Narcissist

Dear Husband, Part 32

Oliver has become increasingly difficult to put down at night. Last night I noticed that he kept flailing his arms about, which eventually led him to become fussy, so I got up and swaddled him. This must have been what he needed because he slept six hours, and then after eating, another four.

This morning when we woke up, Wes asked when I'd finally gotten to sleep. I told him, and he asked, "How'd you finally do it?"

"I had to take his arms away," I said.

Straight-faced, he asked, "Duct tape?"

Cheese!

Are you my mother?

Story Hour

Oliver and I have started reading together after he's done nursing and still interested in sitting still. While my mom was here, we read her Click Clack Moo: Cows that Type, The Best Pet of All, and Amelia Bedelia. Oliver's favorites are Harry the Dirty Dog and The Monster at the End of this Book.

Two months

Ollie had his 8-week appointment at the pediatrician's office yesterday. Our new (but same office) highly animated pediatrician informed us that he is 13 lbs. (up from 7 lb. 5 oz. at birth) and 24 inches (up from 21.5" at birth) and all else is well, too. He got four -- four! -- shots, two in each leg, plus the rotovirus immunization, which is oral. He bellowed and turned red when it happened but was easily consoled thereafter.

Ol' Blue Eyes

And the little one cried, "I'm crowded, roll over."

Oliver did pretty well in his little crib at the hotel on our recent trip. He did, however, end up in bed with us for the last hour almost every morning, me trying to eek an extra hour of rest -- if not sleep -- out of him. Perhaps he found the port-a-crib too confining to really stretch out. See how he's getting his legs up in the air now?

Mutant baby

Since his very first week of life, Oliver has been a very alert baby. His eyes get wide open, and he stares straight ahead or jerks his head around as though canvassing the joint. This, coupled with the insane number of hours he can stay awake in a day, caused Wes to call him mutant baby.

But hey, even mutants look cute in overalls.

All tied up

Ollie really likes being upright now, and since we don't own a bouncy chair or high chair or Bumbo sitter, I decided to improvise. He was content for about 20 minutes, until the hiccups necessitated some nursing.

Ollie's Journal, Weeks 7 and 8

Things I did:

1. Video chatted over dinner (theirs, not mine) with my aunt, uncle, cousins, and grandparents.
2. Did my civic duty. I voted (well, I waited patiently for two hours so mom and dad could vote) and watched the election returns with a bunch of their friends.
3. Met one of the doctors who helped deliver me, a resident friend of mom and dad's.
4. Got ready for my first trip on an airplane. How exciting!
5. Started pushing up on my legs. They're getting really strong.

Right now:
A little tied up (see the next post :)

Mobile Fun

Oliver has entered that stage where he needs more than just to be held, and since mom and dad are, sadly, not available 24/7 to provide stimulating interactions, we've starting buying, yes, toys. My mom had suggested a mobile. Ollie doesn't sleep in his crib at night yet (he's in the co-sleeper for probably another six weeks until he outgrows it and before he grows too attached to sleeping near mom and dad), but I thought I'd give it a try. I bought the Tiny Love Symphony in Motion Mobile because it seemed the most stimulating. We weren't looking for something to put him to sleep -- just something to capture his interest. And boy does it. Wes likes that it provides options for what classical music to hear while it turns -- Mozart, Beethoven, or Bach. Oliver seems to like the bright colors and black and white contrast. It doesn't just turn in a circle on a horizontal plane, either. It rotates down near him, and some of the pieces move as it turns, which makes noise. And me -- I like that it gives me 15 minutes to wash the dishes, stuff clean diapers, or pump without a fussy baby.

Play?

Never...

...ask Wes to "hold" the baby while you do something if he's just as tired as the baby.

Travel Tips

Wes and I are taking our first trip with the baby next week, and already my mind is spinning with what all we'll need to take with us now that we have a baby on board. We're flying and staying in a hotel, so we won't have the amenities of a house. Tell me moms, what are the important things to take when traveling? We're using disposables instead of cloth for the trip. I'm nursing, and we're taking my pump with me since we have to leave Ollie one night for a dinner out. We can't decide if we should take our car seat and stroller or rent a car with a car seat and just use the sling/carrier for getting around.

Suggestions are most welcome!

The Story of the Not-Very-Sleepy Baby

Ollie's sleep schedule has been quite varied recently. While he still sleeps soundly through the night (up every three hours to eat, but then straight back to bed), his bedtime seems to range from 8:30pm to midnight, leaving me guessing when I'm going to get to sleep. And he wakes up at 7am regardless of when he went down -- problematic for me when he doesn't bed down until midnight. He used to be up in the morning, then nap mid-day, then be up in the afternoon. This was a workable schedule, but sometimes he was up from 7am until 10pm with only one 2-3 hour nap mid-day. What 6-week-old does that? Sometimes he naps in the morning, too, which may or may not preclude another nap later in the day. Outings present another variability. Does sleep in the stroller count as a nap? If so, should I take him out during nap times --in which case I can't catch up on sleep -- or will he then just sleep longer, which means a later bedtime, which means I'm really tired. Then when Wes is home, he always seems to put him to sleep, even in the most bizarrely uncomfortable situations. I always knew infants were hard to get on any kind of schedule -- I just didn't realize I need to become telepathic to navigate these months.

Big boy diapers

Oliver is officially out of his newborn diapers and into the one-size bum Genius diapers that should see him through potty training. So far these pocket diapers (which we have in 6 lovely shades, plus white) have impressed me with how well they stay on and how absorbent they are. They also wash and dry much faster than the all-in-ones we were using before. We have 24 of these instead of the 18 of the smaller ones, which means I only have to wash every other day...instead of every 1 1/2 days.

Shock and awe

A few days ago, Wes called on his way to an interview while I was trying to put down Ollie for a nap. I put Ollie down on the couch to answer the phone, and when I got off, the formerly fussy baby was dead asleep on the couch -- so I let him stay. Maybe a half hour later, I heard Lucy walk around the corner of the couch and then heard her skitter away. When I looked up, she was slowly creeping back towards the couch, tail down, ears back, sniffing furiously. Evidently she hadn't realized there was something (someone) on the couch, and it scared her. She thoroughly investigated the small being on the couch, established it was friend not foe, and went on her merry way. Bringing home a baby is evidently a daily rediscovery for our four-legged friend.

The boxer loses his bout