Great Night!

I was expecting a good night, but Kyle exceeded my expectations...he slept from 9:30 to 4:30...7 hours!! And then, he even fell back asleep from 5-8 this morning as a bonus. If only I could stop my milk production during these long stretches! So there's a definite, direct correlation between his sleep at night and his eat/sleep pattern during the day. When he sleeps a lot during the day and doesn't eat as often, he does NOT sleep well at night. When he's awake most of the day, eating frequently, he sleeps very well at night. This certainly makes sense, but I thought there was no rhyme or reason to newborns' eat/sleep habits. We need to have Grammy come over more often to keep Kyle entertained and awake during the day!

And I should note that Kyle has been in the same outfit for almost 24 hrs, meaning he hasn't wet/pooped through it yet (I'm sure I just jinxed myself). So sometimes things just go right...I should probably run out and buy a lottery ticket today, right?!

Kyle's Visit with Cute Aunt Ca

Kyle was treated yesterday to a visit from his "if you think I'm cute, you should see my aunt" Aunt Ca! Ca came bearing delicious Mexican food, a pumpkin and mum for our front steps, and a HUGE rubbermaid container full of hand-me-down clothes from cousin Alex! It was like Christmas in October! Kyle slept for the first couple hours of her visit (a rare 5 hr day nap!), and then later had a nice long 3 hr nap on Aunt Ca's chest. They definitely had some quality nephew/aunt bonding. Kyle also had his first real bath last night (now that his umbilical stump fell off), with Aunt Ca coaching us on the finer points of bathing an infant. I can't say he enjoyed his bath, but he also didn't seem to mind it too much. We had the heat cranked up, so that probably helped keep him relatively content.

We knew that all his sleeping during the day didn't bode well for our night. And it definitely was a rough one! Kyle wanted to nurse constantly from about 9-1am, and I had a HORRIBLE headache which made this very difficult. But we made it through. And Kyle was up most of the day today visiting with his Grammy, so we're expecting a good sleeping night tonight (I know...I'm supposed to have LOW expectations).

Kyle and I have nothing on the calendar tomorrow, so we're thinking our big activity could be taking our first walk together through the neighborhood. It's supposed to be 70F, so it should be a good day to test drive the stroller and get some fresh air.

It Figures...

Last night was the first night I had the green light to let Kyle sleep for as long as he wanted, with no guilt that I should wake him up to eat. So how do you think he slept? He slept like a typical newborn (which he is, so I'll cut him some slack)...not for more than 3 hrs at a time. He fell asleep on me from about 8-10pm, so that shortened his nightly feeding frenzy which probably made him get hungrier again sooner in the night. Oh well, maybe tonight I'll have that uninterrupted, guilt-free 6 hrs of sleep!

And I'm really struggling with the whole "winkie down" thing. I try, but his winkie is just so tiny (sorry Kyle!), that it's hard to really position it. Last night around 3am, I just changed a wet diaper and his very wet clothes. Before I fed him, I put him in his crib (in his dry diaper and clean, dry clothes) so that I could wash my hands. When I returned, the back of his clothes (and crib sheet) were soaked! Apparently, he peed again and it just all drained around to his back. And here I was thinking that this problem would be solved (or at least helped) by the fact that his cord stump fell off, meaning we can now pull the diapers up over his belly button. Guess not! It's funny thinking back to our first couple days at home how I asked Ca if it's okay to leave a baby in the same clothes for a couple days...this was obviously before my milk came in because I think he's averaging about 4 outfits a day now!

2 Week Appointment

Just got back from Kyle's two week appointment with the pediatrician and all is well. He's up to 9 lbs 13 oz, meaning he's gained 14 oz in the 10 days since his last appointment. So I guess he's getting enough milk, which makes me feel very relieved. And he said that since he's gaining well, it's fine to let him sleep 5, 6, even 7 hrs at night. This was great to hear, since I've been waking up each night debating whether or not I should wake him to eat, or let him sleep. Now I can thoroughly enjoy my sleep! Everything else looked and sounded good...he said he's a healthy, strong little guy.

So this long stretch of sleep at night is great, but the hours leading up to it are EXHAUSTING! From about 8-midnight, he just needs to eat CONSTANTLY. If he's not on a boob, he's screaming his lungs out. And of course this is the time of day when I'm dead tired and just want to sleep. And there's really nothing Jared can do to help (although he tries!), since he doesn't have boobs. I know I shouldn't be complaining, because the sleep that follows is a wonderful thing. But it's just VERY exhausting. Apparently I was the same way as a baby, so like my mom says, it's payback time!

Mystery Solved!

As I was emptying the dryer today, I heard something rattling around in there. After fishing around a bit, I pulled out the remains of Kyle's umbilical cord stump! It did take me a minute to figure out that this is what it was. Looked pretty gross, but I feel better knowing its whereabouts. Ironically, that load of clothes didn't dry very well...I hope his little stump didn't break our dryer!

Kyle's Weekend Excitement

Kyle has had an exciting couple days! Friday night, he had a visit from Julie, John and adorable buddy Jeremy (see above...isn't he the cutest??). They brought with them a delicious salmon dinner (looking forward to the leftovers today!), and also filled up our freezer with lots of yummy home-cooked meals! Talk about spoiling us!! Then yesterday, we went up to Grammy's for brunch, where Kyle got to meet his "Nonnie". That was also Kyle's first time crossing the CT stateline. So lots of excitement for Kyle as he approaches his two week birthday!

He continues to sleep for long stretches at night (always preceeded by an exhausting 4 hr feeding frenzy). Last night, he slept from 11:30 to 5, and then again from 5:30 to 9:30! I feel like I can't totally enjoy this yet though, not knowing if he's gaining weight. But we go to the pediatrician tomorrow for his 2 week check-up, so we'll find out soon enough.

And today's excitement will be Kyle's first Patriots game! Fortunately, he was still in-utero (not for long though) two weeks ago and didn't have to witness the Pats' humiliating loss to the Dolphins. I think he'll bring them good luck today...

Diaper Update

Kyle just pooped AGAIN on the changing table when I took his diaper off!! What is going on??? As if changing a poopy diaper isn't bad enough, but changing poopy clothes is the worst! But he's still a cutie and I love him :)

Diaper Disasters

The last two diapers I've changed have been total disasters. The first happened around 4:30 when I got up to feed him. He had pooped through his onesie/sleeper/blanket, and of course peed the instant I took off his diaper. Then, the next diaper change was about an hour ago. I peeked in and no poop, but it felt wet so I decided to change it...BAD DECISION! Not only did he pee as soon as I took it off, but he also pooped on the changing table (and his clothes)! So he's now in his third outfit in less than 5 hours! When he has poop on his onesie, I've started pulling it down over his feet instead of over his head, so it's a little cleaner. Were they intended to go over either end?? Hope so. Oh, and of course we had just given him a sponge bath last night before bed.

On a happier note, he had another good night. It got off to a rough start though. I think he was so worked up from his bath (which he hates!) that he didn't fall asleep for any length of time until midnight. But then he slept from about 12-4, and then 4-8. So I can't complain!

And Kyle hit a big milestone...his umbilical cord fell off overnight, although I can't find where it went! When we were washing him last night, it looked like it was only held on by a few threads. And then this morning, it's gone! I hope it was ready, because it doesn't look totally healed under there. I was expecting a perfect little belly button to emerge, but maybe that takes some time. I'll have to read up on that...

Living in "The Now"

Well I think Kyle has decided that being nocturnal isn't for him. He slept great again last night in his crib, with me having to wake him up for both feedings. It was nice knowing though that if he didn't sleep well, I could watch the late-night Sox game. But he fell asleep around 9 and so did I, meaning I didn't even watch a single pitch. What kind of example am I setting for Kyle?! Glad to see they won though...they definitely have the Angels' number in the playoffs.

I love sleeping in my bed again! And that awful hip/butt pain I was having the last few months of pregnancy is almost totally gone, so I'm sleeping very comfortably, which makes it that much harder to drag myself out of bed in the night to feed him. I can only imagine how hard it will be in the dead of winter! And Kyle seems to really like his crib...he definitely has slept better in there than in either PnP. I know it will be months before we truly have any kind of schedule, but I feel like things are headed in the right direction for now (and we live in "the now", right Grammy?).

Expectations

I need to learn not to have expectations when it comes to newborns. That will only lead to disappointment. I should be very happy right now, because Kyle once again had two good chunks of sleep overnight (both times I had to wake him up to feed him because it had been about 3.5 hrs). But I was expecting a third chunk of sleep early this morning (just like yesterday), and that never happened. He didn't go back to sleep after 4am, and started into his feeding frenzy. And I so desperately wanted another couple hours of sleep that I kept trying to calm him down (without nursing)...I knew he had a clean diaper and had just eaten so in my mind there was no reason for him not to go back to sleep. But he had his own agenda and just wanted to eat and eat and eat. So I have to settle for the sleep I got...probably about 5 hrs total, which isn't bad.

Last night was the first time we tried him in the crib, meaning Jared and I slept in the bed together which was nice (I had been sleeping on the couch in the family room, with him in the pack n play). He seemed to like his crib, so I think we'll continue with that. I had the monitor on but turned it off when I realized how easily I could hear him when he made any sort of sound.

I'm hoping Kyle sleeps some during the day today. Yesterday, which was my first day alone with no Jared/Grammy, he did not sleep for more than about 20 minutes at a time. So that made for a pretty long day! Of course when Jared came home, he fell asleep on his chest for about 2 hrs. Jared (tongue-in-cheek) said that I must have had a really easy day. Hopefully I'll get those 2 hrs today sometime between now and 5pm!

No matter how little he sleeps or how often he wants to eat, Kyle's still the most precious little guy in the world and I love him to pieces :)