If you look back at the blog archives from the first few months of Finn’s life, there are a lot of posts: how he’s sleeping, what it was like falling in love with him, a day in the life of maternity leave, etc. Early on, I realized that I’d be trading in any hope of a baby book for blog posts, which, to my credit, were significantly more detailed than “paste photo of first smile here.”

However,  in true second-child form, I haven’t been quite as diligent about documenting every second of Elias’s first months, and for that I feel pretty guilty. It’s not that we haven’t doted on his every little move, it’s just that life is different now: we have a toddler to contend with, we’re more desperate for naps, we have a bit of the “been there, done that” syndrome (which might also account for the lack of monthly baby photos, too).

Or, for a more positive perspective, there’s this: we are significantly less anxious about parenting Elias than we were Finn. We feel pretty confident that we won’t break him; we weren’t so confident about that the first time around. So, my obsessive need to over-document every behavioral change like a scientist collecting data that could potentially save humankind has, much to my delight, abated some. Still, the result is the same: I haven’t written much about this little boy we love so much.

Therefore, this is intended as a let-me-tell-you-everything-about-Elias-at-3.5-months post. I’m writing it because I owe him the same kind of attention I paid Finn, and I’m writing it because I want to remember.

From the get-go, Elias was an easier baby. What, exactly, I mean by “easier” gets a little fuzzy, but he just goes with the flow more than Finn did as a newbie. A lot of that, again, can likely be attributed to our perspective shift. We were more easy-going this time around, and so he seemed to be, too.

But the reality is that, for the most part, I can’t imagine a baby easier than Elias. He’s just a happy, giggly little guy. He smiles constantly, and he rarely ever cries. Last night, he had a bit of a stomach spell, and he cried for 10-15 minutes. Sona and I panicked. What is this sound? Why is it coming from our very happy baby? The truth is, we can go days without him doing much more than whining a bit when he’s hungry or pooping.

He hated the car seat at first, as did his bro, but that only lasted a few weeks. Now, he’s content to stare out the window or suck on his blanket. He sucks on EVERYTHING, especially his hands. He also drools a ton, something Finn never did. I’m pretty sure he will have a full set of chompers by the time I hit “post.”

With good reason, we refer to him, affectionately of course, as our Little Chunk. He was born nearly nine pounds and has almost doubled his weight in just three months. Finn was long and lanky; Elias is a linebacker. His rolls have rolls.

Whereas he has a sunnier demeanor than his brother did, Elias isn’t quite the sleeper than Finn was. Finn slept through the night at 7 weeks and never looked back, regularly sleeping 12-14 hours at a time. Everyone warned us that we wouldn’t be as lucky with baby two, and they were right. Currently, Elias is still waking to eat every 4-5 hours, but we can’t much fault the guy. Look at him! He needs those calories. Even still, he goes to sleep like a champ. He doesn’t require any rocking or singing. We just put him down, he smiles, we walk away, and he’s out.

As with most of the difficulty that accompanies having a newborn, we’ve taken his night wakings in stride. The reality is, Elias is our last baby. We’ve already started to pawn baby items off on friends who are expecting (as sad as that makes me). So, if he I have to get up in the middle of the night to give him a bottle and get in a couple extra cuddles, I’ll do it–and I won’t complain. This won’t last forever. It won’t even last long. And I’m already mourning the passage of time.

What else can I tell you about our little guy? He loves his brother more than anyone. If Finn is within eyesight, don’t bother trying to get Elias’s attention. He prefers belly naps and has from the get-go. He could break out of every swaddle at just two weeks old. His changing pad is his favorite place, whereas his brother used to despise diaper changes. He will play, quietly, on his mat for nearly an hour. Because of both his weight and his strength, he’s nearly broken the MamaRoo. His hair is blonde-red, especially in the sunlight, and his eyes are still clinging to a bit of steely blue.  (Fingers crossed, folks!)

And he talks! Boy, does this kid prattle on. He mimics our sounds, trying desperately to carry on a conversation. It’s so dang cute, and it encourages his mommas to engage in an obnoxious amount of baby talk.

Even at only 3.5 months, Elias’s personality shines through. He’s our happy-go-lucky boy, and he’s totally stolen our hearts. I might not be posting quite as much as I did when Finn was a baby, but we sure are enjoying Elias’s first year even more than we expected.