One Month

My sweet little man, Today you are one month old. You are my big boy and look a lot like your sister did when she was a bit older than you are now. I don't know if you are markedly different from her or if we just have a different outlook, but I definitely treat you differently. I let you cry a little sometimes when I'm in the middle of something, I generally make the choice to snuggle you for nap instead of feeling trapped in my chair for every nap, I leave you alone while I put in a load of laundry, and I don't stress as much about making sure you're enriched all of the time--sometimes it is good for you to just lay on a blanket and wiggle. And wiggle you do. When we put you on your belly, you immediately start squirming. You spin in circles and have even rolled over a couple of times when your chest was slightly elevated. Mr. Man, you sure do know how to let us know when you aren't happy. The first sign is your boxing arms--you start flailing your arms with closed fists and with your long arms and big hands, you look like you want to take a swing at us. Then you start that whiny wind-up. And then you start to cry in earnest. And when your face turns purple and you start making coughing noises (not actually choking, though), we know you're really worked up. To tell you the truth, the only time we see your purple face is when you're tired. We apparently don't create good sleepers in this house. Your Daddy and I are still trying to decipher your sleep habits. You're obviously getting overtired much of the time, but when we try to put you down earlier, you just lay there awake for a long time. You already have trained us to coax you to sleep, a habit that we don't want to persist. The best way to get you to go to sleep is to walk with you outside because you love the heat of the sun and the motion of walking. I, however, am not recovered enough to walk as much as you need, which leads to a lot of frustration on both of our parts. And, much to my frustration, nursing isn't knocking you out anymore! Speaking of nursing, you are a great eater. In the past month, you've gone from being a sleepy eater who I struggled to keep awake through a nursing session to a really efficient eater. Something you do that is really different from your sister in this aspect is that you typically pop off when you're done eating, whereas she would stay latched for hours if I'd let her, just for the comfort. As exhausting as that was, I always knew that I had magic that would put her to sleep and relax her no matter what. While you are soothed by nursing, you're also a very active nurser and have been known to grunt and groan and cry even while nursing. At one month old, our routine looks like: wake up, eat (takes 15-20 minutes), play (20-60 minutes--this is what happens when I'm playing with figuring out your habits), then 20 minutes to get you to sleep. Sometimes the coaxing takes so long that I end up nursing you to sleep. You typically sleep 45 minutes to a couple of hours, depending on the time of day (you sleep best in the afternoon). If you've already had at least one long sleep or you didn't have an awake period, I will sometimes wake you 2 hours after you last ate, at the suggestion of the pediatrician. Trust me, I won't be waking you much longer, especially now that you aren't necessarily staying awake for playtime overnight every night anymore. The biggest physical trait that you exhibit is GASSY! Lol I'm sure you'll love knowing that someday. You grunt for the majority of the day and usually spend 4-6 a.m. grunting, much to the dismay of your parents! In an effort to help with your gassiness, I have been dairy-free (although I'm not really strict about it--just avoiding the obvious dairy products and not using any substitutions) for a weeks and a half. You haven't woken up screaming nearly as often, so I'm hoping it is helping. When I'm feeling brave again, I'm going to try eating a bit of cheese or yogurt to see what happens and pray that your body has matured enough to handle some dairy. Not eating cheese (especially pizza) is killing me!! The last couple of days I could swear we're starting to get genuine smiles. You smile at me when I fake sneeze and I've caught you just gazing at me when I'm not paying attention. You are curious about the world around you, which is detrimental to your sleep, but endearing otherwise. I honestly can't wait to see how your personalize develops over time and am trying to cherish the time I have at home with you as much as possible. The days haven't been all sunshine and roses, but we're managing and we're both still learning. Love always, Mommy