Nate Updates

I'm already finding myself neglecting my second child -- I definitely need to take more photos of him. He is completely adorable! A very sweet baby. We're finding he has periods of fussiness/gassiness between 8 and 10 p.m. and 4 and 6 a.m. UGH. Even with Mylicon, burping and nursing this continues. I am hoping it's just the normal course of development. I do recall that James was fussy and gassy for a few weeks and then it passed. Besides that, Nate is a good eater and sleeper. His weight gain has been as follows:

7/24 (birth day): 7 pounds, 6 ounces
7/26 (hospital departure day): 7 pounds, 3 ounces
7/28 (ped visit): 7 pounds, 9 ounces
7/30 (ped visit): 7 pounds, 15 ounces

We were surprised by such a large weight gain but happy. Obviously our more laid back approach to night time feeding hasn't been a problem (we forced ourselves to wake James up every 2 hours to nurse, which included getting him naked and waking him up with a cool/wet towel--- practically torturing him and driving me into the worst exhaustion of my life). This time no one mentioned waking him up and frankly, we didn't even consider or think about it. Nate is on his own time schedule and it's what it should be, every 2-3 hours anyway. So we are happy with his weight gain.

Sleeping-wise, besides the fussiness, Nate seems to take a decent morning nap and then a good afternoon nap. Evening-wise, I find I have to wake him up so that we won't be up until midnight. I think he's getting the picture, slowly. But then the fussiness begins. Yesterday I pulled out my Hot Sling for the first time when Nate was being fussy (nothing seemed to help and he was dry/fed, etc.). I put him in the sling and he literally fell asleep within two minutes. I can see how he liked it: he was warm, he could hear my heartbeat, and he was curled up really snugly - very womb-like. With him in there and James pre-occupied with toys and "Finding Nemo" (yes, more TV, I just need some help these days!) I got some laundry done and the garbage taken out. I know, I should just tell Greg to handle these things, but they were bugging me. I do enjoy the free hands aspect to the sling, however, my only concern is that he will get used to it and not sleep on his own. I've been trying to be really strong and good about putting Nate down to nap during the day instead of holding him. It's really hard but I have to be available to James. Of course, in full disclosure, I've been a little too tired to play hide and seek, but at least I can do puzzles or play dough or Cars with James. Or at least snuggle on the couch and watch a DVD. :)

Night time is a different story. The first portion of the night Nate does easily go into the snuggle nest. Then, depending on how long it takes to nurse/burp the second wake up, he does usually end up in the crook of my arm or next to me. When the fussy period begins (4 a.m.'ish), we try a lot of different things to get Nate settled. Today I woke up to Greg entering the room and Nate was snuggled on my left side. We all got up at 7 to start the day. James is now hanging out so I've got to hang with him, Nate is sleeping in the moses basket, and I shouldn't really be on the computer.

We have another ped appt. today to check Nate's skin, which is a lot better. My mom is coming over and will be with James. I think afterwards we'll take James for a haircut - he looks like he needs it. Yesterday we took a trip to Frying Pan Park to get out of the house. It was a nice day and James liked the animals and tractors and the playground. I think we'll go next week when my MIL is here to do something.