Two Months With Mason

Happy Wednesday, friends! Mason is going to be 10 weeks old this week and I am so happy to still have 8 more weeks of maternity leave with him! While certain things are different the second time around, I feel like he has always been part of our family. I am a firm believer in schedules and structures. I think babies need to be on a schedule and I’m a stickler for it. One thing I googled a lot when we got home was newborn schedules and feeding times – I seemed to have forgotten that since having Sophia, so I wanted to share a few little updates on his schedule and also some moments I don’t want to forget!

Two Month Baby Schedule

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I follow the eat, play and sleep routine. Mason has no more than 90 minutes of awake time and while I don’t follow a specific method, I sort of combined Moms on Call with the videos we watched for Taking Cara of Babies when Sophia was first born.

Some naps are better than others, but more often than not if he wakes up at the 45 minute mark of his nap, I help him get as much of a full nap to get him to the next feed as possible. However I don’t force it, if after 15-20 minutes he hasn’t fallen back to sleep I unswaddle, change him and start eat, sleep and play over again. I have always subscribed to the notion that sleep begets sleep. Meaning, an overtired baby is not easier to put down to sleep, nor does it mean they will sleep better just because they are tired!

I try to nurse him for every feeding, but I learned my lesson with Sophia and we introduced a bottle the second week. Sophia had a hard time adjusting to the bottle and didn’t take one until she was 9 weeks old – I even had to have a bottle consultation with her –> yes that is a thing! Thankfully, Mason hasn’t had any issues with a bottle, pacifier or me! Here is his schedule – everything can adjust 15 minutes here or there. He also eats every 3 hours during the day, except for his feeding after the bath which is usually at the 2.5 hour mark.

7:00 AM – First Feeding

8:15/8:30 AM – First Nap

10:00 AM – Second Feeding

11:00/11:15 AM – Second Nap

1:00 PM – Third Feeding

2:15/2:30 PM – Third Nap

4:00 PM – Fourth Feeding

5:00 PM – Fourth Nap (I usually wear Mason for this nap while I’m making / eating dinner)

6:00 PM – Wake up and play for 15-20 minutes

6:30 PM – 7:00 PM: Bath, fifth feeding and bed

This is where we sort of do what works for our family. Gary and I divide and conquer the bed times. While I give Mason a bath and feed him, Gary does the nighttime routine with Sophia. After I feed Mason, we switch and I read and play with Sophia before bed and Gary takes Mason to get him to sleep.

10:00 PM – Sixth Feeding (dream feed) I am also planning on dropping the dream feed sometime during the 3rd month. Again, the dream feed didn’t really work with Sophia even though I kept trying way longer than I should have! Just goes to show you that every baby is so different! The hope with the dream feed is that they fill their little tummies a little more to give you a longer stretch of sleep at night.

Two Month Milestones

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I can honestly say that I was not expecting to have such a chill baby – especially since my pregnancy was stressful. Not the pregnancy itself, but life during pregnancy! We moved, working from home with a toddler, getting Sophia into school then pulling her out for the winter months, dealing with COVID (both trying not to get it and then getting it while 39 weeks pregnant) – it was all a little stressful. Mason, is such a sweet little guy – I can put him in his swing or lay him down on the play mat and actually get things done, something I wasn’t able to do with Sophia. It could also be a second child thing and he sort of has no choice but to go with his sisters flow!

He has really found his voice and his sweet little coos just melt me! Now instead of smiling involuntarily, he loves when we make funny faces and funny sounds! And his newest trick is following us around the room and he can definitely spot me wherever I am! We celebrated his first Thanksgiving and first Hanukkah.

Sophia & Mason

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If I am being honest, I was never worried about how Sophia would feel towards Mason. She is such a nurturing little girl and loves babies, so to have one of her own at home is basically a dream come true for her. She is so gentle with him, always wants to lay down on his playmat with him and is always talking to him about things he can see. She truly loves Mason and always wants to hold him like he is her baby!

Of course there are moments that she wants me and I am busy feeding Mason, but I never put that on Mason. I never want her to resent him. I always say, can you give mommy one minute to finish this and then I will be all yours. Doesn’t always work especially if she in meltdown mode, but 9/10 times it does the trick. I also had a little trouble with night feedings and Sophia wanting to be near me – so there were a couple of weeks where she would wake up in the middle of the night and come to his room while he was eating just to be near me. I was worried that she would be exhausted doing it, but thankfully that has stopped and she isn’t bothered by it any more or she realized that she was tired and needed to keep sleeping.

Favorite Things

We have kept things very simple with Mason and really haven’t purchased too much – especially since he will outgrow things as soon as we get a chance to use it a few times. Here are some things on repeat!

• This is the only sleep sack that we have used and I love these gowns for middle of the changes
• Still love the mamaRoo and our Bjorn bouncer
• The only pacifier he will take and we love Dr. Browns bottles for when he does need a bottle
• Lovevery play gym is used every single day! So much sensory play for him!

At this age every month truly brings new changes! I sometimes wish we could tell what goes on in their little brains as they are taking everything in around them! I also feel a lot less anxious during these newborn months. With Sophia I was a Nervous Nelly – scared to leave the house because what if she had a meltdown or what if she got hungry and I needed to feed her in public?! With Mason, we went to a town fair when he was a week old! I’ve also nursed him in a parking garage, Chick-Fil-A parking lot and a slew of other random parking lots! Of course I still would love to bubble wrap them and keep them as safe as possible, but I am learning to let that go!

I also want to acknowledge that I have so much more help this time around and I am so grateful for that. We have a part-time nanny that is a godsend and we love her so much, she has become part of our family. If I want to squeeze a workout in or have an appointment she has no problem watching both the kids. When we pulled Sophia out of pre-school for the winter, I wanted to make sure she was still getting quality 1:1 educational time! Also, Gary works from home most of the week and if I need to get lunch going or make dinner, he is home to help with that. Not to mention my parents live nearby and are always happy to jump in whenever needed! It takes a village and I certainly have that!

I wish Mason could stay little forever, but of course one of the best things is seeing how they grow, learn and change every day!