In these first 60 days I estimate we have changed about 700 diapers, have given him 450 bottles totaling somewhere in the range of 1800 ounces of formula and breast milk. We have done more laundry than a local laundromat. We have lost more sleep than we have gained and we have had more visitors than we can count. Having a newborn at home isn't an easy task but it's worth every moment. Noah changes before our eyes. Best advice I can give a new parent, take 1000 pictures the first month, and another 1000 the second. Because every picture you take is going to be different. I never want to forget what our little man is like right now. He may be 100% dependent on us right now, but we would be 100% lost without him in our lives.
Noah had a wonderful present for mom and dad on the eve of his 2 month birthday as well. He decided to bless us with 9 straight hours of sleep!! We were expecting a long night soon, we just didn't expect it this soon. Since day 1 Noah was usually good for about 3 to 4 hours of sleep before he would wake up in a panic (dramatic...like mom) and want food (like dad). In the last week or so he had graduated to about 5-6 hours of sleep before waking up starving. I swaddled Noah last night and put him down about 8:30 in his crib. Our room is close enough to his that we just leave the doors open to hear him, no need for baby monitor most nights. I woke up to hear him cooing in his sleep about 2 am. I assumed he would be ready to eat shortly so I kept an open ear and dozed off. I woke up at 3 am, listening to make sure I could hear him. The occasional grunt or sigh let me know he was still doing fine. I fell back asleep and woke up at 4 wondering if he was ok, and to my relief after a few moments laying silently in bed I heard him sigh and snore a bit. Again I fell back asleep, only to wake up to his soft cries at about 5:30am. It was Christine's turn to get up with him so she took the feeding shift and came back to bed a little after 6. We were so excited to have had so much sleep, we didn't know what to do with ourselves. We got up, had some coffee, watched the news, and had breakfast. I took my shower and got ready for work. I was getting ready to leave and I poked my head into the nursery and Noah was fast asleep. He looked so calm and peaceful, I whispered goodbye and slipped out of the room.
I received a text message from Christine that he made it until 9:30am before she decided to pop in and check on him. He was laying in his crib completely Houdini'ed out of his swaddle. He was lying on his back kicking and smiling. For the first time in his life he had woken up under his own power. He didn't wake up because he was hungry, he just woke up because he wasn't tired anymore!
Hallelujah!
We are crossing our fingers that this trend continues because we really enjoy the full night sleep! We are very lucky, Noah has been a relatively easy baby. We can pick up his cries, we know when he is hungry, we know when he is uncomfortable, and we know when he is happy. He smiles all the time, and it's not just gas anymore. He laughs occasionally, usually more so when he is just about to fall asleep. He is very funny when he is in that twilight mode just before falling asleep. He smiles in his sleepy state, and chuckles to himself, I wish I could capture those moments on video because I know those moments are impossible to replace.
These first two months have had their ups and downs but all in all this has been a wonderful experience. We are truly blessed to have such a wonderful baby boy in our lives.
I also want to add a special thank you to a good friend Robert Healy III for directing traffic this way from The Baldwin-Whitehall Patch online news site. Bob and I became friends a few years back, he is a great writer and friend. (Check out his work at the patch and like their facebook page by clicking on the hyperlink). I received no money for this and I make no money from this blog. I am doing this as a chance to journal my son's development and my fitness/weight loss. I want to be able to show this to him when he gets older so that he can experience what his first few years were like. If you are here from The Patch, thanks for stopping by, if you like what you see add your email to my subscription box or add me as a friend on your reader.
Thanks for Reading,
Ron
No comments:
Post a Comment