This past weekend was Logan’s baby naming. In Judaism, boys usually have a bris on the 8th day but we decided to do a circumcision in the hospital and do a baby naming after three months. I wanted Logan to be more alert, us to be more rested and relaxed, and thought it would be a fun thing to look forward to in a less rushed way. I’m so glad we waited, he had the perfect party.

We had lots of family come in for the weekend to celebrate Mr. Logan. Some people met him for the first time!

Then on Sunday morning, we had almost 100 friends and family and some baby friends help Logan celebrate and receive his Hebrew name.

Logan was a perfect host. He took a little cat nap before we started, then was awake and happy during the short ceremony, and then took a snooze when we were done with his grandmas. He listened to the rabbi, smiled and had a good time. It was like I had instructed him on how to behave and he listened! He also slept terribly the night before (so we did too), like he was too excited for his party to sleep.

He got his first taste of Manischevitz wine on mommy’s pinky to celebrate the occasion.

It was wonderful to celebrate with four of his five great-grandparents visiting from San Antonio and Birmingham!

And then, he was pooped from the day and took a nice little nap. Glad we have some great pictures to help him remember one day!

Click here for Part 1, written on May 29.

When I last wrote about breastfeeding, I talked about the many frustrations and how we just started adding in some formula for one bottle a day.

When Logan hit three months old, I started some serious weaning and he was getting more formula than breast milk. And then about a week later, I stopped breastfeeding and pumping. Now we are using up the milk in the freezer for one bottle a day and by July 1 he will be on all formula.

I was very mixed on quitting, even though my original goal was three months. I didn’t really know what bf’ing was about before I started, so three months was sort of arbitrary. I learned so much about the benefits for mom and baby, and of course what it’s all about and how it works. I ended up enjoying it much more than I expected, and was more hesitant to stop than I expected.

The things I liked about bf’ing:

• The ease–no bottles necessary, no clean-up. Always available, perfect temperature, perfect food, no prep necessary.
• The health benefits to mom and baby–Breastfeeding for mom can lower risk of breast and ovarian cancer, it can help shed pregnancy weight quickly because of the calories you burn to produce milk, and it’s a natural thing to do. For baby, it can help their intelligence, ward off illness, and is literally the perfect food. All formula tries to emulate breastmilk. Why not just use the real thing?
• The quiet time–I read books, checked email, made phone calls, and watched TV…Every three hours for 45 minutes. I really enjoyed this part!
• The soothing ability–Breastfeeding is really soothing for baby. They close their eyes, are relaxed, and really enjoy it. One time Logan got hit in the head by a friend with a little peg toy. He started screaming, it was close to feeding time so I fed him and he immediately calmed down.
• The idea that the baby takes what he needs–Breastfeeding works because if you do it right, milk is always there for baby. He takes what he needs and your body produces enough to replace it. When you mess with your body, like by pumping or supplementing with formula, you are tricking your body into producing more or less milk. Done in the simplest way, it is perfect.

The things I was ready to let go about bf’ing:

• Pumping–I did enjoy having a freezer stash to use when I was away from the house. I actually didn’t dip into the stash until I stopped, which was the point. I wanted to stock pile some milk so he would still have milk after I quit. I pumped at least once a day the whole time. Part of that was used for the next day’s bottle, and the excess was frozen. Jeffrey and I went on a 24 hour vacation in May and I used freezer milk (almost 50 ounces=a big part of my stash) for him and pumped the whole time we were away. I also took about 18 ounces with us to Colorado to help have a head start. And then the rest was for after I stopped. About 100 ounces were left when I stopped pumping.
• Feeling full all the time–This was the worst for me. It’s a good thing to have a lot of milk and even extra, but I was always full and it was very annoying for me. Hard to exercise, hard to wear my old clothes, hard to plan my day because I needed to always feed or pump. Even hard to go out to dinner because I’d have to pump or feed before, and pump when we got home. It was an extra 30 minute process when I would just want to go to sleep.
• Being tied to the house–Planning the day was very hard, especially trying to be social or get out of the house. Logan ate every 2.5-3 hours and each feeding took an hour (he never got “more efficient.”) It’s very hard to get anything done outside of the house, or plan a playdate before he would get hungry again. This got very old.
• Not knowing what Logan was taking in–While I felt like I had more than enough milk, you never know what the baby eats. He seemed hungry often, but ate so long each feeding. This game of “is he getting enough?” got old.

So while I was sad to stop, I am happy with what I did, that Logan got the benefits of breast milk for three months, and that now we are onto the next phase.

Logan and I are popping in once more before our vacation ends and it’s back to hot and humid Houston. Here are a few pictures from his three month photo shoot.

We could just eat up those cheeks and tummy.

New this trip is that Logan is starting to grasp things. I brought a few toys even though he doesn’t really play with them yet. We showed him a soft bunny that I named FooFoo and he started holding it and putting it in his mouth. He is too cute.

Sometimes there is just too much going on and Logan needs a little nappy. Why not fall asleep on Mom?

Have a good weekend! Back next week with the parents’ version of the trip and our first Father’s Day!

Logan is three months old today! Halleluyah! Three months is like turning a corner, right? Like when the baby has more predictable sleep patterns and becomes more interactive.

We are celebrating Logan’s three month birthday in Colorado, but I brought the sticker with me to do a photo shoot! Will post pics soon.

Check out this picture below at two days old and the one below that at 12 weeks. He is becoming a little boy.

As of last week, Logan weighed 13 pounds, 1 ounce. He has definitely filled out in his cheeks, tummy and legs. He is very strong and likes to fly in mommy’s arms and stand on his feet on my lap and march. He is smiling a lot and still loves looking at toys, lights, and being outside. He is also talking (he’s a genius, we tell you) and says “agoo, goo goo” when you talk to him. He’s very intelligent.

A few interesting things this month are how we lost all our naps, and then gained them back. One week, Logan decided sleeping is for babies. His nighttime sleep was less than stellar, waking at odd hours like 10:30 p.m. and then 5 a.m. It also took way too much time to get him to sleep after his last feeding and he looked in pain and very squirmy. It wasn’t very restful for anyone. Then he would skip his morning nap which used to be two hours, then skip an afternoon nap. It was not a fun week. I would spend the whole time between feedings trying to get him to sleep–rocking, walking, bouncing, swaying, shhing, etc. There was a lot of driving him around to get him calm or maybe take a catnap or strolling outside in the miserable heat. Lily and I were exhausted!

After a few days of that and before we left for our trip, I called the pediatrician because his symptoms were very similar to how he was before he went on Prevacid, a reflux medicine. We went to the doctor and changed medicines. Apparently, it’s common for the symptoms to return and he did just that. Now he dislikes the medicine’s taste, but we got our naps back and he is not in the pain we saw last week.

I wouldn’t say he has a typical sleeping routine right now because vacation can throw things off. He is napping two awesome long ones here in a swing, and is much easier to get down. I hope that continues! However, we think the altitude is affecting him, as he seems to have trouble breathing and is congested at night. We have a humidifier next to his crib and hope he’s getting better now that we’ve been here five days.

We hope when we get back, he starts sleeping much longer stretches. There’s supposed to be a magic 12-12-12 combo, and we’re there! Now it’s time to start working. It’s 12 hours at 12 weeks and 12 pounds. I’m just not sure anyone told him yet!

That’s all for now!