2 Months Old

Ocean passed the 2 month mark two weeks ago, so it's about time I got this post finished and posted. Finding time to take and then edit the photos seems to be what slows me down the most.

isn't this the cutest shirt? of course, the baby's pretty cute too :)

At his 2 month checkup he weighed 13 pounds, 11ounces and measured 23". This puts him at about the 85th percentile for weight and about 50th for height, but his height/weight proportions are holding steady. He's a chunky little guy who really enjoys eating. Though he does still gulp a lot of air while nursing, which results in some really impressive burps. Belches are a better name for what comes out of him :)

look at those chubby cheeks!

The big news this month has to do with his hearing. His left ear passed the newborn hearing screening, but his right ear flunked. It wasn't until we took him for a followup appointment that we realized that he'd failed the test- the hospital nurse had just said "he hadn't cooperated" despite two tries. In any case, at his followup audiology appointment at the pediatrician's office (at about 4 weeks old) his right ear failed again and his left ear barely failed. They could see fluid, which was probably causing the problems, but it wasn't infected. Since he failed the test again, they referred us to the audiology department at the university hospital, where they have more sensitive equipment.

We went in for that appointment just before he turned two months old and re-tested both ears. His tympanic membranes are stiff and not moving and there's still fluid in both ears. His left ear is still borderline, with mild hearing loss. His right ear is worse, with moderate hearing loss. At this point the audiologist recommended we wait and see what happens- she thinks the fluid will drain and the issues resolve on their own in the next couple months (we have another followup in two months, just before he turns four months old). As his neck muscles strengthen and he spends more time sitting up his ears should be better able to drain. At six months if he's still having problems with fluid they can put tubes in to help with drainage. A big point in our favor is that the fluid is not infected and he's not exposed to a lot of germs through daycare, preschool, school, etc, so hopefully he won't get any ear infections.  The audiologist has fitted 3 month olds with hearing aids, but she said she didn't feel that we needed to go that route, but obviously we'll keep an eye on things. Since he can hear (which we already knew, since he reacts to noises), we can afford to hold off on anything too drastic. If he couldn't hear, we'd definitely need to go the hearing aid route so as not to affect his speech development. As it is, the audiologist thinks the hearing loss is only temporary and should return fully once the fluid drains.

So we're still in a holding/waiting pattern for another 2 months (well, a month and a half at this point), but I'm sure he'll be fine.

he still has a receding hairline, now supplemented with a comb-over

We were worried about his hair falling out, but it's started re-growing, so at least he won't be bald. It does seem to be lighter than River's hair, and in the right light it looks reddish. While he has short re-growth coming in, he has longer hair that hasn't fallen out that is thinning and looks like a bad baby comb-over :)

selfie snuggle?  snuggle selfie?

He still prefers to be held while sleeping, though I am working on transitioning him to napping on the couch or in the co-sleeper. He still sleeps 4-6 hours at a time at night, but usually only after midnight. He occasionally falls asleep earlier than that, but it's not consistent, so I'm still trying to convince him to move up his bedtime.

He's still a smiley baby, but now it's a reaction to us, not just an involuntary expression. He's also gotten a couple giggles out when we've tickled him. Towards the end of the month he started being more alert (sleeping a little less) and has gotten quite talkative and has a wide range of noises he makes.

such a handsome little guy

Ocean was blessed over Labor Day weekend. You can read more about it here.

He occasionally finds his fingers, and a couple times he's found his thumb, but he's not as single minded as River was. Ocean will take the pacifier, but he doesn't love it like Sunshine did. I'm curious to see which way he ends up going.

River was sitting in the stroller at Sunshine's fiddle lesson (the only way to keep him stationary right now) and he really wanted to hold Ocean

Ocean still gets upset when he gets the hiccups. He doesn't enjoy them at all, but it's funny for us to see his expression of disgust.

Ocean tolerates River's snuggles and kisses

Like many younger siblings, Ocean is going to grow up tough after putting up with/surviving his older brother and sister. They mean well, but aren't always as gentle as they could be, River in particular. He's strangely fascinated with Ocean's eyes and keeps pointing at them, only his little finger is so close to Ocean's eyes that he's poking him in the eye. River does love Ocean, though, and is more generous with his hugs and kisses with him than with the rest of us :)

I pulled out the highchair a few weeks ago. I feel much safer with Ocean sitting up high rather than sitting low to the floor in the bouncer. There's just too many things in the kitchen that could fall on him when he's in the bouncer. The picture above was one of the first occasions he'd sat in it and he wasn't too sure about it. He doesn't mind it now and I think he likes being a part of the family at meal times.