Daily Stuff

Keeping Parker clean seems like quite the uphill battle sometimes. It seems that every time I give him a bath, I am rewarded for my efforts by a massive spit or diaper blow out. I thought that whole dirty, stinky, smelly boys thing started later. Not when he is my sweet infant! In addition to that, we've got a little cradle cap going in in his hair and eyebrows, which I am fixing with olive oil. Parker's schedule:
Most babies have a "witching hour." A period of time, generally in the evening, when they're generally fussy. Maia's was around 8-11, and she required all five Ss: swaddling, sucking, side/stomach position, shhhing and swinging. Swaddling for her was the first step, followed by a paci, a turn to her side or tummy (this was the only optional one, most of the time), and into a dark room with the sound machine on for some vigorous swinging from side to side, until she settled. Then you could put her to bed. We got to the point where we could put her to bed drowsy but awake. She generally woke in the night for a feeding, and eventually her schedule made her my personal daily alarm clock: 5:30 every morning. So much so that I have frequently found myself awake at 5:30 in the nearly 2 years since she was born, even though she isn't anymore.
Parker, on the other hand, starts his "witching hour" earlier... more like 7-9. And, in keeping with his (so far) more laid back nature, will generally be good with a swaddle, a paci, and some tummy-to-tummy cuddling. By 9 pm, he is generally OUT. I usually change him and "dream feed" him before I go to bed around 11-12 and he easily falls back asleep and doesn't wake me until sometime between 4:30 and 5:30. He will, fortunately, go back to sleep and continue sleeping for much of the morning, waking for a feeding around 7:30 or 8, and back to sleep until 10ish. Awake time, right now, is late morning, and late afternoon to early evening.
Yep. 5:30 a.m. That means anywhere between 4 1/2 and 6 hours of straight sleep for a breastfed newborn (and yes, he's been doing this since he was about 3-4 weeks old). And that means my old friend, 5:30 is back. I suppose that 5:30 will be my waking time again when I go back to work (in 5 1/2 weeks! YIKES!) as I will now need to get three people ready each morning.

Since Maia is with me for most of Parker's feedings, she now knows how to  feed her babies too!