Half a dozen of the other

New beginnings

***Pics in a password protected post to follow.  Same password as last time.  If you need it, let me know.***

We have a three week (and one day) old.  I can’t believe it.  As I gear up to go back to work on Monday (been off since Dec 23) I find myself wondering how I got here.  Wondering in this little life that has joined our family.  Trying to remember who “we” were on Jan 4, the day before induction.  I keep running through that day in my head, remembering the excitement.  the wonderment.  Remembering a time when we didn’t know who was joining us, just that someone was.  The simmering energy that bubbled beneath the surface the week before he came.  The feeling that followed us to the hospital as we worked to usher him out.  It is all so surreal.

We now know who has joined us; or at least are continuing to get to know him.  And he is amazing.  We are in all kinds of love.  Sleep-deprived, but getting used to it.  Finding our rhythm.  Learning our roles, which are reversed this time around (more on that in another post).  Finding a way to keep M engaged in all of this.

Every night at bedtime, M gets to pick 3 stories.  The person putting him down for the night usually reads them in his bed with him.  Once K arrived, he requested that the baby join us for story time.  And so our new tradition has begun– every night both grownups and kids climb into our bed and we read together.  M takes breaks every 3 minutues to kiss his broother or declare, “he is sooooooooo cute!!!  i just can;t stop kissing his cheeks!” or some other very sweet thing.  The baby just lies there all bug eyed and jiggly necked and foread wrinkled.  And I lie there and breathe it all in as deeply as I can.  And try not to cry.  Every single night.  Because for so long this was what we wanted, and now we have it.  Our boys.

These last 3 weeks have not been without their challenges.  M is exploring the boundaries of the family rules and displaying some less than favourable behaviours.  We are exhausted, as he too, has disruptions in his sleep for the first time in a year.  And he has started waking up in the late 5′s and early 6′s instead of the civilized 7-8 am wakeups of 2011. Baby K is very easygoing (compared to his brother at this age– although I am trying hard not to compare, which has proven to be onbe of my greatest challenges to date).  He squawks when hungry or when we make him wear a hat.  And he hates cold wipes, and bum changes of any kind.  he is a decent sleeper– it doesn’t seem to matter how noisy it is, he just sleeps and usually for 3-4 hours at a time.  Even when M gets up into his face and shouts.  But when awake, he tracks our voices with his impossibly giant blue eyes which melts our hearts.  Once asleep, he generally transfers very easily, provided that he is swaddled VERY tightly and wedged into his sleeping space.  He is a major flailer and arms and legs are constantly flying.  When not swaddled for sleeping he sleeps much lighter and often wakes himself up with a punch to the face.  We have invested in a series of velcro swaddlers and they have revolutionized our life.  It is like a drug.  He squaks while we put him in and the second he is in, his eyes droop and he is out.  He sleeps in a swing, his stroller basinett, his car seat, and any surface that we put our bop.py on.  He is a major fan of being worn in his sling or in our kangaroo moby-style wrap.  He loves being sung to and always stops crying the minute we start.  And he loves sleeping in our arms.  What baby doesn’t?

K’s major challenge has been around BF.  He was a meconium birth and highly suctioned at birth and so the MW thought it interferred with his sucking reflex.  Until we looked in his mouth at a week old and noticed he has an extreme tongue tie–  so much so that when he cried his tongue went heart shaped.  And he couldn’t stick out his tongue at all.  We had it snipped as soon as possible (he didn’t even notice!  And we were so stressed at the thought!) and have worked very closely with a lactation clinic to get him on, going daily and sometimes twice in one day (*any people living in T.O that may read this blog who are interested in the deets of the AMAZING FREE lactation clinic in the east end let me know.  They are a great alternative to the Newm@n option.  Gentler touch and FREE!!!!  ).  Jen pumped like a mad woman and we started by finger feeding.  then graduated to a bottle.  then a slower flow bottle.  Then a tube taped on her nipple.  And I am proud to say that as of yeasterday, he has been latching totally normally and with no external aids!  Folks, we have a boob man!!!  Reaching that milestone has been amazing.  Esp because I am heading back to work.  Jen has been pumping so much that he has only been getting breast milk for weeks, but we also have so much stored in the freezer that we are beyond thrilled!!!  I can’t wait to return the hospital pump.  Although i am also so thankful for it.  It has been a huge key to maintaining her supply.  A major key to our success.

So we are celebrating all kinds of milestones ’round here.  And now getting ready for the next chapter– the rest of life.

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