monday miscellany: a new weekly count

1) Luckily I am not 42 weeks pregnant today, but Henry is one week old! I think we are doing pretty well. Henry seems to have a good disposition. He has fussy periods that are either related to hunger (easy to fix), gas, or needing to go to sleep. I hate when he's fussy though. My babies' cries are like torture to me. He lost quite a lot of weight, but now that my milk is in I'm sure he'll catch up quickly. Henry nurses well. His latch was very painful for me initially, but it's started to improve. I hate to say anything and jinx ourselves, but he also seems to be sleeping pretty well. I've found a routine that seems to work well for getting him to sleep. On Saturday night I nursed him at midnight and got him in the swing, woke up at 5:00 and he was still asleep! I had to wake him to nurse because that was really too long to go. He ate and I got him back down and he slept until 6:40 which is when I get up anyway. Henry has also started having longer awake periods. He's very alert and interested in music, sounds, and lights. He was fascinated by the lights on the Christmas tree the other night, and he likes the mobile and music on his swing. He makes all kinds of facial expressions and has smiled and laughed a little in his sleep. When he looks at you, his eyes get wide and his mouth opens into a little o while he studies your face. He's a sweet, sweet little guy.

2) This girl?

(She's in her fort under the kitchen table, not behind jail bars- although behind bars might have been appropriate since she had just pooped in the tent Chris set up for her to play in...This was before she peed all over the family room floor too. Think we're having a regression with the new baby being around?)

...Hasn't always been so sweet lately. Poor thing. She's probably doing just fine and I know it's normal for siblings to have trouble adjusting to a new baby. I think having this past weekend to ourselves and getting into a normal weekly routine will help. She's okay most of the time, but isn't as affectionate as usual and seems sort of distant when I'm with Henry. Even if I'm giving her my attention while I'm feeding him, it's not enough. We do have completely normal moments, I make sure to spend as much time alone with her as I can, and luckily Chris has been spending lots of time playing with her and taking her places.

3) Celia drew an elephant the other day and I thought it was pretty good.

The brown line is a mustache.

4) White noise is magic for babies. Really. Henry is napping away in his swing as I type. 

5) I've almost forgotten about Christmas stuff this week, what with a new tiny human to sustain and all. But we did start our advent house with Celia and she likes opening a new door for each day. 

I'm planning to decorate cookies with Pita sometime this week, too. Oh, and Christmas specials! She is old enough to watch some of them this year. She loves the Curious George Christmas special, and I think we have Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman on tv soon. I'm excited for her to see them because I loved them so much myself when I was a kid. 

6) Has anyone done the Moms on Call online seminars? Are they worth doing? I want to get Henry on a good schedule fairly early on.

7) And...just kidding. Henry's awake again. Time to go feed him.