13 Weeks Update

This post is dedicated to the more unfortunate things that start happening around this time in a new baby's life. First, I've captured for you Nolan's budding bald spot. Really, it's more like a v-shaped bald strip, since it goes up on the sides a bit.

I know that probably 90% of babies get a bald spot (those that are actually born with hair, that is....baldies have it easy in this respect!) now that the mantra is "tummy to play, back to sleep." But, it's just not fair. :-) Poor Nolan is going to end up with this giant tuft of hair on the top, but no hair anywhere else. And, it's worse for boys, I've learned. Bailey had SOOO much hair that, when she did start getting the thin patch in the back, she actually had longer hair from the top that (when coiffed perfectly) hid anything that could be considered suspect.

The next 3-month-old woe is the DROOLING. I've talked to many a mom whose kid didn't spit up OR drool, but I think it's just in my family's DNA. Bailey drooled badly from about 4 - 12 months. We had so many bibs and we have zero pictures of her during that time frame without a lovely bib hiding her cute outfit. And, just for the record, it had NOTHING to do with teething...at least as far as I could tell. Now, Nolan seems to be following in her footsteps, albeit much earlier. Seriously, what makes an infant not be able to hold the spit INSIDE his mouth? He's such a sweet baby, but no one is ever going to want to hold him for fear of getting spit up on or gummed to death. Smile...

In addition to the drooling, he now wants to chew on anything within his reach. I've mentioned previously that his hands are his choice non-food food. Here, however, is a picture of him going for one of the throw pillows on the couch. I had propped him up to take a posed picture, but he got sidetracked by all that yummy cotton.

This picture is a little fuzzy for some reason, but here's a full body shot so you can see how big he's getting. He's rarely curled up anymore and, instead, likes to stretch out and kick his legs.

We bought a Bumbo (Bumpo??) seat this week. He's still a little young, but within the parameters of the approved age range for the device, so I went for it. (Especially given the bald spot, I wanted to give him as many opportunities to sit up!) He enjoys it for short periods of time, but I inevitably find him slumped over trying to eat the side of the seat. I wish I had a picture...he's not unhappy, just chowing down on it.

And, finally, here is a picture I snapped last night when I went to check on him before retiring to bed. No one give me any grief about the blanket...we'll ditch it when it gets warmer and he really starts to move around. Right now, it's just so darn cold, especially in his room since it has a large window.

Bailey also had a good week. We bribed her all week long with the fact that she got to take a picture with a live bunny at her Mother's Day Out. Anything that she didn't want to do, we said, "You won't get to take your picture with the real bunny!" That worked well until after the picture was actually taken. Somehow, our leverage disappeared at that point. If I could only figure out how to bribe her with something that's about 2 years into the future! :-)

While I don't have the bunny picture to show you (we haven't received it yet), here is a picture from the zoo on Saturday. We always take a picture on the little elephant...maybe one day I'll put together a montage of all the zoo pictures over the years.

Peace....