3 months already

James turned three months yesterday- amazing how time has flown by. I think I keep saying that but it never fails to astound me when I look back and can't imagine our lives without him.
Monday he had his 3 month check up: 16 lbs 5.5 ounces (95%)! Still 25.5 inches long (93%) and his head was 16.75 inches around (88%).
Dr. Owen said that he was very strong- especially as he was struggling to free himself from her grasp when she was giving him his shots. These didn't go quite as smoothly as last month's shot. The first one made him cry pretty hard and it was followed up immediately by the second and he was really beside himself. And the first one didn't really bleed but the second one saturated the bandaid- then ended up with a knot in the leg which caused him anguish all evening and night. If I touched his thigh or if he moved it himself he would wake himself up crying. So he also got his first does of Infant Tylenol. Thankfully, Tim's Aunt Dawn who lives nearby is a pediatrician and told me how much I could give him-so great to have two pediatricians in the family!

Some of James' new things this past month are: really grinning at people and trying to giggle-which comes out more of a grunting noise; pulling both hands together in front of his face; sucking madly on his fingers (as opposed to a clenched fist); lifting his head and shoulders off the ground during tummy time so that he can look straight ahead and a couple of times he's actually grinned at his stuffed animals (before he was always ticked off that I had dared to place him on his stomach); splashing in the tub and smiling at me (before he liked baths enough not to fuss, but always had a concentrated and concerned look on his face and his eyes never left mine...for fear I'd let him slip under?).
Reading back over his two month post I realized I was too optimistic about his new sleeping patterns- he didn't keep up the long stretches of sleep. Instead he got worse and worse until last week he was getting up 4-5 times a night and I thought I might have to do something drastic. Some say though that 3 months is a growth spurt so I wasn't sure if he needed to be getting up more to eat more often so I let it slide for a couple of nights- then an amazing thing happened...he slept 7 hours straight, woke up to eat and went back down for another 4 hours! Then the next night he slept 8 hours straight and then another 4! Amazing! The 8 hours was last Friday night and since then had a 5hr then 5.5hr night...then he had the night of the immunizations and slept terribly but last night he slept over 7 hours then another 5-whoohoo!
My friend Natali said to me the other day "isn't it amazing to think that if you'd had a baby at any other time is wouldn't have been James?" and she is totally right. All those years I was itching to have a baby and was impatiently waiting until we were ready...if I had gotten my way I would have missed out on James- of course, we would have had someone else and I am sure I would have loved them just as much- but the thought of not having James...can't even contemplate that. He is so wonderful- in fact, when my girlfriends came over to celebrate my birthday with me he was at his charming best and two of them said that he either already has or is in the process of convincing them to have another baby. Sometimes when you see a baby it is the best form of birth control...however, in his normal mode James is a great procreation baby (though not for me- I'm fine with just him for the forseeable future!).
We celebrated his 3 months by going to the Aquarium with my sister, James' Aunt Krista. I forgot my camera but Krista took some with her phone.

He likes watching the tropical fish- the first time we went to the aquarium he slept the entire time, the second time he was awake quite a bit and we spent about 20 minutes with him mesmerized by the fish in this tank. Yesterday he enjoyed it just as much and was just as cute.