Much improved day

Today is much better than yesterday. Actually, over the course of the day it's steadily improved. I woke up around 7 and after an hour of feeding and an hour of rocking chair time, I was ready for Rich to snuggle our son so I could shower and rally.

Breakfast and a productive Target trip (woo more nursing bras and yoga pants!) led to a trip to the park (two laps around the park and I survived!) and cheeseburgers for lunch. Our little boy slept through all our outings and has been a perfect little snuggle bear this evening.

Ian and I have nursed/grazed in 5-10 minute spurts while rotting our brains watching a marathon of Bridezilla episodes. It's been awesome. Rich ordered us pizza and delivered it to my recliner. I'm hopeful that Sir Grunts-a-lot will sleep soundly for some large chunks tonight.

So with that I leave you with more precious little boy. You'll have to just imagine the adorable little cooing noises.

catching up on sleep

The first baby step is to admit you have a problem

Back when they were about three months old, I told my cousin that her twins were like tiny drunks. They can't feed or dress themselves, you can't understand what their saying though they're really adamant about telling you and anything they try to do for themselves just makes a mess. I now have a tiny drunk of my own but today he's been a mean drunk.

You know those beautiful long fingers he has? They've been gripping my nipple with his dagger fingernails that I swear grew since this morning and trying to turn the faucet on my boob to get to the milk. Even once he latches on, he does the angriest nursing routine ever, frowning and grunting and stiff-arming my sternum with one arm while clawing at my side with the other.

Once he's had his fill and I assume he'll be content, he just sits in my lap and grunts angrily and frowns at me. He started all of this last night and by 3am we retreated back to the recliner because it was the only way both of us could sleep.

He's eaten twice as much as he normally does today and in 8 minute spurts where I think he's done and 5 minutes later he's demanding another drink from the bartender. God forbid I tell him he's had enough or maybe I should call him a cab or he should take a nap, he just looks at me like "you're not the boss of ME," grunting and gesturing wildly.

This afternoon after a very late lunch Rich said he was going to mow the lawn. I told him I was going to try taking the boy upstairs for a nap. He had been sleeping peacefully in his bucket and I was hoping I could just sneak him out into the bed and cuddle for a bit.

As soon as I got him upstairs he woke right up, demanded a drink, got in a punching match with my chest, farted continually with no remorse and refused to be consoled for an hour while he reminded me of the injustice of his situation. He never actually cries but just grunts angrily and thrashes around. After an hour of all that, I finally got him swaddled up and in my arms (because despite nursing for 45 minutes he refused to sleep lying down). Just then Rich came in from mowing the lawn and asked how my nap was and I just stared at him. Of course the baby was cooing peacefully in my arms for the first time all day.

Thankfully, Christie sent me an email the other day with the heads up that her baby went through a growth spurt between two and three weeks where she was really fussy and ate a ton for a couple of days before she slept non-stop for a day. Had I not had this tidbit of information I would have really worried that this mood change was foreshadowing of things to come. Because if this is not just a growth spurt, I'm putting this little drunk in a 12 step program pronto.

Can't get enough of your love

I just told Rich, "I want a bowl of cereal but don't want to put the baby down." So he got me a bowl of Corn Pops so I could rest it on Ian's belly and eat it from there. Last week Rich asked, "I wonder when the baby will be happy sleeping on his own and not want to be held" and I replied, "Why would we want to put him down?"

I've learned how to type, check my blood sugar, make a sandwich and use the bathroom (that one takes talent) all while holding Ian or nursing him. My biggest time away from him since we got home was going to the post office to buy stamps.

When I was about 39 weeks pregnant I was in the pet store buying dog food. The woman in front of me asked when I was due and after I told her she paused and said, "are you happy being pregnant?". I wasn't really sure how to respond to that but told her that my pregnancy was pretty easy and I wasn't one of those women anxious to get him out of me as soon as possible. I just wanted him to come on his own terms.

She said her baby was a year old now and that she cried the whole last week of her pregnancy because she loved being pregnant and having him in her belly with her all the time. She just wanted to freeze time and not lose any of those feelings. She said it's still good now that he's a year old but he's much more independent and active and ... active ... and part of her misses just having him to cuddle. And then it was time for her to check out with her kitty litter and she wished me luck and was gone.

Now I'm going through those same feelings. He's getting a little heavier and his diapers need loosening a bit to make room for all this extra baby and I'm digging in my heels at the passage of time, as futile as that is. It's only been 15 days but I can't imagine him not being here and it seems like he's been a part of us forever. He was all mine on the inside and now he's out here in the world and I have to share him with other people. More than that, if he's not around, I'm incredibly lonely. He goes with me everywhere. He's helped fix his grandaddy's computer, visited several area restaurants and even had his first therapy appointment this week.

And I'm sure at some point he'll want to stay home or be embarrassed to be seen with his mother. At some point before that I imagine I'll be desperate to get away from him for even just an hour. But right now, I can't get enough of him.

We're off to bed soon to snuggle and snack, so I'll leave you with a rare photo of me allowing someone else to hold him. He and Rich are my two favorite things in the world, so this photo is pretty much all I need.

co-chillin'