Eamon vs. Sleep

For most of his life, Eamon has tried his very best to take in all he can. He is generally a happy baby and cries only when there is a problem (dirty diaper, hungry, lonely). Unfortunately for us, he also decided that 1-5 am was a GREAT time to do much of his observation. Kate and I have tried numerous techniques to get him on a schedule, and it has finally paid off. Little Man has slept pretty well over the past week, usually from 8 or 9 pm to 6 am with one feeding around 2-3 am. This is good news for us, since Kate had to return to work on Tuesday, and we were worried that both of us would be walking zombies at work.

I don't know what this portends, but I do know that both Kate and I were pretty difficult babies, and Eamon is not. This may have something to do with Kate's lack of allergen consumption, or Karma is really cool. Does that mean that the next one will be challenging, or that Eamon will get more difficult as he gets older? Time will tell.

He is much more alert now, and gives a wide range of facial expressions. A couple of nights ago, he gave me the "people's eyebrow!" He isn't quite sure what to make of bath time, but he LOVES having his diaper changed. Every time, he flashes a smile. This is good news. I am glad my child will not be happy wallowing in his own mess.

We had our first non-adult visitor over the weekend, as our friends Beth and Jeff came over for dinner Saturday night with their 14 month old daughter Samantha. Things went well, but I think Sam was more interested in Nesta than Eamon. Another instance of the adage, "you can't compete against animals."

No, Seriously, He Smiles

We present, as evidence of the smiling thing, this video. Ignore the fact that I sound like an idiot trying to get him to do it.

As further proof, he had just pooped and peed, had finished eating and wasn't sleepy. He wasn't gassy, either, just kind of lying there staring at things when I started talking to him and he started smiling back.

Our Village

About two weeks after Eamon was born, I was going crazy with being stuck in the house. Aaron and I bundled up our little bundle of joy and went "out for lunch," which means that we went to Fuddruckers at about 3 PM and ordered our hamburgers to go. There was NO ONE there, except the staff.

While we were waiting for our food, the manager came out and sat down at a table to eat. It turned out that she was also pregnant--and due in a week. She was excited to see our little one, though kind enough not to try to touch him since I am a little paranoid about strangers or excessive amounts of people touching him before he gets his shots (people at school keep asking me when I'm going to bring him in...like I would really take him to an elementary school during cold and flu season).

The manager was actually due the following week. She was having a little boy as well, and asked us some questions about how we were handling him. When Aaron went to get our food and put together his hamburger, she told me how lucky I was that I had him (of course I know this already). The father was not in her life, so she was going to be doing the single mother thing. Not only that, but she didn't really have much family around here, and wasn't sure what she was going to do about babysitting since she works at a restaurant and has crazy hours. Lastly, she only had about 4 weeks of vacation time saved up.

This being Eamon's fourth week of life, I find myself thinking about this woman very often. How on earth is she doing to do it? I had my husband home for the first 3 weeks before I had to go it alone. Today, when Eamon went through his second night of not sleeping (he's fine...he just got overtired and then gassy and then stubborn because he wanted to be held all night), I texted my mother about 5:30 AM and asked if she could PLEASE babysit for a few hours so that I could get some sleep, and she was over here by 6:15. Eamon's other grandparents (Aaron's parents), his Oma and Opa, have also been so kind and generous. They completely did his nursery and helped us get some things were were still missing before he was born (like the swing...thank GOD for the swing), and have already been down twice to offer their support and spend time with their grandson (again, taking care of him so that Aaron and I could get some sleep).

It's not just those who help to take care of Eamon, either. Aaron's job was nice enough to let him take an extra week (he only had 2 weeks of vacation) off. At school, my fourth grade team has been invaluable at keeping me in the loop and making sure that my sub stays more or less on track with my kids. Friends have stopped by to see the little guy, or bring me lunch, or go with me to get our hair done so that I don't go completely insane from lack of contact with the outside world. We didn;t have to buy hardly anything for Eamon ourselves because our wonderful friends provided so much (and Julie even came from Massachusetts to organize it all!).

I don't know how single mothers do it. I have SO much respect and admiration for them. I know that we're extremely lucky to have so many wonderful people in our lives. I know it's possible to raise a baby completely on your own, but I'm so glad that Aaron and I have managed to cobble together a great little village to help us out. You are all very loved.

Eamon and Sally (coworker and friend from school)

Eamon and Charmaine (friend and coworker from school)

Eamon and his grandparents on both sides

Progress Report--4 Weeks In

1. Eamon is still very cute.

2. Eamon is still learning to spend more time sleeping through the night. He is still very awake from 1 AM- 5AM, though sometimes he varies the hours slightly for kicks. He generally finally falls over for about 3-4 hours at 5AM, which is nice for now since it lets me sleep, but will be more difficult once I go back to work and will have to be at school by 8 AM.

3. Eamon is vocalizing. A lot. The little guys has opinions and things to share. He has anecdotes and personal philosophies that need expounding. So far, most of his side of the conversation is along the lines of, "Eh, eh, eh..." but he looks at you when he does it, and will often wait for you to talk in response.

4. Eamon is a sleep-traveler. No one is quite sure how a fully-swaddled baby manages to make a 45 degree turn while sleeping. Needless to say, we had to take the bumper off his crib already because he keeps ending up in strange places when he sleeps.

5. Eamon is (we think) starting to social smile. It's a little early, but not unheard of. There are times when he's not gassy, or hungry, or anything really, just kind of happy, and when you talk to him, he stares at you and gives a smile back. Aaron says he even laughed a little the other day while he (Aaron) was talking and making funny faces. Just so you know that it's not just us biased parents who think this, both sets of grandparents have also confirmed our smile theory--and you know how objective grandparents are.

Mister Independence (Sort Of)

Eamon will now sleep! Without being held! It's a miracle! Since Aaron had to go back to work this week, he and I have been working on this diligently for the past few days because it is suddenly impossible for someone to hold our child 24 hours a day like we did the first two weeks. Eamon, for his part, thought this was a terrible idea at first, but is starting (slowly) to adjust. Right now, he has been asleep in his swing for an hour, allowing Mommy to do things like take out the trash, post new pics on Facebook, do some laundry, and update this blog (it's amazing how much you can get done when you know you only have a limited amount of time).

Having Aaron go back to work has been somewhat challenging. He got to stay home for 3 weeks, which I know is more than most men get, and it was truly a blessing. I can honestly say that Eamon prefers neither Mommy nor Daddy, but is happy to spend time with either of us. I think that pumping breast milk and having Aaron feed it to Eamon in bottles from the hours of 7PM-1AM (so that I can get some sleep) has really helped with this bonding, making Eamon neither a Momma's nor a Daddy's boy, but simpy a kid who really likes both his parents (right now at least; we'll see what happens when he's 15).

BUT, yesterday was our first day by ourselves, and I think that it went rather well. Eamon slept from 5AM-9AM, letting me get some sleep (of course, he's WIDE AWAKE every morning from 1AM-5AM, so that's not very good). We got up, I fed him, pumped a little, and then packed everything up to go to my parents (this was significant, since it was the first time I had gone anywhere with just me and the baby, and no Aaron to remind me how the carseat works). We got there and unloaded everything, and then my mom and I went out shopping so that I could get a pair of pants that fits and doesn't have an elastic waistband (all my old clothes are still too small, but my maternity clothes are getting too big, so I'm left basically with my flannel pajama pants to wear). Grandpa (my father) babysat, which caused me a little nervousness, because what if my usually good-natured child (except for 1AM-5AM, when he is a screaming, unhappy mess) suddenly decided to behave like a little demon?

My fears were for naught, however, because Eamon was wonderful for his grandpa. He slept for awhile in my parents' Pack n' Play, woke up at exactly the right time to eat the bottle that I left with Grandpa, got his diaper changed, and promptly fell right back asleep. By that time, we were back from our shopping excursion (I admit--I was a little anxious and so shopped rather quickly and scarfed down my lunch at Red Robin and then sat there and stared at my mother until she decided she was finished too so that we could go).

When we got back home, Eamon ate and then took another 2 hour nap, allowing me to clean out the fridge, take out the trash (it had really piled up in the last 3 weeks), do some laundry, vacuum the upstairs, and scrub my bathtub. I felt tremendously triumphant, and tried not to think about all the household chores that were still left to be done. I read somewhere that after having a baby, you should make "I Did" lists rather than "To Do" lists so that you feel better about yourself, and I'm really trying to take that philosophy to heart.

Then Aaron came home, and he gave Eamon his bath while I made dinner, I scarfed down the tacos (I guess this is how you take off the maternity weight--don't have time to eat), and then went to bed leaving Daddy and Eamon to their nighttime bonding. All in all, it was a good day.

And for those of you who haven't met or are missing our little one, here's a video of him not really doing anything except being exceptionally cute and trying to eat my finger at one point.

Whose Baby Is It?

For reasons I've never been able to discern, as soon as a baby exits the womb, people always play the "Who Does the Baby Look Like?" game. I always thought this game was silly, because babies generally look like babies, and then I had a baby and found myself thinking, "My, my, that part looks like..."


So, after 3 weeks of study, here are the general conclusions about the various bits of the baby and whom they resemble:


Eyes: They're blue, so obviously they came from Aaron, not me. The eyes are also the same shape as Aaron's, and they have the same bags underneath them.


Mouth: Aaron's (I'm not exactly sure why, but that's what everyone says)


Ears: Aaron's. They look almost elven from a certain angle.


Feet: Aaron's. They are huge.


Nose: Jury is still out. It doesn't really look like either of our noses.


Head: Aaron's--not super-huge like mine was as a baby.


Hair: Could be either. He was born with a head of black hair, but so were both Aaron and myself. Aaron's all fell out and grew back in blond; mine stayed in and gradually turned blond. So it all just depends on what happens with the hair now. So far, he hasn't lost any, but we'll see.


Tongue: Mine! The frenulum (bit that connects the tongue to the bottom of the mouth) is just a tad too far forward, just like mine. This means that he will never be able to curl his tongue, either, just like mommy can't. The only thing I can really claim on this child, and it's his tongue. Sigh.


Anyway, it's obvious that he is his daddy's boy, through and through. Thank goodness that I gave birth to him so that I know that he's part mine, too. As for personality, I guess we'll have to wait a little while to see whether he's more like his daring, risk-taking father or his cautious, shy mother.

Eamon's First Fortnight

Eamon had his two week check up on Tuesday, weighing in at 9 lbs, .06 oz and measuring 21. 75 in. That means he's gained his birth weight back, which is desirable. That he would reach this benchmark was never in question. My boy can eat.

The over-arching theme of the past 14 days has, of course, feeding Eamon. It is one of the 3 things that one actually does with infants (changing and cuddling being the other 2 - and he gets plenty of all 3). After a slow start, we have gotten into the swing of things. Eamon is a healthy, if not speedy, eater. His propensity for taking his time while eating caused Kate to get little sleep, as he would eat every two hours, but take an hour to eat. At this point, however, he eats about every 2-3 hours during the day and is going 4 hours between feedings at night. We started him on the bottle on Friday, primarily so Kate could get some sleep. I take the night shift.

The bottle is cool because now I am actually involoved with my child's nourishment. There's only so much bonding you can get from holding a sleeping child or changing dirty diapers. He makes all sorts of cool noises while eating, and has the best facial expressions. It's just not the same.

There is much to be said, however, about sleeping infants. My favorite is the "victory" pose...

But there is also the "dead outlaw" that I enjoy as well...

All that being said, he is awake some of the time...