at how heavy he is, especially when lifting his car seat.

He still won't take a bottle although we recently had a nearly successful attempt in which he drank 1/2 an ounce. We've tried all the tricks and so we just keep making attempts and trying different bottles and pray that he'll take one so I can leave him with daddy or his grandparents for longer than an hour on occasion. It's not the end of the world, but Sunday mornings can get quite stressful when I'm toting him around and trying to do my job at the same time.

Des recently took to snuggling a "lovie", this sweet little teddybear/blanket that is soft and cuddly and just the right size. Watching him play + nap with it is one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

He also has a pretty good routine down, which is all his doing as I just let him lead the way and respond in kind. He wakes in the morning between 7 and 8am, happy as a clam. This is his most smiley part of the day. He's alert and content and loves to play with me or watch Malakai for about an hour or two before nursing and conking back out for a nap, which is usually in his bouncy chair and only 20-30 minutes.

He's up for some tummy time and he loves to watch his big brother play. While I make Kai's lunch he's pretty happy to wiggle on a playmat or in the bouncy chair. While Kai eats I usually nurse Des and get him down for his afternoon nap, around 12:30 or 1pm. He wakes around 2pm to nurse and then sometimes sleeps for an hour or two more.

In the late afternoon he's up to see daddy return from work and then takes a bit of power nap around the time that we eat dinner. He's up for another couple hours before bath and bedtime. He's a pretty good sleeper at night, but getting him to bed can be difficult at times. He had some colic for a while but it seems to be pretty much gone. Once he's down for the night he'll sleep for 2-6 hours before stirring to nurse. He sleeps in a co-sleeper next to me so once I hear him sucking on his hands or turning his head side to side I can nurse him before he really wakes up and then we all go back to sleep again. It's a pretty good system, except when he breaks out of his swaddle and I have to get up and try to fix it or have Ben help me because then I have a hard time falling back to sleep.

When he's active he loves to kick + pedal his feet while grunting and cooing. He laughs and smiles easily and his dimples are to die for. Des loves to be held standing up and has been bearing weight on his legs since around 4 weeks old. He actually loves tummy time and sometimes rolls from tummy to back. When he nurses he'll eat for a short time and then search for the binkie when he's done, unlike his brother who would comfort nurse for a very long time and rejected the binkie completely. He's been sprouting more and more dark hair, has a button nose, and a really long torso. While he's starting to resemble his brother at the same age more than before, he still looks an awful lot like his mama.

It's such a joy to watch Desmond grow and see his personality develop each day.