Update at 3 Months

Written 11/3/06

Ezra is three months old now. I can’t believe how much he’s grown! I haven’t been good about recording his life so far, so I’ll try to summarize:

I’ve already written his birth story. He was born at 1:30 a.m., and we were home by 2:00 that afternoon. It was a Friday, so that night was his shalom zachor. Lots of people came, but Ezra and I stayed in the bedroom and only a few women came back to see us. Actually, I mostly stayed in bed with him for the first few days. It seemed like he wanted to nurse constantly, even more than he wanted to sleep! That was hard. My milk started coming in on Sunday morning and it was there by Sunday night. I was so surprised to have so much milk that it leaked all over the place constantly! Ezra seemed happier once the milk was there and settled in to nursing and sleeping and making diapers and once in a while waking up to look around and play with his Grandma and Granddaddy, who were visiting from Charleston (they came from Sunday through Tuesday). We did have a struggle with nursing in the beginning because my nipples became very raw and cracked, to the point where at one point I had to grit my teeth when I latched him, especially on the right side.

When Ezra was 5 days old, on Tuesday night, his umbilical cord stump fell off. It dried up so nicely and never caused any trouble. I credit Gazelle with doing a fabulous job of clamping it very short. Then on Ezra’s eighth day he had his bris milah. When he was around two or three weeks old he started getting very colicky. We went on so many long walks with him, because that was the only thing that would calm him down. Baruch one time walked in the rain, wearing Ezra in the Baby Bjorn, for over an hour and ended up at the grocery store, where I went to pick them up! After about six weeks Ezra started become more calm, though. I cut wheat out of my diet and that helped him a lot. I was just able to start eating wheat again when he turned three months old.

At 30 days old we went to Monsey for his pidyon ha’ben. There were lots of people there (almost 100, I think). It was held at the Frankel’s shul in Monsey. JJ Brandler was the kohain. Tamar and JJ had already seen Ezra at his bris (it was so nice of them to come all the way from New York!), and Tamar said he had grown so much since then. A good time was had by all (and Ezra got lots of presents).

Ezra was smiling at people a lot by the time he was six weeks old. When he was seven/eight weeks old we (just Ezra and I) flew to Charleston to visit. The flights were fine. I even nursed him in the sling while standing in the security line at the Philadelphia airport! Nobody even knew, except perhaps one other mother who was wearing a Glamourmom nursing tank.

On the day he turned two months old Ezra learned to roll over (from belly to back). He did it over and over that day, whenever I put him on his belly. For a long time he would mostly roll when he was naked, but now he rolls whenever he feels like it.

At three months old, Ezra can reach and grab, and is getting better at this skill every day. He laughs at so much. His favorite toy is a stuffed octopus with tentacles that pull out from a curled position. He laughs and talks to it; it just cracks him up! He also likes the squeaky birds on his play mat, although he gets frustrated with the mat now because he can’t move around. He coos and gahs and makes lots of gurgly baby noises. Playing “how big is Ezra?” and “wave your arms and kick your feet” is bound to get a laugh. He always gets the hugest grin when I start taking off his sleeves for nakie time–he loves to be naked! He also gets a big grin when we sing Modeh Ani in the morning. When we go out for walks (which is often) he looks wide-eyed at the world and smiles at the trees. He loves to be worn in the wrap while I interact with other people–he just stares wide-eyed like he’s learning all about how to be social.

He’s growing so big, too! At his two-month checkup he weighed thirteen and a half pounds and was 22.5 inches long. He’s definitely grown since then! I don’t know how much he weighs (probably 14 or 14.5 pounds), but I informally measured him today at just under 24 inches.

We love our adorable little boy so much!