Grant's 3 month check up

It's been almost 3 months since we welcomed Grant into the world.  Adding a second child to our family has been a whirlwind and the time has flown by.  Of course by now I can't even remember what I used to do with all my time after 1 kid, let alone before any kids.  Grant has been a joy to watch grow and it warms my heart to watch Adalyn interact with him.  He is in love with Adalyn, watching and smiling at her all the time, and she of course likes his full attention when she performs her dance routines for him.

 In the last 3 months Grant has had 2 doctor well baby visits, and 2 immunization clinic visits.  The pediatrician we visit does not do immunizations but I feel that he is very thorough with his visits so we made the choice to have two different clinics to visit to complete his well baby care.  The first pediatrician visit was at 1 week then another at 6 weeks and we have one coming up at 4 months.  I feel that Grant's doctor does a good job of asking all the same questions that Adalyn's pediatrician did in the States and checking on all the same concerns.  Grant has received good assessments and no concerns about his health or development to date.

We take Grant to the well baby clinic inside the hospital I delivered him at for his immunizations.  There is a nurse and assistant who do a simple assessment for height, weight and head growth.  They of course think Grant is huge and "off the charts" but I have found that he is just a little ahead of where Adalyn was at each step of the way.  The nurse states that Grant is at 75% for most areas and most of the South African babies are at the 25-50% so to them Grant is larger than normal.  Grant received immunizations at 6 weeks and 10 weeks, plus those received at birth.  At 11 weeks he weighed 13lbs 7 oz (60%) and was 25 inches long (96%).  He is in 3-6 month clothing, mostly due to his height.  The immunizations cost me $5 each time and in comparison to the States he is receiving the same immunizations mostly.  The main difference is that he is not receiving the immunizations at the same time as he would in the States.  For example, he received his DTaP #2 along with his HepB #3 and Hib #2 at 3 months instead of at 4 months.  Most of the first round of those and other immunizations were at 6 weeks instead of 8 weeks.  We also opted for the Tuberculosis vaccine as it was recommended by the pediatrician and I don't want to take any chances since it is a threat in this country.  Next visit is at 14 weeks so hopefully he takes those immunizations just as well as the others.

In regards to milestones, Grant is holding up his head really well though he hates "tummy time" with a passion.  Only a few minutes at best and he is screaming which is probably why he taught himself to roll over instantly just yesterday.  I attempted to show Mark and a few friends his new trick but he evidentially does not like to perform under pressure and would not roll.  He loves to be carried facing outward, playing under his floor mat jungle gym, and hanging out in his swing.  Currently he is sleeping 6 hours at night then up to feed and back down for another 6 hours and up for the day.  Last night he surprised me and slept 7.5 hours without waking, I hope he does it again.  During the day he takes 2-2.5 hour naps then will be up for about 1.5 hours and back down again to nap.

He was not always a good sleeper, at my 6 week check up with my OB I was telling her that Grant could not connect his sleep cycles therefore not able to sleep much more than 45 mins at a time day or night and this had gone on since he was about 3 weeks old.  My OB gave me the name of a pediatric sleep consultant and I immediately called her up.  Having sleep trained Adalyn with no problems, I could not figure out how to get Grant to sleep longer than 45 minutes without being held.  With a 2 hour in-home consultation followed by 2 weeks of phone call support we changed only a few things I was doing with Grant and overnight he was a new child.

With kid #2 I have learned quite a few things.  First, I am getting really good with the metric system and can calculate weight in my head now instead of pulling out a calculator.  I have become even more organized, setting out Adalyn's breakfast the night before, packing her lunch 24 hours ahead of time and freezing more meals as some days I just don't have time to cook.  I never feel like Adalyn is getting the time and attention I would like to give as sometimes Grant needs me and Adalyn had done really well to accept that.  She is wonderful at entertaining herself and since I have the whole day with Grant while she is at school, I try to really focus on her once she returns home each day.  Now that we have made it 3 months as a family of 4, even going on our first vacation last weekend and hosting family for 3 weeks 2 months ago, I am feeling more settled.  Grant has added so much love to our family and I am grateful to be his mommy.