The Most Beautiful Sound

I have always loved music in its various forms and have sought out beautiful sounds. Whether it be an incredible mezzo belting her heart out or a master violinist backed by a symphony orchestra, beautiful sounds consistently bring tears to my eyes. I just can't help it. Although I am young, I thought I had a reasonable idea of what sounds I thought were the most beautiful in the entire world. Last night all my ideas came crashing down and faded to nothing, as I experienced the most beautiful sound of my life- my baby laughing!

Baby Smiles

We were playing with Caden and finally caught some of his bigger smiles on camera. How we love our little guy!!

Our baby is 3!

3 months, that is. We don't have official stats this month, but Caden is about 15 lbs and 24-24.5 inches long. That means he only gained 1 lbs (compared to the 2 1/2 per month he was gaining) but grew at least a full inch. He still has significant reflux, and although medication is helping his discomfort, it has not slowed the flow from him. I wish I could just put him in a plastic suit- he soaks his clothes the minute (literally) I put them on, so I wonder what's the point in dressing at all. I am also constantly covered in Caden's meals. Maybe he's just marking his territory? Aside from that, Caden is a model baby. He's now sleeping 11-12 hours at night with no feedings. He naps in his crib and pretty much only cries when he's tired and we are out somewhere. He loves to interact with mom and dad but is also getting better at entertaining himself. He's not quite to the point of bringing toys to his mouth, but he will grab at toys and hold them, or stare at them intently as he sucks on his hands. He has pulled out his binkie and gotten it back in his mouth once or twice, but generally he just flings it a couple of feet away.

Caden has so far refused to take a bottle. Most of the time it's no problem, but it is pretty tricky at times. Such as last week. Caden was having some constipation issues, and after 5 days I had to give him some pear juice. I tried and tried to get him to take the bottle, but he just played with it and wouldn't suck. He does fine with a syringe, so I proceeded to give him the juice through an oral syringe, not thinking how long that would take. TWO HOURS later, I gave up. He got most of it, and he and I were both done. He liked the juice, but he was sick of playing mommy's game. It was only 1 1/2 oz of juice! Two hours! (side note: Caden's issues finally resolved after a glycerin suppository with some impressive results!) We are going to keep on working on the bottle, especially since I'm still possibly going back to work, but I have a hard time pushing it too much when it is so much easier to not pump and store and warm and clean up after.

We just love our little boy. I love being greeted by a big smile every morning when he wakes up. It is so fun when he starts "talking" back to us. I always wonder what's going on in his little mind as he talks, especially because he coos the most right before spitting up! We love watching him learn new things all the time and are excited for winter to end so we can start spending time outdoors with him!

A few of his favorite things

At 2 1/2 months, Caden is now regularly sleeping through the night, often 10-11 hours in a row! Along with his new found love of extended sleep, here are a few of the things Caden loves:

Reading

Any sort of play time, but especially if it doesn't involve tummy time

Bathtime, especially in the "big" tub (he quickly got too big for a baby tub)...

...and trying out bodily functions on mom and dad (this was during bath time, so I didn't notice until WAY too late that Caden was aiming right at me)

Anything that rattles or makes that crinkly sound. This duck is a particular favorite, because the beak is perfect for sucking on

Anything he can suck on. Generally, he prefers a binkie, but his fist does quite well when he's not too sleepy

And of course, smiling big for pretty much anyone who will give him attention