Newly Parents | Newlyweds To First Time Parents…and Everything in Between

Six Weeks With Daddy – Day #16 – Worst Spit Up Ever!

// May 4th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Baby

Does it count as sleeping through the night if your baby goes to bed at 8pm and doesn’t wake up until 5am? I think it does. Those night don’t happen very often. He usually needs to eat at least once in the night.

Now while you may think that him sleeping through the night was a good thing, it happened to coincide with the same night I decided to stay up until midnight. So by him sleeping through the night it caused him to wake up about 2 hours earlier than normal and since he was fully rested, he had no desire to go back to sleep after his 5am bottle. You know the old saying, “If the baby ain’t sleeping, nobody is sleeping.” Except for my wife. Since she fell asleep at 9am and the baby didn’t wake up during the night, she too got a full nights rest.

Which brings us to 9am this morning where I was greeted with the worst spit up to date. Not because of the quantity of spit up but because of the after effects. You see, as I was burping him he had his head buried in my shoulder. At the same time he decided he projectile vomit. My shoulder and the burp cloth absorbed plenty but the majority of it bounced back into his face. He was covered in spit up from his forehead to his chin. It was in his eyes, nose and mouth. I would have taken a picture had I not had to clean him up so quickly. Just imagine your kid dunking his head into a bowl of milk. Now triple it.

Now that he is cleaned up and calmed down he is currently fighting his nap. Has he really reached the age where he doesn’t want to nap? He’s only three months old! He’s been playing this game for the last few days. He eventually will nap but not without a fight. I’m trying to teach him to nap where ever I lay him down without me intervening very much. He’s getting better at it and very few times do I have to go and pick him up.

We aren’t the type of parents that can let their kid “cry it out”. There are ways to console a crying baby without “spoiling” him and without just leaving him by himself to cry himself to sleep. Besides, as fast as they grow up and change, we feel like we are missing out on things if he just cries it out.

Like today for instance, during his little fussy bits I got to sit with him by his swing and bounce the swing up and down. I get to console him and be close but he also has to work things out for himself. But in between his fussy spells he would just stare at me and I would smile at him and he would give me a coy little smile in return. I would have never got to see that if I had left him alone in his room. You can’t get those moments back so why set yourself up to miss them?

During his nap I’m working on cleaning out the laundry room. We are getting our new washer and dryer tomorrow so I’m doing the last load of laundry today so I can take the old washer and dryer out. I never thought I would be this excited about laundry!

Call me Mr. Mom! Except I still suck at cooking. I’m getting pretty decent at laundry and cleaning though.

Six Weeks With Daddy – Day #1

// April 19th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Baby

As my wife returns to work today after 8 weeks at home with our little one so begins my paternity leave and my six weeks to stay home with our son.

I must admit that I feel a little bit like I got the better end of the deal. We spent the first eight weeks figuring things out (formulas, calming techniques, what cries meant what, sleepless nights, etc). While I was at work she had to deal with the majority of it herself. Fast forward two months and we are pretty much a well oiled machine with very few problems.

Take this morning for instance. Our rule is that whoever has to work the next day takes any feedings before 3am. The person that doesn’t have to work takes all feedings after that. Last night he woke up at midnight, which mommy fed him, and he hasn’t woken up at all during my shift.

As a matter of fact, the only to time I woke up was 15 minutes ago when my wife woke me up to say 1) she’s leaving for work and she loves me and 2)how much I suck for getting to sleep in with the baby since she never got to sleep past 6am. Ever.

I tried explaining to her that it’s a complex father/son bond at work here. It has nothing to do with the fact that we spent the first 8 weeks ironing out the kinks but rather the unbreakable bond that a boy shares with his father.

Now watch him torment me for the next 8 hours until she gets off work. As a matter of fact, he is starting right now. I can hear him grunting, farting and ultimately pooping as we speak.

First item on the Daddy To-Do list: Train son to only poop after 5pm when Mom gets home.

It’s going to be a great six weeks home with my boy!

UPDATES

::730am:: Not only was it a poopy diaper, but in the middle of changing him he decided he wasn’t done and demonstarted his projectile pooping skills. Daddy was not impressed.

::9am:: Forgot to give him his medicine before he fell asleep. You try giving some peppermint flavored medicine to a sleepy baby. The first half went in alright despite a “this tastes gross” face. The second half he refused to open his mouth and so when I thought I had it in there I gave it a squirt and it ended up all over his chin. Fail.

::940am:: I’m starting to see arms and legs wiggling in the swing. Something tells me nap time is almost over. Seems like I should have accomplished than eating a bowl of cereal, brushing my teeth and shaving. Time management Daddy. Time management.

::11am:: Up and dressed for the day. Having a bottle and then heading out for lunch with Gpa!

::1245pm:: Back from lunch at Burger King. He slept the whole time! Then we stopped at the bank to show him off to the bank tellers. Now were back home drinking another bottle and trying to suck boogies out of his nose. I managed to get a boogie stuck in the aspirator and now I have to figure out how to clean this sucker out. Gross!

::130pm:: Just changed poopy diaper #2 today. Lets just say if I make a sandwich later I will not be having mustard on it.

::230pm::  He’s sitting here watching TV while sitting in his swing and he is fighting his sleep. He’ll watch the TV and very slowly close his eyes for a minute or so and then slowly open them back up just to repeat the process a few minutes later. It looks like he’s out for a while now. This is a good time for me to call about all the hospital bills from the delivery. I wish insurance didn’t take 2-3 months (or longer) to process charges. It would have been nice if I could have just swiped my card on the way out of the hospital and paid for my portion of the bill. Now I can’t remember what all these charges are for!

::530pm:: After a couple more diaper changes, two bottles and a nap, Mommy is home and Daddy is off duty. The first day of Six Weeks w/ Daddy couldn’t have gone better. We talked, smiled, got out of the house, napped, took a brief walk outside and read a book. On tommorows agenda is getting the brakes done on Mommy’s car. Baby’s first trip to the garage! Yay!

Life’s a Beach…

// March 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // Baby

Last night I had a wonderful dream that I was on the beach playing in the ocean.

At 4am I woke up and realized that my baby son’s sound machine was playing the soothing sounds of ocean waves and birds.

He started crying and then I got up and made a bottle.

Shortest vacation ever.

Working At The Car Wash…

// February 27th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // Baby

This week baby had his two week check up with his doctor. We are happy to report that he’s a happy healthy baby and has gained almost a pound since his 4 day visit so he is up to 7lbs 7oz and 19.5 inches long. Coincidently, the exact same as his daddy was when he was born. We thought we had it timed perfectly for the visit. He just finished eating about 30 minutes before we left the house so we had a easy 2-3 hour window before he got fussy again. We also changed his diaper right before leaving to ensure a clean baby for the doctor.

One of the first things they do at the pediatricians office is have you strip your baby down so they can weigh him. As I was taking off his clothes I got a faint whiff of something foul. It seems during our 15 minute wait in the waiting room he decided that was a good time to fill his diaper up with poo. So we not only had the pleasure of changing his poopy diaper in the doctors office, but as we were wiping his butt he decided he wasn’t done pooping. So we had to sit and wait for another 3-4 minutes while he continued to poop. I’m sure the nurses there have seen everything. It just goes to show that when you have a baby, no matter how much you plan things out, things will never go according to your plan. He’s a very good baby though and rarely fusses unless he is hungry or wants to be change. Other than that he either stares around the room or sleeps quietly.

After the doctor visit we stopped by the car wash to wash the last two weeks of snow and grime off the car. He was particularly content inside the automatic car wash. After a moment, Mommy came to a realization.

“No wonder he likes this. The car wash sounds a lot like the womb.” she said.

As I listened I realized she was right. Curled up tight in his car seat with his cozy cover over him and the heat blasting it reminded him of his old home where he stayed for nine months. I’ve been to the car wash a thousand times and I never thought about the sound. It’s funny the connections you make as a parent.

Take a listen to the below video to see if you can hear some of the womb sounds.

Next time he gets fussy I’m putting him in the car seat and heading to the car wash. Sleeping baby and a clean car. Double win!

Things We’ve Learned About Parenthood…So Far

// February 16th, 2010 // 3 Comments » // Baby

Since having our baby boy and bringing him home, there are several things we quickly learned about babies and being parents:

1 ) When burping baby, it’s not wise to hold him close to your face and have your mouth slightly open…unless you want a mouthful of spit up.

2 ) Babies poop for a while. So if you notice he is pooping it’s best to give him another 30 minutes before changing him. Otherwise you will be standing at the changing table with a naked baby and watching him finish his pooping before you put the new diaper on.

3 ) Make sure baby is done pooping. He may surprise you when you are wiping his butt and poop in your hand.

4 ) When you get baby poop on your finger, it’s no big deal. It wipes off.

5 ) He only pees on you if your name is Mommy.

6 ) When babies stretch, they fart. Babies stretch and fart a lot.

7 ) It doesn’t matter what kind of bottles you use. Babies are designed to burp, spit up and hiccup.

8 ) When you put a special outfit on him, he will pee on it within the first 5 minutes and you will have to change him.

9 ) For the first week or so, you will leap out of bed at baby’s every sound before you start to learn what each sound means.

10 ) At about the 3rd middle of the night feeding you will find yourself sitting in the most uncomfortable positions just so you don’t fall asleep while feeding him.

We will add to this list as time goes on. I have a funny feeling there is a lot more to learn!

If you have your own life’s lessons, please share them in the comments.