One Month Musings

My little one has been around a whole month! (Okay, he was four weeks old Tuesday, but today is the 4th, and coincidentally also exactly four weeks after we brought him home from the hospital, so we will just let him have two birthdays this week. ;-)

I can't believe how fast it has gone by! It feels like it has been forever and no time at all all at the same time. I am just starting to regain some control over my life and his. We are working on establishing sleeping at night (he will sleep for five hour stretches after a good feeding, but only during the day. This is great for me getting stuff done around the house and napping, but nighttime sleep would be greatly appreciated.) We are also working on playtime. About 15 minutes at a time a few times a day, we play "So big!" and Bicycle Legs and we play with our plastic keys that were in his easter basket this year and we make silly faces at each other. Whenever he will let me put him down without crying, I try to lay him on his Boppy lily pad on the floor (on top of an extra thick blanket, so it is not too hard since we have no carpet in the living room.) We spend some time on our tummy every day too and are working on developing those neck muscles. He also kicks like a champ, and kicked and punched daddy in the face a few times today while playing (hehehe). Daddy time is getting more frequent and oh so cute! I will try to upload pics soon. I have some great ones of Baby laying on Daddy's tummy on the couch and laying next to him in bed. They look so alike when you put them next to each other!

We are still working on finding the right formula. Baby has had some gassy issues and his number of bowel movements has decreased from nearly every feeding to every other day or so. The pediatrician says this is normal, but changing from normal formula to sensitive helped a little, and changing to the soy stuff (we got large free samples in the mail) has made a great improvement in both his gassiness and how long he sleeps, so we think we will stick with this one.

It is incredible how your priorities and life change. I am already dreading that I have to go back to work, and I am SO thankful to my husband that he works as hard as he does so that I only have to go back two days a week. I try to think of it as Daddy time and not as "Mommy has to go to work" time. But, I still have four more weeks, and I plan to enjoy them. Plus, Daddy took off the whole weekend after my first week back, so I can adjust slowly to going back to work and having him alone all weekend while Daddy works, so I know we will be just fine. I'm thinking the second weekend I'll have my family visit to sneak in that extra sleeping time while they are here ad make the transition even easier. Slow and steady changes.

There are times when he is crying so loud and we just can't figure out why and even holding and rocking him won't quiet him. Every parent knows how frustrating that can be, and no non-parent could possibly understand how piercing your on child's cry can be to your heart. But, a few minutes or hours later, there is this spectacular smile on my little boy's face, and every frustration just melts away. It's like an instant amnesia pill, and you know you can make it through another sleepless night if you can get just one more smile the next day. And the way he clings to my body as I hold him or lay him on my chest to nap is so amazing. I love those little hugs. ;-)

Summary of month one: Mommy lives for baby hugs and baby smiles. ;-)