Sleeping, Love Train and Down The Drain

Sleeping is one of the general areas of life that isn't going so well right now.

It seems you have - over the past couple of days - developed a 100% aversion to sleeping in your bassinet, the cradle or even your Little Lamb Swing for more than 10 minutes. This means, in short, that you must be held to sleep. This means, in shorter, that the adults in the house- and even the dogs, for some reason- are all sleep deprived.

Now, it's not that you have any difficulty sleeping when you're on somebody. In fact, this type of sleep seems to make everyone in the whole house very happy, because everyone can catch some shut eye. And when I say everyone, I mean everyone. In fact, this sleep parade actually takes on some pretty dern' cute forms sometimes.

This one is called "The Love Train":

And a close up of the "Love Train" reveals the "Baby Butt Pillow" formation:

But nighttime, in-the-crib sleeping is still lacking. So, your Mom put out an SOS APB ASAP yesterday to all the Moms she knows and got some helpful advice that seemed to work marginally better for last night's sleep. Each night is a bit better than the one before it, and we're open to trying new tricks. So, we haven't given up all hope of sleeping going down the drain.

Speaking of down the drain (nice segue, right?), an oft-mentioned trick to get baby to sleep is to give him a soothing bath before bedtime. Up until your one-month-iversary, we couldn't give you a soothing bath...only a complicated sponge bath thing, because your umbilical cord stump hadn't fallen off yet.

But, when the cord went out the window (figuratively), we decided we could finally give you a big boy bath. And despite an auspicious start and some early crying...

...the warm water, and your Mom's bathing techniques slowly made you a little less wary...

And finally comfortable!

So by the time we were ready to dry you off, you were fully in happy land!

Well, maybe that's not the exact face of "happy land," but it's definitely "not crying land," so I'll take it!

Oh, and this whole soothing bath thing totally did NOT help you sleep any better on Sunday night. But, at least you're clean now, from head to toe!

We'll try the soothing bath in conjunction with our new night time tricks soon and see if we can't get you sleeping a bit more comfortably, so that not everyone's sleep will be slowly spinning down the drain!

Celebrate: One Month Old!

You turned ONE MONTH OLD on Saturday.

Your mother and I cannot believe how fast time is flying, and how much you're growing (even though when we took you to Kohl's with us people kept asking us if you were just a few days old, so I guess to them, you still look small.)

But, forget those people! We know how old you are, and how much you've grown in the past 4 weeks!

To cap off a wonderful month-birthday day, you celebrated by surprising your Mom and Me!

Just as your Mom was feeding you before bedtime, she told me that your Umbilical Cord Stump had fallen off!

Yes! Score! Finally!

We were just looking at the black, crusty thanger about 10 minutes before, marveling at its tenacity and bemoaning the fact that it seemed to be hanging on for the long haul, like a barnacle stuck on a steamship.

Say Goodbye to the little Umbilical Cord Stump!

(7 days old. Photo by Stacy Bratton)

But, alas, your Mom felt your tummy and the stump was gone.

However, a brief mystery presented itself: the stump, itself, was MISSING.

Your Mom had an instant theory, which she presented to me at the same time she told me that your Umbilical Cord fell off:

"Aidan's umbilical cord stump fell off...and I think Preston ate it."

GROSS. But, considering he and Toby come running when they hear your Mother and me clipping our fingernails (and do a good job of cleaning up after us), it hardly came as a surprise to me that our little friend might have eaten the evidence.

"I didn't see no umbilical cord..."

How could we live with ourselves with an umbilical-eating dog? Well, we didn't have to suffer that fate for too long.

When your Mom stood up to take you to bed, the umbilical cord stump was sitting there on the couch in all of its disgusting glory. The dogs weren't even interested in it!

Also to celebrate your one month-iversary, you have decided to start losing your baby hair. As a result, you look a bit like you're wearing a bald cap or losing your hair in a pronounced way. It almost looks like you're sporting the "Captain Picard."

But, don't worry, it will all grow back in soon enough!

So, you lost some hair, you lost an umbilical cord but you gained a calendar month on this little dance called 'life.' And your Dog did NOT eat ANY of your body parts! Not bad for a weekend's work!

Social Security

Hey old man! In two days you are going to One month old! Can you believe it?



Well, you're not exactly the old man around here. Your old man is actually the one acting like an old man.

Fatherhood is an amazing experience, and I figured I'd be tired (which I am), and sappy (which I am) and frustrated (which I sometimes am), but I never figured I'd be immobilized.

But that's exactly what happened. On Sunday I somehow threw my back out while- I think- moving you and your car seat. I think I just turned the wrong way and torqued it and by Sunday afternoon, I could hardly move! Days of icy hot, frozen vegetables, hot packs, medicine and complaining later, and I'm still kind of nursing a bad back, but I think it's a lot better. Considering on Sunday that I couldn't even get up from the couch while holding you (because I had to slither off), and now I feel like I could even do a few jumping jacks (not while holding you, of course). But, jeez, nothing like a bad walk to make you feel feeble.

Before the Back Pain (and after too, I promise!)

And your Mom has had her feeble moments too. No, her back is fine, but she hasn't quite figured out how to take a shower when it's just the two of us, so I think she beat my record and went 4 days without showering! But, I think we may have worked out a system: call Aunt Sham or Mimi to come over or wait til Aaron's home and then take a shower.

Family Naps heal what ails you.

Between your Mom's dirty-ness and my aching back (which hurts when I sneeze, by the way!), your Mom and I suddenly feel like we need to start cashing in our Social Security Checks.

Speaking of Social Security, you're official, my good man! Take a look:

Your Social Security Card came in, which means...well, I'm not sure exactly what it means...but you now have a 9-digit number that identifies you! Your Mom and I collectively have the number memorized, but we need to work on individual memorization, because, well, that's what parents do. Your Pops knows ALL of his kids' social security numbers by heart. With just a few more days' practice, I'm sure we'll get it!


I do think it's funny how the SS card wants your signature...right now your signature is a combination of farting, pooping, crying and vomiting. I don't think they want that on their card. And if they did, maybe they wouldn't prohibit us from laminating it...

Old Faithful

Your Uncle Joe recently asked us what we did for St. Patrick's day.

I told him that your Mom and I did nothing, but that you celebrated by wearing green, peeing and pooping yourself and throwing up a lot, since that seemed to be how most people celebrate the day.

(that's funny on several levels, trust me)

But, it's the truth: you don't toss your cookies a lot, but when you do, you do it with style.

The first time I saw Old Faithful in action was before that fateful night where my t-shirt received a milk-white racing stripe. A few days before, it was my first solo effort at dressing you.

I picked out the cutest little cowboy outfit in the world, and I proceeded to spend the next 10 minutes or so getting it on you. This outfit, like most baby clothes, was terribly complicated and had more snaps than a Beatnick poetry reading (also funny, trust me). But, I finally got you all snapped and situated and dressed.

And then you started hiccupping. And then those hiccups started getting a little bass in their register and before I knew it, you'd rolled your head to the side and puked all over yourself...the shoulder, the sleeve, the shirt, everything had a fresh not-so-fresh milk coating.

But that was okay! Luckily, I picked you up and was about to start undressing and redressing you when the hiccups started again. You were laying in my arms, face up toward the sky.

Almost as if it were in slow motion, I saw you spew an impressive amount of vomit high into the sky. My catlike reflexes told me to do so, and so I quickly pulled you out of the way of the Coconut Rain that was about to splatter back in your face. With a KERSPLAT your lunch landed on the changing table, but missed you completely. (but that didn't really matter, since I had to change you anyway!)

I've never been to Yellowstone, but I have a feeling I've seen Old Faithful already.

Don't think that your Mom is immune to the Geyser either! Let's just say that as I was about to leave for work last week, I put a pacifier in your mouth (to hopefully get your mom a few more minutes of sleep), and you shot that pacifier out like a vomit-propelled bullet.

And this morning, as I was leaving for work, she was feeding you in our bed, you disconnected and ERPPP! Now we have to wash the sheets again. Clearly you have an averse reaction to me leaving.

Or maybe your little, growing tummy sometimes gets a little too full!

Either way, though, don't worry- you're still growing and gaining weight, so the food your losing with these powerful displays isn't much needed.

And, don't worry about us, either- like I said before, it's never been such a pleasure to be thrown up on!

So, keep it up son! But, honestly, it wouldn't hurt if you tried to keep some of it down as well!

A Shirt Thing

We've been having a blast getting to know you better and trying to learn what you want and when you want it. We even tried giving your Nanneh the night off last night, after all, she's not gonna live with us forever, and your Mom and I are going to have to work out a system to feed you and sleep at the same time.

It actually worked pretty well. Your Mom has perfected something that neither Nanneh nor I have managed to do yet: she laid you down in your bassinet and you stayed asleep! That was key to the night working. But, you were still up for food every two hours, so the night was a little rough for all of us.

Also, you and I seem to have a shirt thing going on.

First of all, today is St. Patty's day so, us both being pretty green gung-ho, we both wore green shirts (you wore a whole green outfit). This really isn't a coincidence: I picked out your outfit!

As you can see, you took the news pretty hard that we're not Irish. Once they told me, I didn't react to well either:

But, that's okay. At least we look good in Green!

On to our next shirt adventure! The other day when I was working at home and holding you, I noted that your legs were cold. So, being a super genius, I slipped you into my sweatshirt, and there you stayed, snug as a bug in a rug (I hate that saying, but use it anyway). This is gonna be our new thing: since that day, you've hung out in my sweatshirt another time and even took a nap on my chest in the sweatshirt too!



For the record, that is the same sweatshirt that your mother graced with her lunch on the way back from Maine. Don't worry, we washed it.

But speaking of gracing one with their lunch, that brings us to our last shirt-venture for the day. A few nights ago after your Mom had just fed you a delightful dinner consisting of breast milk with a side of breast milk, you were just chilling on my chest, and I was patting and rubbing your back. Then, without warning, BARFFFFFFFFFFFFFF

I was momentarily taken aback, but kept my cool. I called for your Nanneh to come help.

Just as she arrived: BARFFFFFFFFFFFFF

Double barfsies all over Daddy's shirt! Totally awesome! Seeing as how you were face down on my chest when this happened, you yourself were covered: you had milk in your eyes and hair and face. But you weren't too upset.

Neither was I, to tell you the truth.

Here are the steps to clean up from such a mess:

1) Have Nanneh and Mommy take you and clean you up

2) Take 2 pictures of yourself doing thumbs up with throw up all over yourself (for the record)




3) Take a shower with shirt still on, cleaning you and shirt.

4) Dry off

5) Continue holding Aidan now that he's all cleaned up.


But don't worry, for the massive amount of throw up that you created on my shirt, you haven't lost a single pound.

In fact, your Mommy and Nanneh took you to the Doctor today and she weighed you: You're now up to 8 POUNDS! Dr. Accordino said you're gaining 1 ounce a day! That's something to be proud of...if you're a baby.

But if that were me making that kind of progress, soon enough I wouldn't be able to fit into any of my shirts at all!

Oh, and here's a nice and completely unrelated picture of you and your Mommy hanging around outside! The weather's getting nicer and nicer, so expect more of this!

Homecoming: Gains and Losses

I can't believe you're over two weeks old! (Happy two week birthday yesterday, buddy!)

You've been home now for 12 whole days, and it feels like you've been here forever! You belong here, and you're at home here.

It's been an interesting, fun and -sometimes- messy journey now that you're home. And we're learning a lot about eachother. And you've had quite a few milestones!

• You can finally wear the cute non-hospital clothes we have for you!
• You've sufficiently scared the dogs so that they have to huddle together for comfort
• And you've sufficiently piqued their interest...I'd say we're on the road to you guys being fast friends (you'll definitely be friends once you start feeding them crumbs!)
• You've earned your reputation as a "Master Blaster" and a "Sneaky Pee-er," having peed on (in no particular order), me, the wall, the dresser, the clean dishes (don't ask about that one...it was Three Stooges moment on my, your Mom's and your Nanneh's part). And you've blasted on a very white, very clean photography set!

• You get to spend tons of time loving on your Nanneh, since she's staying with us and helping us stay sane! And you get to see Baba and Mimi and Pops when they visit often too!
  

• You've had your first bath which started out pretty well, but then seemingly took a turn for the worse (did you not like bath time?)
• You've grown so much! And gained weight! When you left the hospital your weight was on the rebound, but you still weren't back up to your birth weight. At a Doctor's appointment last Wednesday, you had already surpassed your birthweight and clocked in at 7 lbs, 11 ounces! (The doctor said that this kind of weight gain is almost unheard of! She was very proud of you!) And you're 21 inches tall!
• And we got to examine your cute cute cute feet in great detail.

• And, on top of it all, the best news is what you've lost! As of Friday night, the scab on the back of your head (from where your noggin was pushing up against your Momma's pelvis), and your Plastibell (the ring around your circumcision) both fell off! Now all we're waiting for is for the Umbilical Cord stump to say bye bye!

We love having you at home, and it's easy to say that we're in love. We love going on walks with you, and changing your diaper, and burping you and playing with and -even though it's a little painful- staying up late at night with you when you don't want to sleep (and seem determined to not let us sleep either!)

Even yesterday, after about 20 minutes of trying, I got you in this super cute outfit and you immediately threw up all over it. Did I care? No way! C'est la vie when you're a baby! I've never been so appreciative to be thrown up on, peed on, pooped on, kept awake and scratched with teeny tiny nails. No matter these little hiccups (it is , by the way, very cute when you hiccup!), we couldn't love you any more! Last night you fell asleep on my chest, cooing. It melted my heart (not literally, of course).

Nothing sums it up better than the first night that we got home. We were sleep deprived, groggy, I had some sort of bed bug bites all over my body from the hospital cots, your Mom was sore all over. We had just started to doze off in bed and I hear your Mom gently crying.

I turn on the light and lean over to ask her what's wrong.

"Nothing," she says. "I just love him so much!"

And that's the long and short of it, buddy! There's no amount of late nights, poop, pee or the like that will take that feeling away.

Welcome home.

Hospital(ity): Photo Parade

We stayed at the hospital from wee hours of the morning on your birthday on the 27 of February, all the way to the afternoon of Wednesday March 3, 2010!

But hospitals aren't all that bad. We actually had a lot of fun, besides your Mom recovering from labor and major abdominal surgery and kinda being in a little pain. But, she did have an unlimited supply of Swiss Miss Vanilla Pudding, so that's something!!

In fact, I even was able to reward her every time she got out of bed (which she had to do to begin the healing) by offering her TWO vanilla puddings!

Believe it or not, there was more fun to be had at Presbyterian Hospital than just pudding!

• You had a hearing test and passed with flying colors! 100% in each ear (the technician's first pass all day!)
  
• You had a circumcision (okay, maybe that wasn't too much fun for you)
• I learned from multiple nurses how to swaddle and do diapers
• We got a crash course on bathing you
• I got to sleep on bed-bug ridden cots! (which were a step up from the cot I traded in (that one looked like it had been used as a Gladiator's shield and then submerged in the Mystic River)
• You did cute things!
• You learned how to breast feed, and your mother learned how to nurse (pictures will not be posted...but believe me, there are some beautiful pictures that I may show at your Graduation or Wedding)
  
• You got to spend skin on skin time with Mommy and Daddy (pictures will be shown of this one, but any viewers are warned that there is gratuitous man nipple)
  
  
  
• You got jaundiced and unjaundiced
• You lost 7% of your birth weight, and then in one day gained back 4% (and an additional 2 ounces gained back the next day)
• You got to cuddle and snuggle with your Mommy and Daddy!
• I got to take tons of pictures of your cute little face and hands and feet
• We had visitors, visitors, Visitors! (and some brought food! and flowers! and food! and friendship (and food!))
• We got to eat really good hospital food (no joke-- Presby food was really good! I'm craving their cream of Enchilada soup right now! Now, I don't know how one creams an enchilada, but the result is magical)
• We got to smoke bubblegum cigars that your Godfather brought!
• You learned how to cry and smile a little
• Family, Family, Family!
  
  
  
  
• I almost locked my car keys in the trunk of the car (just before delivery!)
• I almost couldn't find my wallet when it came time to settle the bill
• Your Mom got to ride in a wheel chair
• We sang to you and listened to music and read to you
• You Developed your "stink eye" look
• Your Mom got better and better and could finally walk all the way around the hospital floor
  
• You got to wear this Baby Lo-Jack device that would send out a warning if you came near the elevators (and when they discharged you, they clipped the device off and the Alarms started Blazing!!! (they forgot to take you out of the computer!)
• Nurses slipped me extra trays of food!
• Free diapers and wipes!
  

Your Mom and I really liked being in the hospital. Being new Parents was incredible easy (when you have a staff of nurses and doctors 24 hours a day to help you).

But, now that we've had you at home for a full week now, despite all the fun, and the visitors, and the good camera lighting, and the ease of parenting and the Swiss Miss Pudding, the best part of being in the hospital, was bringing you home!