Thursday, June 28, 2012

William, One Month Old

Some quick thoughts about Will:

1. When he lays down to nurse, no matter how cranky and hungry he is, he begins smirking and shoving his fist into his mouth.



2. When he sits up from nursing, his peach fuzz hair sticks out sideways, his tongue hangs out of his mouth, and he looks adorably ridiculous.
3. He loves being carried and held. He folds his little arms in the Ergo, rests his chin on them, and looks around until he falls asleep.
4. When I nap with him, he fidgets, sweats, punches me, and makes little squeaky baby noises.



5. Nursing him is beginning to no longer be painful. I'm starting to enjoy the bonding instead of "dreading the feed".



6. He sleeps from ~8:30 PM to 3:30 AM, feeds for 30 minutes, and then wakes up again around 6:30-7. Good stretches! Two nights he has slept from 8:30 PM to 5:30 AM. Total flukes, I imagine. It doesn't matter, though. I get up every couple of hours thinking he is in bed with me - I walk around the room disoriented, I search for him in the sheets, and then I am reminded (either by a sudden return to sanity OR by Brian) that he is in the nursery. He is always in the nursery, Maegan. Sleep is touch and go! Coffee is absolutely essential.
7. He has a huge potato butt in his cloth diapers.



8. He loves riding in the stroller, especially on very bumpy terrain. He wears a look on his face the entire time that says, "What's going on here?!"



9. He loves the bath very much. I swish him around at the end and he just leans his head back into the water with his mouth open and a smile on his face.





10. At five weeks, I got my very first eye-contact smile. And Brian just happened to be on the phone with me.
11. He sure LOVES his black and white mobile. I do believe it's making him smarter. :)



I love my little baby so very, very much. It feels good to pick up on his cues, to learn what works and what doesn't, and to be keeping him alive successfully. He's turning into quite the little chunk - he's gained over four pounds from birth weight in his first month. He never spits up, but we have been battling a pesky heat rash that I just can't seem to get rid of. I've tried half a dozen creams at least - next on the list is Caldesene powder, as soon as it arrives from Amazon.

Holding his little body against my chest, feeling his peach fuzz head turn against my neck, and hearing his little squeaks and grunts and splutters - these have been the greatest joys of my life. So simple, so common, and I know they will be gone in a flash.
-Maeg

Monday, June 11, 2012

Thoughts!

I've been working on my birth story. It's already super long and I haven't even gotten to day 2! On one hand, I know that most people won't be interested in reading all the mundane details, like when I laid down on the bed or when I got in the tub or what I was thinking on the way to the birth center. But on the other hand, I want to record everything I can remember, for ME! Although the time was intense and a lot of work, I now consider it to be one of the best memories of my life.

So, stay posted for that!

Brian and I were walking the dog by the lake and trying to calm a fussy Will before bedtime. (It worked... he loves being outside.) I asked him, "Do you think Jesus ever got gassy?"

And then it occurred to me - I bet he did. I bet he got fussy and gassy and pooped on his mom, just like Will. And although I think Will is the most perfect, adorable thing I've ever seen - he's pretty much a little idiot. He hollers and hollers for food, rooting desperately at the pillow underneath his head, even though his food is right in front of his face. In calm times he'll sit with his little tongue hanging out of his mouth and a totally clueless look on his face. He doesn't even seem to recognize me or Brian yet. Of course, he's perfect the way he is and this is how he's supposed to be right now- but he is basically a blob. A pooping, gassy little guy.

And Jesus became that for us. I'm sure he didn't come out of the womb eating modestly and giving wise glances to his parents. I bet he did all the same things every baby does. He was a little, red, hollering idiot. He was the Son of God, holy and powerful and perfectly blessed in the presence of the Lord, and he gave all that up. The idea that he humbled himself and became a man - it's fresh to me now. He didn't immediately become a thirty-year-old teacher and healer. He started out as a drooling little guy with no head control and the same infant rashes that everyone has.

Of course, that was just the beginning of a life of humility. Jesus submitted himself to the will of God, to torment at the hands of his beloved bride, to death on the cross. But he started it all out the way the rest of us have - as a little baby, totally helpless and dumb in the hands of his mother. How amazing.

(Will, about 1 week old)





-Maeg