Guinea Pig

Apparently the firstborn child receives the brunt of new parental flubs.  I feel that many a day I am saying, 'hmm I didn't know you had to do that'.  Now I am not referring to the basics of diapering and feeding, he is not starving and sitting in his own funk; more on the lines of I didn't know I needed to clean that.  Case and point, my husband was giving my son raspberries on his tummy and hence said, phew what is that awful smell?  Thinking that we missed a crevice in changing his diaper, I did a quick check and found no culprits.  He then noticed some fuzz sticking out of our son's belly button and he picked it out saying it smells like rotten cheese.  I cringe putting this in my blog as it makes me out like a horrible mother, but I had no idea that simple bathing was not enough to clean a belly button.  Hell, mine just gets a little leftover soap in it and is good to go, not so much when you are a little guy with a new crevice. You gotta get in there with a q-tip.  Another area of unknown cleaning, ears.  Going in for a sweet nuzzle of your baby's head leads to a gross stomach lurch of why does he smell like fish?!  Uh, yeah, you gotta scrub behind his ears DAILY.  I feel that this confession is going to have CPS knocking at my door but its true that kids do not come with manuals. I am finding it exhausting to keep up with his daily beauty routine, wherein mine is diminishing to a good shower if I am lucky.  The lack of shaving, hair washing, and eye makeup is a whole 'nother blog.  
Many veteran moms and evil books go on about how you soon learn what the different cries mean.  I must be a raging dummy as it seems that I am just getting a grasp on attending to him as he cries, and there are still times where I don't know what the hell he wants.  I suppose it all falls in a pattern of eat, hang out, and sleep.  But when that pattern falls out of whack, I am left there with a crying child that should be eating, but he just ate, so I have no idea what he is asking for.  I am sure that he is hating on me at times like, mom damn I am tired cant you tell?!  He doesn't give the usual signals that one thinks of, yawning (hell he does that all day), rubbing his eyes, (he may errantly hit them when he is flailing about), and turning his head away from activity (never seen that one).  Maybe I need to become a stoic observer of my son's every action to figure it out.  I have several pages of a notebook started with my notations of what time he ate, slept, and played,and with his temperament, but that gem of an idea often falls to the wayside as the laundry climbs out of the basket to chase me while he lays crying in his bed.  Goes to show that I am spending most of my time raising him and not watching him.

Page turners

I can recall back in my days in child development, that it seemed logical that children do not come with an instruction manual.  I remember thinking, 'what kind of idiot needs a manual when it comes to raising children'. Hmmmm, that must explain why there are dozens of child 'manuals' out there from establishing sleeping aids, to breastfeeding through the first 2 years, (eek), and creating the happiest baby on the block.  It is easy to lose oneself in these helpful pages of babble as it as just as easy to question one's self worth as a parent.  Being new to the game I can say that I have found myself falling prey to these books to help us work out the baby's issues in taking a nap for more than 10 minutes without dozing in our arms.  There I was, simultaneously looking up answers on the internet and reading the latest book on babies, ironically while I am holding the baby during his nap.  The deeper I delved into these internet threads and pages in the book, the worse I felt about my capability as a parent.  I just knew he was doomed to be that nine year old child that could not sleep unless he is being nursed and held all the time, possibly still in diapers and it would ALL be my fault.  I was quite down on myself fighting this sleep issue as we spent the majority of nap time picking him up when he cried, putting him down when he stopped, picking him up, putting him down.....and so forth.  Not only were we both exhausted and teary from this experience, there was no progress.  Then it hit me.  I have been around children my whole life, have gotten two degrees based on children, and have yet to harm the one that I gave birth to, so I had to deduce that I was not an idiot and can do this with out the paperback crutches. 
As mentioned before, this whole parenting gig is about confidence building and patience.  Well on our way...

Makes it worth it

I have a theory that babies learn to smile first as a self defense mechanism against frustrated and over-tired parents.  How can you stay freaked out when you get to see this every day??

New MOMs resolution

Each year we make a plan to be a better person while in a drunken stupor on NYE, and by the 10th of January, those plans are long forgotten.  Yet here I am as a new mom, facing a new year and the daunting task of raising my son. There are goals to be set that I feel that I cannot fail.  Its a little terrifying to think that I am responsible to get this little guy ready to handle the world.  I feel that this fear is odd coming from someone who is a teacher.  Hell, you are in charge to ensure that children are learning skills and information to be successful in their future, dealing with at least 18 kids at a time.  One little infant should be a piece of cake right?!
Goal one.  Patience.  I have always been told that I was an extremely patient person when it comes to children.  Granted, I know that I can deal with the needs of multiple 6 year olds at one time, fitfully learned while working at a daycare.  I recall one such day where it was lunchtime; one child lost a tooth, another threw up, and another was trying to run around like a crazy person around the room.  I was able to manage all this craziness and keep the children calm and everyone fed.  So yes I know there is patience that lies within. Yet there are times where I lack it.  Baking.  Painting. Driving.  Parenting.  Maybe I am able to be so patient with other children because there is an end in sight.  They go home.  My child is with me 24/7.  There is no 'off' time.  Now I am not sitting here admitting that I shake him or freak out on him, so don't get all CPS on me.  I just find that  after a long day of either sitting on a exercise ball, continuously stuffing a pacifier in a mouth, and what, you pooped, AGAIN diapers.  I can be a little over it.  Or a lot over it if all I have accomplished that day is a full shower, wiping the counter off, and stuffing some clothes in the basket with the hopes of washing them.  I get frustrated with that lack of 'doing' per say, even though I know I was doing alot by hanging with my son.  Maybe its not patience I need to learn, but acceptance of the new role that I am filling.  It is hard for someone to go from a full day of work (while 9 months pregnant) to working my day around the needs of this little guy.  I recently took a  baby personality quiz, (yeah they have those) and learned that we have what is dubbed a 'sensitive' baby.  Startles at loud noises, cannot go places without being fussy, needs to be held more, needs constant change of activity, very routine. All of this means requiring gallons of patience.  I am hoping that patience is a learned skill.

Top 10 thus far

Top ten things I have learned as a 2 month new parent

1. Sleep is overrated.
2.  Milk gets on everything.
3.  Diapers can last all of 30 seconds before you have to get a new one.
4.  Turning up the car radio temporarily drowns out screaming baby.
5.  Showers are a gift from heaven.
6.  The second you lay him down in a deep sleep, he will promptly wake up.
7.  There are no plans.
8.  You must know what you are getting when you are going into a store.  No milling about.
9.  Yes, you can take exercise balls to a dinner party.
10.  Smiles are the highlight of your day.

Getting Creative

I am sure that this particular topic will be regressed many times over the years but I find in funny how we have become quite 'creative' when it comes to entertaining our son.  First things first, we must admit that he was quite the fussy guy the first few weeks of life so most of the time we were at wits end for calming measures.  After reading "The Happiest Baby on the Block" book, we felt that we were armed with a wealth of knowledge to soothe at even the most cranky of times.  The book focuses on measures of calming a baby by swaddling, swinging, shushing, side laying, and sucking.  2 of 5 measures works for us, as it took many failed attempts of swinging, dangling the poor child over our arm, and stuffing a pacifier in his mouth to learn that he loves to be wrapped as tight as you can get him and that white noise at loud volumes can be instant shutter-uppers.  Where does one find white noise?  The book mentions making a loud shhhhhh sound in their ear that is louder than their crying to calm them down.  Well noted, but we found ourselves on the verge of passing out from lack of breath as well as covering his ear in spittle.  Effectiveness points but ease of use not so much.  Out of frustration one night I cut on the bathroom fan and dragged my husband into the bathroom.  Instant silence.  How blissful!! This trick worked for a couple of weeks, one could hear the distinct rattle of the fan and know that our son is 'acting up'.  We quickly learned that hanging out in a dark bathroom for an hour at a time was not quite convenient and was obtrusive to real life.  Then I discovered that there IS an app for that.  My itouch (best gift ever!) could download an app that plays several kinds of white noise; from airplanes to trains to static from the radio.  At last! A portable shushing option!  Now I do not go anywhere with Noah without bringing a fully charged ipod with me.  It totally comes in handy when you can hook it up to the car speakers for a full surround effect when I am driving with a screaming baby. 
Our child has never taken to the nice rocking chair or swing that we have for him to enjoy.  He likes to be jiggled just enough for his head to bounce around just a bit, enough to put him right to sleep.  We were walking miles jiggling our arms to get him to sleep, and let me tell you, ones shoulders take quite the beating for such activities.  Hence we discovered another creative trick; the white exercise ball.  We first purchased the ball several weeks ago to aid in the discomfort of pregnancy as well as to deal with the stages of labor.  Best 9 bucks for pregnancy as well as putting the baby to sleep.  In a way its better than the rocking chair because I can kick in anywhere in the house and sit and bounce away.  The first time we tried it, he instantly melted in our arms and we knew this was going to be the new way to get him calm and to sleep.  We have mastered this skill by using the boppy pillow to support his weight (yay for the shoulders) and tucking the white noise ipod in the crook of our arm by his ear.  Apparently hours spent on the exercise ball should reap benefits of a rowdy six pack of abs.  We will see about that....
And the final latest creative venture...the swing....
Dinner around here is a sprint event, as our son is typically awake during the dinner hour, we generally shovel food in our faces like a fat kid at a buffet amid the ear piercing cries of our boy who has been shamelessly PUT DOWN (horror!) so that they can eat dinner with both hands.  He can hang in his playpen for a mere 2 minutes before he realizes that he is not being held and the screaming ensues.  We do understand that this is a newborn baby and that we cannot possibly spoil him at this point in his life, but as we end up holding this little guy about 15 hours a day, there comes a point in the day that you want a little break and to be a tiny bit selfish and enjoy your meal.  We tried the swing and for the past week have just eaten dinner with the soothing background vocals of our son.  Sunday, we visited a friend whose son is a couple weeks older and they had a neat swing contraption with a nest and a vibrating chair.  We were sure that he would love this other type of swing as it was like a huge papasan chair that swings side to side.  We eagerly placed him in it, cranked it up...and scream-city.  What the hell we thought, lets try the vibrating chair as he probably will hate that too.  Placed him in it, turned it on, gave him the pacifier....and no shit, he was asleep in 3 minutes! One of the only times I have ever seen him fall asleep with out a boob or someone holding him.  We were on a mission.  I had one lined up from a friend, but the night before, its dinner time and we are setting him up for the usual vocal-slam your dinner fest.  A couple minutes into dinner over the deafning sounds, my husband runs off exclaiming that he had an idea.  He comes back downstairs yielding his hair trimmer, with the safety on, and places it in a plastic bag.  Upon sticking in the swinging chair near my son's leg....you can almost see him sigh in relief.  His little body relaxes, his eyes begin the slow blink, and moments later we are all enjoying a quiet dinner.  Who knew?

Milestones

Between weeks 5-6:
Rolls over to back from stomach.

Socially smiles at us, mostly in the morning after good sleeps!