Jake at 3 months

As I write the title for this blog, it amazes me how quickly times flies. It was around this time last year that we found out that we were having a baby and I distinctly remember the butterflies that hit my stomach when the test came up positive. A year on, and Kelsey has gone through the whole pregnancy experience and we have a wonderful 3 month old baby on our hands.

His third month has largely been spent in America with his mother's side of the family and he has been thoroughly spoiled, not just in terms of presents but also in terms of attention. It's a rare day when he won't be cuddled by at least four people and with every day he seems more and more able to interact with people.

The smiles from the second month have become giggles and almost laughter, and he now has a wide range of noises to show his approval. Jake also engages in basic exchanges, so that when you make a noise at him, he'll make one back (providing he's in the right mood). The big change mentally that we've all noticed is his ability to track and notice faces. He's now drawn to anything with eyes, nose and a mouth and will actively move his head if he thinks that a face is nearby. Again, it's great to be able to watch these small steps build up to big changes over time.

After many weeks of having a long but scrawny looking baby, Jake has definitely started to bulk up over the last couple of weeks. His head is growing larger and he is finally developing the big rolls of baby fat on his thighs and arms that we've seen on his cousins and baby group friends for a while. Whilst this a good thing for him physically, it brings a new dimension to carrying him around as he's getting almost too heavy for one arm holding. It feels more comfortable and natural to carry him laying down but unless he's really tired, he will scream to be sat upright again.

We're also marking his 3 month birthday, and his ability to hold his head up straight for extended periods of time, by turning him face out in his baby sling. He thinks this is the best thing ever and it's hard to forget that he's only little and can only handle so much visual stimulation at one time. We took him out into the woods behind Kelsey's parent's house yesterday and got lost for time among the trees and rocks. We got back about an hour later and he cried for a while through being over tired. However, we live and learn and today we took him out and remembered to put him back in his pram after 25 minutes, which seemed to work much better.

So we've got a few more days here, then back to grey England and the start of the next chapter in all of our lives.

P.S.
If you want to see pictures of Jake, I'm posting them to albums on Facebook which you can access here:
ttp://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150984045132363.491901.509472362&type=3&l=f1454ce72