3.05.2010
What Dean is doing
Growing. He's over 9 pounds now, just where he should be based on his birth weight. He's just about too long for newborn-size clothes already, but we got a ton of use out of the ones we had. It's been unseasonably cold here, so we definitely needed lots of long sleeves and footies and such, which is just what we had. He didn't really get to wear my favorite newborn stuff of Kent's, but this way, I'll have different memories of what each of them wore during their first weeks. He's also big enough for the small size of Fuzzi Bunz diapers now, so he has a big poofy butt. I love it.
Squeaking. He's a very squeaky baby. He makes all these hilarious noises when he's trying to fall asleep, some nose whistles, some little grunts and snorts, but mostly squeaks.
Sleeping. A lot. Our nighttimes are actually pretty easy (depending on your definition of "easy" — it's all relative). He's in bed with us since he's made it quite clear that he's not a fan of sleeping on his own yet, so he wakes every 2 or 3 hours, nurses for a few minutes, occasionally gets a diaper change, and then goes right back to sleep, swaddled next to me. It's peaceful, and it's working beautifully. I don't freak out about things like, "But he'll never sleep in his own bed!" or "He'll never learn to sleep through the night that way!" because I know he will when he's ready. Kent sleeps wonderfully now. I'm not sure whether I can safely call Dean a sleeper at this point in his life, but I've been so pleased with his sleep so far. It helps me a lot that waking every couple of hours to nurse in the night is familiar, rather than totally shocking to my sleep-loving body the way it was the first time around. Everything feels that way with Dean. And I have our first experiment in parenthood running around my house, helping me remember that we got through all the baby stuff the first time and are totally competent parents, even if we don't always feel like it.
Being worn. A lot. We get 2 or 3 long stretches of him in the Moby wrap (or occasionally the sling) each day, and I get so much done that way, especially chores and cooking around the house. And as long as he's well fed, he'll go from the carseat to the Moby and sleep there for up to 2 hours wherever we are: at church, at a meal, at the park, etc. We have three different baby carriers, which sounds like a lot but they're all for different purposes and different life stages, so to speak, even though they all work now: the Moby is perfect for snuggly newborn holding because it feels like a t-shirt with a baby in it, the pouch sling we used with Kent will be perfect for hip carries when he gets a little older, and the BabyHawk (a mei-tai-style carrier) works well now and will also be great through toddlerhood because it holds up to 40 pounds. We've even used it to strap Kent to Jack's back a couple of times when he's gotten jealous of all the babywearing. My, how I love baby carriers. I wish I had known of all the options available when I was pregnant with Kent; there's so much more than what Babies R Us is willing to tell us about.
Snuggling. Even though the cold has prevented us from going outside as much as Kent and I would like, it has been incredibly nice to have a warm baby all snuggled up to me in his little hats, instead of a sweaty baby who didn't wear hats and who barely wore pants for the first couple of months of his life because it was too hot. I remember that first summer that Kent was here, I didn't even wear a shirt around the house because I was too sweaty. Change of season for this baby is a good thing.
Bonding with his big brother. Kent is getting better at knowing how to touch Dean without making us nervous (i.e., not poking or pulling at him), and Dean responds so well to Kent's affection and attention. I can hardly wait until Kent can make him laugh.
Most everything is joy these days. Even when it's hard, it's joy. And it's really not that hard, not nearly as hard as I'd feared. I can't always predict what time I'll actually be able to get out of the house with the two of them in clean diapers and schlepping and all their gear, but hey, we're doing just fine.
Squeaking. He's a very squeaky baby. He makes all these hilarious noises when he's trying to fall asleep, some nose whistles, some little grunts and snorts, but mostly squeaks.
Sleeping. A lot. Our nighttimes are actually pretty easy (depending on your definition of "easy" — it's all relative). He's in bed with us since he's made it quite clear that he's not a fan of sleeping on his own yet, so he wakes every 2 or 3 hours, nurses for a few minutes, occasionally gets a diaper change, and then goes right back to sleep, swaddled next to me. It's peaceful, and it's working beautifully. I don't freak out about things like, "But he'll never sleep in his own bed!" or "He'll never learn to sleep through the night that way!" because I know he will when he's ready. Kent sleeps wonderfully now. I'm not sure whether I can safely call Dean a sleeper at this point in his life, but I've been so pleased with his sleep so far. It helps me a lot that waking every couple of hours to nurse in the night is familiar, rather than totally shocking to my sleep-loving body the way it was the first time around. Everything feels that way with Dean. And I have our first experiment in parenthood running around my house, helping me remember that we got through all the baby stuff the first time and are totally competent parents, even if we don't always feel like it.
Being worn. A lot. We get 2 or 3 long stretches of him in the Moby wrap (or occasionally the sling) each day, and I get so much done that way, especially chores and cooking around the house. And as long as he's well fed, he'll go from the carseat to the Moby and sleep there for up to 2 hours wherever we are: at church, at a meal, at the park, etc. We have three different baby carriers, which sounds like a lot but they're all for different purposes and different life stages, so to speak, even though they all work now: the Moby is perfect for snuggly newborn holding because it feels like a t-shirt with a baby in it, the pouch sling we used with Kent will be perfect for hip carries when he gets a little older, and the BabyHawk (a mei-tai-style carrier) works well now and will also be great through toddlerhood because it holds up to 40 pounds. We've even used it to strap Kent to Jack's back a couple of times when he's gotten jealous of all the babywearing. My, how I love baby carriers. I wish I had known of all the options available when I was pregnant with Kent; there's so much more than what Babies R Us is willing to tell us about.
Snuggling. Even though the cold has prevented us from going outside as much as Kent and I would like, it has been incredibly nice to have a warm baby all snuggled up to me in his little hats, instead of a sweaty baby who didn't wear hats and who barely wore pants for the first couple of months of his life because it was too hot. I remember that first summer that Kent was here, I didn't even wear a shirt around the house because I was too sweaty. Change of season for this baby is a good thing.
Bonding with his big brother. Kent is getting better at knowing how to touch Dean without making us nervous (i.e., not poking or pulling at him), and Dean responds so well to Kent's affection and attention. I can hardly wait until Kent can make him laugh.
Most everything is joy these days. Even when it's hard, it's joy. And it's really not that hard, not nearly as hard as I'd feared. I can't always predict what time I'll actually be able to get out of the house with the two of them in clean diapers and schlepping and all their gear, but hey, we're doing just fine.
- posted by erica 3/05/2010 08:56:00 PM
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