Lies, Lies, Lies

This is a quote from our favorite parenting book, The Portable Pediatrician:

"At this age [two months], you can rock the baby, or nurse the baby, or give a bottle until the baby is sound asleep, them put him in the crib, and count on a good night's sleep for all."

Lies. Lies, lies, lies.

Last night, Jay was very sick. While he was puking his guts up, sweating through a 102 degree fever, and trying to recover from six weeks without sleep, I was taking care of Jamie. At one point, I slept for 20 straight minutes--on the floor, sans blanket, collapsed on Jamie's Boppy pillow. Twenty straight minutes, and I was grateful for it.

Jamie was almost two weeks old when he came home from the hospital. He ate every three hours and slept peacefully the rest of the time. Everyone was amazed at what a good baby we had.

WHAT HAPPENED?!?!?

Jamie cries practically every second that he isn't attached to another human body--except when he's sleeping (upon another human body who must stay awake to ensure that Jamie doesn't fall off said other human body).

Jamie defies scheduling.
Jamie's bed has to be elevated because of his reflux.
Jamie has to have his bottle at just the right temperature.
Jamie has to be held upright thirty minutes after every feeding.
Jamie has to have his pacifer held in his mouth because sometimes he doesn't want to suck it--he just wants it to lay in his mouth.
Jamie has to have noise in the room (he destests silence).
Jamie has to sleep in the living room with one of us on the couch while the other sleeps in the bedroom with the cat.

If any one of these situations isn't perfectly adequate, he cries. Boy, does he cry.

He drives me crazy. . . except for the fifteen minutes out of every day that he decides to sleep peacefully. When he does that, Jay and I (who are suffering from severe short term memory loss due to sleep deprivation) look at Jamie and declare him to be an angel. We then marvel at how anyone could ever complain about babies; clearly, ours is perfect.

Two Month Check-up

Jamie had his two month check-up yesterday.

He's at a whopping 12 lbs., 13 oz.
His head is 15.5 inches around (that's the 50th percentile).
We don't have an accurate measure of his length; the boy won't sit still.

The doctor says that Jamie is perfectly healthy, with three minor problems: first, we can't get rid of the thrush; second, the tear duct in his left eye is perpetually blocked; third, his constipation is actually anal stenosis. Basically, this means that his opening is too small to allow poop to come out easily. There's no real cure (although the rectal exam he had yesterday will probably help), but it's not anything to be too concerned about. Still, it's troubling to watch Jamie struggle so much.

Jamie got three shots yesterday. Actually, he got four: he wiggled too much the first time.

All in all, Jamie's doing great.

Jamie holding Duckie
Jay

Jamie wearing the traditional Watson gown
Jay

Happy 2 Months!

Jamie is 2 months old today, and boy what a two months it has been. We haven't updated in a while, so here we go. We've been dealing with a lot lately: law school graduation, job searches, graduate school rejection letters, apartment hunting, and, oh yeah, a baby. Jamie is doing well. He's still got a little bit of thrush (just a little) and we've entered the strange and confusing world of constipation -- it's not very fun. On the bright side, Jamie doesn't have any serious health concerns and for the most part he's a very happy baby.

Jamie's top 5 favorite things:

5. Dinner, this boy loves to eat.
4. Sleeping on his Daddy's chest during a Braves game (ok, so it doesn't really have to be during a Braves game, and it doesn't even have to be Daddy's chest)
3. Grabbing a fistful of his momma's hair and listening to her sing a lullaby
2. Lunch, see #5
1. Duckie, his pacifier/stuffed animal duck

Honorable mention: Breakfast. His least favorite things are being changed and sleeping quietly by himself.

Happy 2 Months, Jamie.

And that's why we're joining a nudist colony

We change clothes a lot around here. Jamie makes it through about two outfits a day, but he goes through three bibs and several washcloths during that time. I usually have to change from work clothes to play with Jamie clothes. Jay is constantly wearing a spit-up covered shirt, no matter how often he changes.

Last night, I decided that Jamie simply doesn't need clothes. It's warm, he's not modest, he can be naked. He slept in a diaper. I think that soon the whole family will take a cue from Indie and abandon clothing. It's just not worth it.

Oh, on another note, the thrush has still not cleared up. We're heading to the doctor tomorrow morning.

Voice Recognition Technology

Lately, Jamie has started going four hours between some daytime feedings. That's good and bad--good, of course, because it means less time we spend feeding him; bad, because it means that when he wakes up he is starving and unwilling to tolerate any delay in feeding.

Yesterday evening, I picked Jamie up while Jay went to heat the bottle. Jamie was swinging his head back and forth with his mouth wide open--just hoping that someone would stick a bottle in there. Then he started rooting around on my chest. (I'm not nursing anymore because his thrush has yet to clear up.) He was a very frustrated little boy. Suddenly, Jay walked in the room behind us, saying, "Hold on Jamie." Jamie stopped being frustrated. Then, when Jay walked into Jamie's line of vision, Jamie turned toward him and opened his mouth. Jamie knows who the bottle guy is, and, boy, was he happy to see him.

You always know your baby's cry. . .

Shortly after midnight, while Jay and I were feeding Jamie, I heard what sounded like a meow. I asked Jay if he had seen Indie lately. He responded that he, also, thought the meow had sounded like her. (I hadn't even realized that he had heard it.)

I get up, turn on the balcony light, and there I see Indie, locked outside. I guess we've been a little distracted lately. At least we haven't lost Jamie. . .yet.