Sooo…in true “Molly” fashion, my son has turned three months (as of yesterday) and I have only just now started the blog of our new life as a family. Go me.
This whole blog has been started to keep distant (as in “living miles away”) friends and family in the Teej Loop of Dispair!!!!!! (aka in touch and updated on little baby T.J. Moto.)
The shenanigans all started on November 23rd. I woke up that morning and felt a little off kilter like I had just pulled a stomach muscle after eating a whole Chipotle burrito then decided to run up a long flight of stairs. It was not a comfortable feeling especially as it kind of came and went. Luckily I was happily distracted by running around with mom and dad preparing for the baby’s arrival (read “preparing for baby’s arrival” = SHOPPING!! BUYING CUTE ADORABLE CLOTHES AND ACCESSORIES!!)
Baby must have gotten the message that mommy was uber excited that day and was also prepared beyond a doubt (at least clothing and toy-wise) so he started making his move. Mom and dad returned home after spending and helping spend a bajillion dollars on their first grandson and Acy came home from work in time to whip out the stop watch and pull up a chair to do some hardcore contraction timing. It was already 11 at night when we decided that a hospital trip was in order and, again, in true “Molly” form, I frantically threw stuff into a bag because although baby’s due date was the next day and although I had made a list (I love lists) of things to bring, I had not packed them yet…
And so Toshimasa James (T.J.) Yamamoto was born November 24th, 2010 (yes the day before Turkey Day) at 3:57pm (how considerate of him to come in the afternoon rather than the wee hours of the night) and came in at 6 pounds 14 ¾ ounces and 20 inches tall. The delivery went quite smoothly (I hate to brag but… 7 min. and 4 pushes), he was a good eater, a great sleeper (ah, the good ol’ days) and adorable to boot. totally in sync and were one big happy family.
Then the panic set it… what just happened? Had the hospital really just let us leave with this fragile little thing? Don’t we need like a license or something to operate this baby? D-do we need gas masks when he poops? Will he need a shower cap when we bathe him? What if we break him? Ahhh…the joys of being a new parenthood. For the record, I blame Acy for anything that went wrong.
I actually wish that was true, but (much to my chagrin) Acy’s a natural dad and has more of a motherly instinct than I do!! That’s not supposed to happen….and it pissed me off to no end but it’s actually a good thing that it did because I was pretty much frozen in fear and self-loathing for the life of freedom I had lost in bringing this child into the world. After getting over the realization that I couldn’t put him back though, baby and I came to an understanding. I agreed to love him with all of my being and nurture him in every way possible and he agreed not to sass off to mommy in the first six months of his life. Good deal right?
So here we are, he has survived his first three months of life. You always hear people saying “enjoy them while they’re a baby. It all goes by so quickly,” you really don’t fathom it until you experience it. It’s amazingly true how that is.
I thought of making a post for each month but decided that it would be more efficient to just make this a very GRANDE FIRST POST. Here's the first three months of the life of The Teej (from his baby book):
At ONE MONTH you are eating very well, peanut, and you are growing so fast! You’re already 10.07 lbs. and 22 ½ in. long (both over average.)
You’re starting to be able to lift your head for longer and longer amounts of time and you’re already smiling and laughing a lot! You make lots of really adorable coo-ing noises that sound like “ah” and are very short and sweet. Sometimes you throw in an “aw.” Of course, mommy and daddy are still awfully amused by the noises of your tooting and though you sometimes cry when you have gas or want to burp you only consistently cry when you’re hungry and occasionally when you’re overtired or lonely.
You love your milksies though and that’s mainly what makes you happy but you also love to snuggle and bounce a little (which also helps you burp.)
At 6 weeks, we’ve started loosely sleep training you because you love to sleep everywhere but your crib and haven’t quite understood the difference between day and night. On your second day, though, you’re doing great!
At TWO MONTHS you’re quite the little genius and you’re so strong already! What a difference one month makes! You can now keep your head fairly stable and you’ve already managed to roll over once from your tummy to your back (going to the right) although you were none too happy about it at the time. It may have been beginners luck though because you haven’t quite managed to do it again though you’ve been awfully close a few times. You LOVE to stand and can do so for quite some time if we help you balance. I think you like it better than sitting or lying down!
You’ve learned that the little zebra-cat that hangs from your play matt is holding a ball that will make music if you hit it. At first mommy thought you did it by accident. Then you did it six times in the span of only a half hour!
You’re such a morning person and are often the happiest and most smiley when you’ve just woken the household up for the day. Mommy and daddy can’t figure out how you’re their child although it does make it easier for us to get up in the morning when we’re greeting with that smile, especially because as you get older, you love to chat on the changing table. At first you only wanted to talk to us, but now you’re becoming more content to chat with yourself as you play. It’s so cute to hear!
Your diet now consists mostly of formula because you are an EATING MACHINE! You now eat 4-6 oz. ever couple of hours and take an 8 oz. bottle before bed. Anyone could tell though because you’re starting to get a little chubbier around your cheeks and neck (the more to love my dear.) At your two-month check-up you were 13.1 lbs. and 23 ¾ in. long!! Quite the grow spurt you had there baby!
We’ve also learned that you’re quite an amazing traveler when mommy took you on your first trip out of the state to visit Nani and Bapa in Florida Columbia Florida
Although mom and dad don’t sing to you much, mommy will sing “You Are My Sunshine” while she gives you a bath and daddy reads to you whenever he can at night before putting you down for bed. You’re a fan of “The Belly Button Book,” “Black on White,” and “The Barnyard Dance.”
At THREE MONTHS you now weigh 15.01 lbs!!! We only know this because you had your first cold, poor bub. Your cough is so sad to listen to but you’re a trooper and are taking it all in stride (I think you have your daddy’s regenerative powers!) Although you haven’t been eating well recently because of the cold, you’re quite the chubby bubby and have more chins than a Chinese phone book! I love the big Buddha belly and face though and you’re so much fun to cuddle.
You’ve started to laugh a little when you show off the big gummy smile (P.S. mommy doesn’t want you to grow teeth.) It sounds like “ageeee” and is super adorable. Bapa’s right in saying that you smile with your whole face. It just melts the heart. In fact, when mommy had a quick check-up on your 3-month birthday, all the nurses came out because they were waiting to see you!! My little flirt! :D
You can’t quite pick things up yet yourself but you’ll hold and shake your plastic keys from Auntie Beth and Uncle Jimmy a bit before throwing/dropping them! You also grasp onto the zebra-kitty on the play matt, the Big Bird from the play bar and have pulled the Velcro-on butterflies down from the play matt!
Although momma’s trying to give you more tummy time, you’ve started to get a little bit of a flat AND bald spot on your head. It makes mommy a little worried but the pediatrician assured us that it’s quite common for babies your age and that it should pop back out as you’re spending more time on your tummy, learning to roll and sit up and that your skull plates haven’t crossed yet so it’s not too worrisome…nonetheless you’ve been put in the Bumbo (which you seemed to really enjoy actually) and Auntie Beth and mommy tried out the jumper. You were quite indifferent and grew a bit frustrated with the jump after about five minutes though but we’ll try again next week.
Mommy and you are visiting Uncle Jimmy and Auntie Beth almost every week now so you get to spend time with your cousins. Lulu loves you and often tries to “hold” you. She often comes to greet us at the door and calls out your name “TJ!” Lulu’s very sweet and will try and “help” me feed you or give you your suckie (although try as we will you dislike the suckie for the most part) and give you nice kisses on your cheek and forehead. Greta I think is still a little unsure of you but she’s happy to be the older child for once and we sometimes have to be a little careful now that she is able to speed-crawl and even walk!! I don’t know if you’ll be able to keep up with them but I’m happy you’ll have some family close in age to play with and keep you company until you get a brother or sister.
You still haven’t successfully rolled over again but you only just turned three months this week so we’ll update this again soon hopefully with some progress.
