Sunday, December 7, 2008

Hallelujah!


Charlie slept last night. From 2 am until 6:30 am. FOUR AND A HALF HOURS. Then, he ate for an hour and went back to sleep for another THREE HOURS. I cannot begin to explain what a difference this makes in the attitudes of the adults in this house. As I said to Tony this morning, even if he doesn't sleep like that again tonight, at least I know he CAN and that someday, he WILL. For parents of a newborn, the promise of four hours of uninterrupted sleep at some point in the future is a revelation.
We continue to get used to life with a baby 'round here. Charles and Buster and I take at least one walk every day (this has done nothing, so far, for my poochy tummy, but I am hopeful). I think Buster enjoys this the most, since we usually meet up with my friend, Deanna, and her dog, Lucy, to play in the park. The Baby Bjorn frontpack has become our favorite baby item (thanks, Mer!), since Charles instantly falls asleep in it and it allows me both hands free to do WHATEVER I WANT. Including eat, which seems to be the thing I forget to do most often. The weekends have been great because Tony is here, and I get to do a few more personal things, like do the dishes, take a longer shower, do laundry... okay, so those aren't really personal and they don't sound like much fun, but when you have an infant, a leisurely shower is like Christmas.


Charles still fusses a fair amount, especially between 11 pm and 2 am. He isn't really colicky- that is to say, he is not inconsolable when he is fussy, he just doesn't want to sleep. So, I feed him, change him, bounce him, rock him, shush him (we have been reading The Happiest Baby on the Block - the advice about calming a baby is awesome. We have discovered that Charles likes REALLY LOUD white noise, such as the vacuum, the stove fan, or the hair dryer), and then repeat the process until he falls asleep. He is still sleeping with us. Every time we put him in his bassinet, he wakes up. We think the mattress is just too hard. We should receive his new crib this week (it was back ordered) and we hope that will work out better for him.


I am still totally in love with this squishy little guy (not that I expect that to ever change). And by little, I mean big. He is already in 3-6 month clothes... the 0-3 month outfits won't even zip up now. Sigh...

2 comments:

Sarah said...

Woohoo! I think I hear choruses of angels singing. Congratulations to Sir Charles for giving his mom some much-needed sleep. Isn't it remarkable how powerful a few hours of sleep can be? I'm glad that the book has been helpful for you, you just never know what'll work until you try. Here's to many more hours of sleep! (PS, my word is "matic")

Mom and Dad said...

Not sure what "matic" means, but three cheers for a longer sleep. Maybe being more "mature" is the trick, because after all he is now more than a month old..... Glad to hear you are getting out as well. Those little outings can be life savers. Have a great week and hopes for a few more wonderful hours in the pillow.