Smiles

Maddux is starting to smile as a reaction to stimuli now instead of just a reflex. I sit and I talk to him and say anything to make him laugh. I'll tell him he's my little boy and I love him, I'll tell him how special he is, sometimes I'll just say hi and he'll get all happy. Once he woke up from a nap and just saw that I was there and he lit up. My favorite are those huge open mouthed smiles! They make his whole face light up. I love when he just sits and stares at me, like he's trying to memorize everything about me or brandon or whoever is holding him. He will twist his whole body around to see me. I know he's gonna be laughing regularly any time soon. I can't wait! 

Second Month Pictures

2 Months Old

Maddux has been learning so much! He does the breast feeding thing really well now. We used to have to use a breast shield because he couldn't latch on very well, which is common for NICU babies. I got him off of it a few weeks ago and now he does so well without it. he just gets on and doesn't even hurt me, no cracks or bleeding or any of that. He has been teaching himself to laugh recently. He gets excited every once in a while, when something is new, and he makes this sucking in air sound that sounds like a laugh but not quite. We bought him a new bouncy/ vibratey chair the other day with toys that hang within his reach. He's never interacted with anything like that before so it was really fun to watch him get all excited and learn how to play. He specifically liked the green one that was to one side. He turned his whole body to that side. I tested it out to see if it was the toy that he liked by switching it to the other side, and he turned his whole body to the other side. 

We tried to do hand and feet prints for his baby book, but that turned out to be really difficult. First I couldn't find a stamp ink pad so i had to buy children's washable paint, then he would NOT hold still for me to get the prints right. Luckily the paper in the baby book has like a plastic finish on it so i could wipe the paint right off and try again. we only got his feet and one of the feet prints wasn't even that good, it was missing some toes. His hands were impossible because as a reflex, when his hands are touched he balls them into kung-fu fists that will never be pried open. So I'll have to try that again when he's sleeping. We also tried to do a plaster hand print, kinda like when people put their hands in drying side walk concrete. That failed because

 of the fists thing and because the instructions had me waiting for it to halfway harden but when I got to it it was all the way hard and i couldn't do anything with it.  Oh well, i guess I'll try again later. 

He has already doubled in size since he was born. He's so big now! I mean he's tiny for a baby, but he's so much bigger then he was at birth. You can't even tell that he was a major surgery baby now. His belly is all healed up and looks like a normal belly button. He still has this strange looking line in his muscles, but its only because his tummy has lots of pressure from the bowels being forced in. 

I love watching Maddux and Brandon sleep. They do the exact same things in their sleep. They both make the same triangle shape with their mouthes, they both stretch and move around, which will be funnier to watch when Maddux has more range of motion. They even make the same noises sometimes. A few days ago, brandon made this stretching- sigh noise and not even a minute later Maddux made the exact same noise. I am very excited to see how he is when he's older, what traits he got from each of us and how they all mixed in. 

Its so amazing to see our little boy. To see how two people who loved each other ended up creating life. We weren't even supposed to fall in love when we did, we were helping each other out with other relationships, and it just happened. To think of how the very best times of my life and the most freedom and happiness I've ever known turned into this beautiful little boy, I am amazed. I was pregnant with him and delivered him and I still don't fully understand how it all happened. Its so strange to see Brandon's lips and hair line and my nose and eyes on the same little face. 

We love our little boy so much!