Isaiah at 11 Weeks Old

Isaiah turned 11 weeks on Saturday, and I wanted to update what things are like in our house.

Life is good.  Isaiah is such a fun part of this family.  He is such a happy, smiley, talkative little guy now.  He is so much more smiley and talkative than Noah was when he was a baby.  And not just for 10 minutes after he wakes up, like it used to be.  He is so vocal.  He coos and gurgles and shrieks happily all the time... it is so fun.  Noah cooed a little bit, but nothing like Isaiah.  It is incredibly endearing.  And his smiles... he smiles so big.  He just seems to love life now.

(This smile was completely spontaneous.  I didn't have to pry it out of him for the camera or anything.)

He is still worn for all of his naps and while I'm doing anything around the house, which we both enjoy.  For some weird reason on the weekends when Justin is home he doesn't nap as well as he does during the week.  This weekend he only slept 8-10 minutes at a time for the majority of his naps.  It doesn't really bother me, though, because it's not like I'm trying really hard to get him to go down in his crib and then he's waking up the second I put him down.  I'm just going about my daily life with him wrapped to my body.  When he sleeps, he sleeps.

(This is a Girasol woven wrap. I've been expanding my babywearing options.  I now have a stash of 12 baby carriers/wraps/slings... 13 if you count the Snugli, which I don't because I've only ever worn it once when Noah was 3 months old and I knew nothing about proper babywearing, and I would rather burn it than have anybody wear it ever again.)

(Waking up from a long nap, during which the rest of us decorated the Christmas tree)

About a week ago he gave me his first 6 hour stretch of sleep, and then this weekend he did his first 7 hour stretch!  7 hours and 20 minutes, actually.  The next night it was 6 hours 45 minutes, and the night after that it was 7 hours 10 minutes.  Those 3 nights I only had to get up with him once, which was awesome.  Night times are very good for him.  After a bath and nursing, he usually goes into his crib awake and falls asleep on his own.  He is starting to fall asleep a little easier while nursing, though, which is fine with me, too.  Just in the last week we've had a couple of mild "struggles" while he's going to sleep where I've had to go back in his room and cuddle and nurse him again.  Again, I don't mind that.  I am trying to keep him used to falling asleep on his own, though, because of the sleep issues we had with Noah.  However, I will not let him cry, so I do go back in there if that's where things start heading.

(This is what Isaiah was doing when I went in to get him one morning last week.  He looks pretty proud of himself, doesn't he?)

He still grunts in his sleep at night (I know this when I'm awake in the mornings before he is), but it doesn't affect my sleep.  I've stopped giving him any reflux meds ever since I started wearing him all day, since he is now upright all the time.

He is very strong with great head control.  At about 10 weeks he started pushing himself up on his elbows with his chest all the way up off the ground.  He loves to hang out like that.  He actually prefers it to being on his back.

I'm back to making our normal dinners every night (while babywearing) instead of living on chicken fingers and fries or frozen meals.  I do still eat a lot of our dinners standing up and bouncing around the kitchen while Justin and Noah sit at the table, but it's become my new normal so it doesn't bug me anymore.  If our timing is really good then I can actually sit down, but it's hard to predict so I usually eat standing.

In short, life is good.  I don't have any standing complaints anymore.  He's sleeping and eating well, he's happy most of the time now, and really seems to be adjusting to life outside the womb.

We really like him. :)

(I didn't pose them for this picture, by the way.)

Edited to add: Oh crap.  I forgot about this complaint - Isaiah still DESPISES the car.  Like, he gets hysterical on just a 2 minute trip.  So I am housebound.  I don't mind being at home all the time, but I really really wish Isaiah was okay with the car, considering we live 25 minutes from our parents, most stores, and church.  

Things Noah Says

(A little under 2 3/4 years old)


Me: Noah, what do you want for Christmas??
Noah: Maybe a tree and some decorations! And I want a candy J!

(I love that he called a candy cane a candy J when we have never called it that... I don't even think we've ever had one in our house before!)

Mommy: Guess who's coming over, Noah!
Noah: I don't know!
Mommy: Guess.
Noah: Guess?
Mommy: Yes, guess!
Noah: Who's 'Guess', Mommy?


Mommy: I love you to pieces!
Noah: I love you ONE piece!


I looked at Noah and discovered that he had bitten off pieces of grapes and shoved them in his ears. I asked why and he said, "I didn't want to hear the TV."


"Hang on, I'm gonna blow you up just a little bit more. It will just take a second." - Noah blows on Isaiah's foot like he is a balloon.

Odds and Ends

-I am always surprised that I can do 1 to 2 extra large loads of laundry every single day, but days like today can still sneak up on me where I have four loads of laundry to do.  How does this happen when I do laundry every single day?

-I have no idea how I'm going to get my Christmas shopping done, since all the stores are 25 minutes away and Isaiah screams frantically every time we're in the car.  I can't leave him behind (especially since he would scream frantically without me around), but I don't want to take him with in the car, either.  I really don't know what I'm going to do.  I don't have one single thing bought, yet.

-I bought a few Baltic Amber necklaces for Isaiah, since he's had his two bottom teeth popping up and down since he was 4 weeks old.  Noah fell in love with one and wants to wear it every waking moment.  So it's his, now.

-I'd post a picture of Noah wearing the necklace, because he looks like a cool surfer boy, but every time I've tried to upload a picture since my last post I've been informed that I'm using all of my photo storage.  I'm not about to pay for more storage, and I have no idea how to take advantage of any other options.  Advice?

-While I was doing laundry today, Noah snapped every single one of his white board crayons in half.  TIME OUT!

-I discovered last week, after Noah drew on four pieces of living room furniture with bright blue pen, that he will, in fact, stay in his room for time out.

-Putting those two things right after each other makes it sound like Noah is always destroying my house.  He's usually not.  He makes plenty of mess, but he's not usually destructive.

-Foods that are especially hard to eat while babywearing in a front carry: soup, rice, tacos, any sort of burger... I'm sure there are more I can't think of right now...

-I can't figure out if Justin Bieber's version of The Little Drummer Boy is sacrilegious or not.  Either way, it's catchy.  It makes me want to bust out the club-worthy dance moves.  With Isaiah in the wrap, of course.  We listen to it on a nightly basis.  He digs it.

Early Bedtime

Yesterday was a busy day for us.  It was the first significant snowfall we've had this year, which is kind of fun.  We skipped church, because Isaiah despises the car so much that I can't bear to put him in it and listen to the frantic screaming for a 20 minute drive there and a 20 minute drive back.

Instead, we bundled up and walked (with Isaiah in the wrap under my coat) to my friend Emily's house around the corner and had a playdate with her son James.

Then we came home and my inlaws brought a late lunch over.  We'd been planning on going to their house but ended up asking them to come to ours instead, because of Isaiah.

By the early evening both kids were exhausted and miserable.  It was out of character for Noah, but pretty normal for Isaiah.  Justin held Isaiah and bounced around for about half an hour while I ate some dinner, nursed Noah, and got things ready for bedtime.  Isaiah SCREAMED the entire time.  The only time he likes someone besides me to hold him is right when he wakes up and is super happy.  Otherwise he screams frantically.  It's a little bit frustrating, since during the evenings he often still needs to be danced and bounced around the house, and my back starts to hurt after wearing him all day long and then not being able to sit down at all for the last 3 hours of the day.

Anyway, both kids were so exhausted that they were asleep by 7.  That's a whole hour or more earlier than they are normally asleep.

What did I do?

I ran around the house like a mad woman tidying things and cleaning up, and then I went to bed.

At 7:30.

That's right, I went to bed at 7:30.  And it was awesome, compared to my normal bedtime of 8:30.

Isaiah has been having better and better nights during the past week, often sleeping in 4-5+ hour stretches.  So between that and going to bed at 7:30, I got a good amount of sleep last night.  Yipee:)

Isaiah is 2 Months Old!

I can't believe Isaiah is 2 months old... for some reason I thought he'd "seem" older by the time he was 2 months.  I'm not exactly sure what about him doesn't "seem" 2 months.  I mean, I think he looks like he's 2 months.  A tiny baby he is not.  But in some ways I guess his behaviour doesn't seem like what I remembered a 2 month old to be.  He sleeps a lot (thanks to babywearing) and can't handle long awake periods.  He's pretty much had it after 30 minutes of being awake - the total opposite of his big brother!  I've only had one 2 month old, though, and my two newborn experiences have been very different.  So what I'm saying probably makes no sense.

Anyway, here is what life is at for Isaiah at 2 months old:

-He weighs 13.5lbs according to our digital scale and with his cloths and cloth diaper on.  In the past when we weighed him this way it was always slightly heavier than what he actually weighed naked on the baby scales (by about a pound).  So it appears his weight gain has finally slowed down, since he was 12.5lbs a little over 2 weeks ago and had been gaining about a pound a week up until then.

-He is about 24 inches long.

-His head is 16 inches around.

-His hair is dark blonde and his eyes are blue.

-His skin has paled in the last month.  We thought he might have Justin's tanned skin at first, but he is totally pale now.

-His bottom two teeth having been playing peekaboo since he was 4 weeks old. They're always right there; sometimes you can feel them better than others, though.  I think this is insane.  I wonder when they'll actually come through.

-He is becoming more coordinated at nursing, and things must be calming down on my end, too, so there's less popping off and choking going on.  He nurses on demand, so just whenever.  A lot less often than Noah did, though.  The frequency depends on how long he naps, but generally it's about every 2 hours, sometimes 3, sometimes twice during an hour long awake period.  I don't pay a ton of attention to it because nursing has been such a part of my life for the past 32 months.  Isaiah has also been super fast at it since day 2.  Each session generally lasts about 5 minutes, never more than 10.

-I babywear him pretty much all day long, and therefore he naps quite a bit.  (At this age Noah was taking 4 half hour naps a day, and didn't lengthen them until he was about 12 months old.  I wonder if Noah would have slept a lot more if I had had to babywear him all the time like I have to with Isaiah).

-For the most part this past month he has only slept in 2-4 hour intervals at nighttime.  But...

-Last night he surprised me by sleeping 5 hours and 45 minutes for his first stretch, and then 3 hours and 45 minutes for his second stretch!  (He then did a 2 hour stretch after that, but his second wake up was at 6 so I just stayed awake).  I was/am elated.

-He seems to be sleeping better at night now that I'm wearing him all day long.  The days that I don't wear him as much, he doesn't sleep as well that night.  I don't know if its coincidence or not.

-He never falls asleep in my arms at night.  I don't know why, he just won't do it.  So I always lay him down awake.  He still takes awhile to go to sleep after that (often about half an hour), but he's not fussing or crying so I'm good with it.  This has been happening for the past 2.5 weeks (although it feels like longer).  Before that we were pacing the house while holding him for hours trying to get him to go to sleep.

-We started doing a bedtime routine at 6 weeks old - bath, jammies, nurse, bed - when he was 6 weeks old.  He loves his bathtime (in the kitchen sink) now, and is slowly getting better about his screaming afterwards.  He used to start screaming the second I took him out of the sink, but now he doesn't start screaming until he's dried off and I carry him to the bedroom to get dressed.  Progress.

-He's sleeping on his tummy at night.  I'm still nervous about it but seriously, we all need sleep.

-For some reason he won't fall asleep "in my arms" for naps either (and has almost always been that way).  However, if I put him in a carrier (wrap, sling, Ergo, etc), he'll go to sleep right away.  It's weird.

-He can be fussy, but if I lay him down and start tying on a wrap, he knows he's about to go in it and he calms down while he watches me.  I think that's cute:)

-He loves diaper changes.  If he's being fussy and getting close to crying, if we go lay him on the change table and either change his diaper or pretend to (undo his sleeper and play with his legs) he gets all happy.  Noah was like this too.  The difference is that for the first few weeks of Isaiah's life he SCREAMED through every diaper change (whereas Noah never cared), so it's a complete 180 for his behaviour.

-He's wearing all one size diapers, and most of them are on the middle rise setting and the second smallest waist setting.  He has super chunky thighs!!!

-I am still changing him once at night.  Right now he wears a Flip cover to bed with one of two options stuffed inside - either a Flip Organic insert with a bumGenius Stay Dry Doubler on top, or a Thirsties Duo Hemp Prefold with a Thirsties Duo insert on top (with the hemp portion of the insert folded in half at the front).  When I change him I put him into a bumGenius 4.0 with their one size insert and a Thirsties hemp insert stuffed inside.

-He is VERY smiley and happy for the first 5-15 minutes after he wakes up, and in the morning time.  It's awesome.  I swear, he has the biggest, happiest smile I've ever seen on a baby!

-He is starting to laugh and make various cooing noises.  I love it!

-He is still grunty while he sleeps, but I have the video monitor set to the lowest volume and my fan on high, so I can't hear anything until he cries out.  I wish I was cosleeping with him, but then I wouldn't get any sleep at all.

-He has a very strong neck, and pushes himself up almost 90 degrees when he's on his tummy.



I'm enjoying Isaiah a lot now that I'm wearing him all day long.  He's happier, he sleeps more, I'm not fighting with him to go to sleep in his crib for naps, I can still do things with Noah... it's just better.  I've even cooked real meat several times in the last couple of weeks (although chicken strips are still a staple in our house right now:).  I should have just done this from the beginning instead of always trying to put him down when he was sleeping.  I would have had a lot less frustration.

I'm looking forward to seeing what the next month brings with my little sweetie!

8.5 Weeks

This is what Isaiah is like after he wakes up... for about 5-10 minutes :)

Isaiah is spending his entire day attached to me in the Sleepy Wrap now, except during nursing and diaper changes.  Thank heavens for stretchy wraps!

I'm investing in 2 more carriers that are on their way in the mail right now, bringing my total up to 6... for now!

Updates on my Boys

I just wanted to write an update on where things are at.

Isaiah seems to be doing a lot better.  Last Monday I let him cry while I held him, and that drastically improved his overall state of being.  I really do think he needed a healing cry for any number of reasons - I had a horrible attitude while I was pregnant, he went through over 2 days of labour, I had bad baby blues for a couple of weeks after he was born... I don't know why, but those are definitely contenders!

Anyway, because he was doing SO much better, on Thursday and Friday I didn't give him any reflux meds.  He'd been on them for a week, but I thought maybe he didn't need them and all of his fussiness was due to us not allowing him to cry when he needed to.

Friday he got progressively fussier as the day went on.  And Saturday?  Oh my gosh, Saturday SUCKED.  By night time there was so much screaming I just didn't know what to do anymore.  Justin took him and I sat on my bed and cried.  And then called my mom.  Thankfully Isaiah finally fell asleep on Justin and then went in his crib.

On Sunday evening he was back to nursing REALLY fussily again.  Crying and popping on and off the whole time, like he had been doing before he started the reflux meds.  I stopped and gave him the meds mid-feed.  Then Monday I gave him two doses, morning and late afternoon.  The fussing while nursing went away.  Tuesday I just gave him a late afternoon dose, and the fussing while nursing was back (although not as bad).

Bottom line, I think he really does have painful reflux, and that his fussiness has been due to several factors, that being one of them.  Today (Wednesday) I'm going with two doses again.  I'm going to see how this two dose thing goes (he's only supposed to have one dose) and let my doctor know.  Hopefully he believes me and changes the prescription, because he didn't think the meds would make any difference to begin with.

Anyway, moving on from reflux...

Isaiah is cutting teeth.  Yeah, what the heck, right?  I first noticed the little white slits in his gums at 4 weeks.  Then at 6 weeks I was rubbing them and I could feel the sharp pointiness of his two bottom teeth right below the gums.  WHAT?!  I think they've receded a bit again in the past few days.  Poor kid.  A teething one month old?  Not fun.  This could also have been contributing to his fussiness in the past month.

At 7.5 weeks, Isaiah is smiling a lot more now, which is wonderfully rewarding.  He has been growing much more smiley in the past week.  He's also having a lot more pleasant and content periods than he was having 2 weeks ago.

He takes a lot of naps in the Sleepy Wrap, which allows me to not worry about trying to put him to sleep.  He'll nap for over 2 hours in the wrap sometimes.  I just pop him in and within a few minutes he's out like a light.  I can even sit down now when he's sleeping in it (before I had to keep moving).

Sometimes he takes decent naps when he's laying down, sometimes not.  I'm not stressing about it, and trying not to think too far ahead.  It is what it is right now.  I'd rather have him get his rest in the wrap and me be able to take care of Noah and my house and myself than be fighting to get him to sleep in the first place, and then be fighting to get him to sleep longer than half an hour.

Sleep at night is... pretty good I guess.  It depends on your standards.  It's not horrible.  He often puts himself to sleep while lying on his tummy in his crib.  But he's still up every 2-4 hours.  Sometimes its an hour and a half, and the longest stretch yet has been 4 hours 20 minutes.  He is frantically hungry when he wakes up, and I know he's capable of putting himself to sleep since he does it every single night (if not at the very beginning of the night, then at some other point during the night after he nurses).  So it's not a sleep association thing... I'm not sure when he'll get over the needing to nurse every 2-4 hours all night long.  For now, I'm just accepting it. I sure would love to not have to go to bed right when he does, though.

On Sunday I skipped going to my SIL's baby shower.  It would have been over two hours of driving and unfortunately Isaiah is HATING the car again.  He was great in the car on the way to my midwife appointment last Thursday, but every time he's been in it since he has been screaming non stop.  He seriously panics, and I feel terrible.  I'm trying him in it again today to take the kids to my parents house to put up their Christmas tree, so we'll see how that goes.  Non stop panicked screaming makes for a LONG 25 minute drive.


Now, let's talk about Noah for a minute.  He is great, of course.  He and Justin have a new bedtime routine that doesn't include me, since I am doing Isaiah's bedtime routine at the same time (bath, jammies, boob, bed).  Justin and Noah do the bath and jammies thing, then Noah picks a book to read and goes in his crib.  Justin sits on the mattress outside of the crib and reads Noah the book.  Then Noah "reads" the book himself.  Then they turn off the light, turn on the sound machine (Noah decided he didn't like white noise anymore, and chose a "nature" track instead... it drowns out no noise whatsoever, but he is sleeping just fine anyway), and then lie side by side as Noah goes to sleep.  Noah will actually go right to sleep with Justin in there beside him, which really surprises me!  It also gives me hope that when we transition him out of his crib, he'll actually do well.

Last night was Noah's first night with a pillow and blanket.  He was asking for them, and since many kids his age are in big boy beds with pillows and blankets, I saw no reason for him not to have them.  He really enjoyed it!  When Justin tucked him in he said "If you get cold, just pull the blanket up to your shoulders."  Noah replied, "Oh, that's a good idea!"  It made us laugh.

I really enjoy listening to Noah's running commentary as he plays with his toys.  His imagination is hilarious, and I love hearing him say all sorts of "grown up" things as he plays or "talks on the phone".  "Oh hi Aunt Giliane.  It's just Noah.  Oh yeah, I'm good.  I'm just doing fine.  We're just going to have dinner now.  We're having buns.  Okay, see you!"

He just started saying his whole prayer with us at meal times, instead of just "Amen" at the end.  He surprised us by saying it a few nights ago, since we didn't know he knew the whole thing.

He is super sweet to Isaiah still.  He always tries to share his toys with him.  Some things he's said to him that made me laugh: "Hi Isaiah!  You're chubby!  You're a chubby boy!"  "Hi Isaiah... I love you... I'm so proud of you!" (I wish I could explain his tone of voice when he said that one).  "Hi Isaiah!  You're so tiny and cute!"  He calls him "cutie pie" and "chunky monkey," which I find adorable.  He'll also say to me, "Hi Mommy... you're so pretty and cute!"  I'm not sure where he got this pretty and cute business from, but I'll take it!


I'm sure I could blabber on for another 10 paragraphs, but I'm leaving the house in less than an hour and I need to get things ready before Isaiah wakes up (he's sleeping in the wrap).

Update on Isaiah's Weight

Today was my final midwife appointment (6 weeks and 5 days).  I'm kind of sad.  I'm going to miss Christine.

There's not much to report from the appointment on my part - everything looks healthy and good.  Hopefully my pap is normal, since I haven't had one in over 2.5 years.

Isaiah got weighed and measured.  He was 23 inches long (20 inches at birth) with a head circumference of slightly over 15 inches (13 inches at birth).  He weighed 12 lbs 7.5 oz.  So 12.5 lbs, basically.  At 6 weeks 5 days.  He was 7lbs at birth.

Geez Louise.

I'm so glad I make great milk that makes my babies thrive and grow, but it's sad to me that they have to get so big so fast.  I wouldn't be surprised if Isaiah doubled his birth weight already at 2 months old.  Isn't that supposed to be a 6 month thing?  

Birth - September 22
Weight - 7lbs
Height - 20 inches
Head - 13 inches

3 Days - September 25
Weight - 6lbs 13oz

5 Days - September 27
Weight - 6lbs 15.5oz

11 Days - October 3
Weight - 7lbs 11oz
Height - 20.75 inches
Head - 14 inches

18 Days - October 10 (his due date)

Weight - 8lbs 12oz

1 Month old - October 22

Weight - 10lbs 9oz

Height - 22 inches

Head - just shy of 15 inches

6 Weeks 5 Days - November 8

Weight - 12lbs 7.5 oz

Height - 23 inches

Head - just over 15 inches

Noah slowed down in the weight department after 2 months, so maybe Isaiah will soon, too.  However, Noah didn't grow quite as quickly as Isaiah, either.  Noah gained 6lbs in 9 weeks.  Isaiah has gained 5.5lbs in 6 weeks.  Yikes.

Update on 'Fussy' Isaiah

Thank you so much to those of you who expressed support in the comments of my last post.  It really does help to know there are/were other people out there who have been through the same frustrating phase that we're in with Isaiah right now - or worse.  While logically I know that things could be a lot worse, it helps to hear your experiences first hand.  It really put things into perspective for me!

With all that being said, I have a little update on the situation.

On Sunday Isaiah was baptized (I'll do a post with a couple of pictures after I upload them to my computer).  It was kind of a frustrating day, as he was having his short little naps, wouldn't stay asleep when put down in his crib, and was fussy.  However, there were many other arms willing to hold him and walk around with him, so that helped.  Unfortunately, the willing arms all left around 4:30pm, and once again I was left facing the evening alone with a fussy baby (Justin usually spends quality time with Noah during the evenings)... and I had that feeling of dread that I get every afternoon.

Thankfully, Isaiah was exhausted from not sleeping well all day, so it didn't take 2 hours of pacing around the house to get him to go to sleep for the night.  Instead, he was asleep and in bed by 7:30.  The time change was very helpful in getting him to go to sleep earlier than normal.  And, I got to go to bed at 7:50pm!!!  It was glorious.  Isaiah did get up several times that night, only sleeping in 2-3 hour chunks as usual, but still.  I was happy.  Collectively, I got the most sleep I've had since probably before I was pregnant with him.

Monday morning Isaiah got up around 7am.  He was happy for the first 10 minutes, and then I had to pace around the house with him.  The whole time he kept drifting off for a minute and then forcing his eyes back open.  We did this until 8:30, when he finally was asleep and I put him in the pack and play.

As soon as I put him down I raced around the house getting things done.  I was tidying, doing laundry, shoving breakfast in my mouth as quickly as possible, etc etc.

At 9:00 he woke up.  He'd only been out of my arms since 8:40, and was super fussy as soon as he woke up.  I was really frustrated.  There were still a million things I had to do that I now couldn't do.

I was so frustrated (since half hour naps have been his habit for the past week, and then he's miserable whenever he's awake) that I wanted to just put him in his crib and leave the house, letting him cry.

Of course, I can't actually do that with a 6 week old.  So instead, I just sat on the couch holding him, and I allowed him to cry.  He would get really worked up and scream his head off, and then after 30-60 seconds he would suddenly stop and look around, like he hadn't just been screaming.

This went on, on and off, for 2 hours.  I just sat there, holding him while he cried, not bending over backwards to soothe him.  There were probably about 10 crying episodes, punctuated by calm.  I can't say why exactly I did this, originally.  I know I was just too mad at the situation to spend hours pacing around with him.  I felt like the whole thing was just ridiculous.  I mean, I know he's a newborn and they aren't exactly rational creatures, but he used to be pretty chill, and over the weeks he has evolved into a really high maintenance baby.  I felt like he shouldn't require such specific conditions in order to be calm, and that he needs to learn that it's possible to be calm without those conditions (sort of like when you're trying to get your baby to learn that they can go to sleep without nursing, rocking, or a pacifier).

I mean, I have a husband and a two year old, but my entire life revolves around this fussy baby and the other two members of my family are hardly getting any of me because of it.  Plus, it was starting to get depressing to me.  The other day Justin was saying that he was looking forward to something, and I realized that I don't look forward to anything anymore.  Every day is just too challenging.  Not challenging in a good way, like it was at the beginning when I was learning to balance a newborn and a toddler.  But challenging in a "I really hate this and don't know how much longer I can keep going like this" way.  I was starting to not enjoy life anymore, because my whole existence was trying to keep a fussy baby calm.

So I sat there holding Isaiah while he cried.  It's just what felt like the right thing to do, and it was actually making me a lot less frustrated.  He kept acting like he would fall asleep, and then would force his eyes open.  After 2 hours of this he had a good nursing where he fell asleep, but then he woke up when I started burping him.  After I burped him I decided to just put him down so that I could get Noah something to eat.  I went to put Isaiah in the swing, saw his eyes were almost closed, so I put him on his tummy in the pack and play.  I wasn't really expecting him to go fully to sleep, but he did, and he slept for almost 2 hours!

After that good nap he had a couple of shorter naps in the pack and play over the course of the afternoon (40 minutes and 1 hour).  This is better than it has been, as he usually won't lay down for his naps after about 3pm.  He woke up from his last nap around 5:15 (we had an early dinner so that we could all actually eat at the same time).  The next two hours consisted of a lot of crying.  Screaming, really.  When he got really worked up I would do some jiggling to get him out of the screaming fit, but otherwise I just held him and talked to him.

I gave him a bath around 7pm.  He still pretty much hates baths, and he screamed like crazy as I was getting him diapered and dressed afterward.  At 7:20pm he started nursing.  He nursed really well and fell asleep during it.  However, he once again woke up when I put him over my shoulder to burp.  At this point I took him into his room.  He was very calm, so I just laid him in his crib. I wasn't really expecting him to go to sleep on his own, but I wanted to give him the opportunity.

Shocker of shockers, he calmly looked around for 10-15 minutes, and then went to sleep.  No fussing, no crying, just closed his eyes and went to sleep.

Then last night he slept for over 3 hours 20 minutes, then 4 hours, then 3 hours and 20 minutes again!  I only had to get up with him twice!  When he woke up at 7:15 I nursed and burped him and he was drowsy but awake, so once again I put him in his crib.  He was awake, but he just laid there blinking for about 5 minutes and then went to sleep on his own.  Again.  And he slept for another hour.  After that he was awake for close to 2 hours, and he was pleasant and smiley for most of that time.  Now it's 10:30 and I just put him down in his crib drowsy but awake, and he fell asleep on his own again.

I don't know if this is a fluke, or the beginning of something beautiful.  I know that this doesn't mean my life or baby are going to be perfect from here on out, because if Noah taught me anything it's that babies are always changing.  Still, I'm very thankful that Isaiah finally threw me a bone.


(Last night I googled "letting newborn cry while in mom's arms" and I came across this whole thing called "crying in arms".  The premise is that crying can be good for babies, as long as they're in their parents' loving arms.  Just like sometimes we just need to have a good cry, so do babies.  If we're constantly stopping their cries with jiggling, nursing, "shhhh-ing", etc, they just keep trying to cry because they need the release.  And often letting them cry while you support them by holding them makes them happier babies overall, and better sleepers.  I found this really interesting, especially now that I saw that Isaiah was happier and did sleep better.  Here are a couple of links if you're interested:  http://www.awareparenting.com/highneedinfants.htm, http://www.awareparenting.com/comfort.htm)

Isaiah at 6 Weeks

Isaiah is 6 weeks old today, and I am going to be very honest in this post.  I think I glossed over a lot of the bad stuff when I wrote updates about Noah, and if I'm going to have another baby I would like to have a realistic memory of what Isaiah was like as a newborn.

He is fussy.  He is a freaking fussy baby.  If he's awake, it's almost guaranteed that he's fussy.  Sometimes he's okay for the first 5 to 10 minutes that he's awake, but after that?  Fussy.  He must be walked around the house constantly.  Do not bother to sit down and rock him.  He will cry at you.

I have not made a proper dinner since he's been born.  Chicken strips, chicken burgers, french fries, tater tots, frozen lasagna... these are all staples in our diet right now.  If we have real meat (ie. chicken breasts or steak or pork chops), it's because my husband is cooking it.

Justin and I cannot eat dinner at the same time unless Isaiah happens to have fallen asleep in the wrap at the exact right moment.  Even then I am rocking back and forth, otherwise he will wake up. Either that or I am eating dinner off the island and pacing around the house between bites.

At night, he still will only sleep 2-3 hours at a time.  Sometimes 1.5 hours.  He has never slept longer than 3.5 hours, and that happened exactly once.  At this age Noah was sleeping one 5-6 hour stretch at night.  I don't know why I hoped that by now Isaiah would at least be sleeping 4 hours once a night.  Call me crazy.

During the day, for the past half a week or so, Isaiah will not nap for longer than half an hour unless he is being held.  If he was decently happy when he was awake, or even half the time he was awake, this wouldn't be so bad.  I have already dealt with a baby who only ever slept half an hour at a time from 2 months to 12 months.  I can handle it without stressing.  But for Isaiah, awake = fussy.  And awake = I can't get anything done.  I can't tell you the last time I went to the bathroom during a week day without a baby strapped to my chest.

Furthermore, since Isaiah was one week old, it has been incredibly difficult to get him to go to sleep for the night.  For some reason he just STAYS. AWAKE.  For hours.  And stares at you while you're pacing around the house or rocking him.  He'll start to fall asleep, and then within a couple of minutes he'll FORCE his eyes open so that he will. not. fall. asleep.  Because heaven forbid a 6 week old go to sleep.  Again, this wouldn't be so bad if he would just sit there with us, and if I wasn't pacing or rocking for hours.

He hates the swing.  And the bouncy chair.  And the carseat.

He smiles occasionally.  But not much.

He could be a lot worse.  But he's certainly not easy. I know "this too shall pass."  But WHEN?

At least he doesn't scream through every diaper change anymore.

And at least he's really cute.

Just make sure you don't stop moving.

Feel free to pass along stories about your own fussy babies.  I could use a good dose of "Thank God I'm not the only one."