Henry Russell - 3 months

Another month has passed and our baby boy is becoming less like a newborn and more like an actual baby every day! This past month has been a crazy one in the Gill household, as we had been busy packing our house, celebrating Christmas, and moving into our new home during the first week of January. I'm happy to report that we have officially unpacked almost all of the boxes, and life is starting to return to some sense of normalcy, whatever that is!

At three months old, Huck has started to develop a ton. He is starting to reach for his bottle when we feed him, grabbing our faces when we talk to him, and reaching for the toys on his kick & play play mat while cooing away at himself in the mirror!

He is so much happier these days ever since we made the switch to soy formula, and with the exception of a few cranky (overtired) moments here and there, he is a smily, giggly little guy! He still doesn't love when we leave the room or set him down somewhere for long periods of time, but he's getting a little bit better with the constant need to be held, which is nice especially since there's so much to do around here lately. 

Huck absolutely adores his big sister and his face lights up every time she talks to him. It's the sweetest thing! I'm reminded multiple times a day how lucky I am to call these two little humans mine.

On the sleep front, we're showing some signs of progress; and we will soon be transitioning Huck into his crib rather than the bassinet in our room. We're still working on a fixer-upper project in his room, but hopefully he will be all settled in within the next couple weeks! He has been falling asleep pretty regularly at around 8:00 every night and sleeping until anywhere between 10:30-1:00 after that.  One of us will wake up with him at that point and feed him a nice warm bottle, change his diaper, and swaddle him for the night. He then sleeps usually until around 4:30 or 5:00 and then, on good days, goes back down until around 7:00. Not a terrible schedule, although there are still plenty of nights that he decides it's time to party at 2 AM and keep us all up by grunting and cooing the night away. We're working on it ;)

Huck is super ticklish and lets out the funniest noises when you tickle his belly and legs. He loves being kissed, "blowing kisses," and when I shake my hair in his face. (Whatever it takes to get those smiles!) 

His dimple is still showing just as much as ever, and he is even getting a small one on his other cheek, which makes me super happy. I don't know if dimples are something that sometimes go away as babies get older, but I am hoping his stick around because they're my absolute favorite.

Huck is a little chunk and much bigger than Marleigh ever was. He's already filling out 3 month clothes and even fitting into some 6 month pajamas and pants. Baby Gap and Old Navy clothes for some reason always run huge, so he's still managing to fit into most 0-3 month clothes from there, although we learned our lesson the hard way that maybe slim fit pants aren't the best choice for his chubby little legs! 

Just like his big sister, Huck loves looking at books and even sits still through most of them (even the longer Dr. Seuss books)! He even pushes himself to sit up to look at the pages while he's in our laps. 

The past couple days, we've been noticing that Huck has started to wiggle his way around a bit. He is already close to rolling over (back to belly) and will somehow manage to scoot himself sideways on his play mat after we put him down. 

He loves his camping lantern from Aunt Jessie and Uncle Brian and will lay there mesmerized by it as long as we keep pushing the buttons to have it light up and sing to him! 

"Huckles" is a MAJOR momma's boy and I seem to be the only one that can calm him down when he's having a "moment." I not-so-secretly love it, although sometimes it can be a little exhausting being the only one that can stop him from scream-crying when he's overtired. I know that I will miss his snuggles, the way his eyes flutter back and forth while I'm rocking him, and the way his breaths get deeper while I hum him "Silent night" and he falls asleep; and I am so happy to be the one person who knows him best.

Although I love the newborn stage, we are super excited to have Huck coming into his personality a little bit more these days. Knowing how much fun every new month will be makes it a little bit easier to watch him grow up so quickly. 

Happy three months, little man!
You start our mornings with smiles and kicks and end our days with snuggles and sweet snores (and, if we're being honest, usually a lot of grunting in your sleep!), and all 12-ish pounds of you fills our hearts with so much love and happiness. This past month has been a good one, and we get to know you and your needs a little more each day. We love your drooly, moody, smiley little self so much and I can't imagine our family without you in it.