Blitz Visits Before Luger's

Blitz came over before we -- no not Nate -- went to Luger's for bacon, lamb chops, shrimp cocktail and delicious steak. Before we left, Blitz and Nate had a moment...

Schedule

We tried scheduling last night for really the first time. That meant getting Nate kind of ready for bed at 7:30PM, changing him into pj's, feeding him, turning the lights down low, soothing him, swaddling him, and readying for a nice stretch of sleep. Of course, we're not thinking he could last until 7AM or even 4AM. But the thinking was that we start the routine now (computer voice... INITIATE SLEEPING SEQUENCE...), which might only help next month when the real sleep training fun begins. We were also ready for Nate to not sleep easy. He would sob for sure. But we were ready with a plan as directed by my mom: we sooth and put him right back to sleep. No more sleeping on my chest while I watch Southpark or a movie or sports or all 3! No more waking him up at 12:30AM so i can feed him and get to bed myself. We would put him on the sleeping train and see how far he rides.... So, Nate did pretty well! He went down at 8pm, got up twice -- we soothed him and put him back down -- and he slept until 1:30am. Not terrible at all. He then slept until 4AM and again at 5:30AM, his pattern thus far. But at least we grabbed a few hours of sleep in the evening so we feel encouraged. This picture is Nate this morning looking at his new mobile (pronounced mo-BEELE, NOT mo-BILE and certainly not mo'BILL). He looks rested and happy, right? We are too. Mostly, anyway...

hungry

What do you do when your wife has jury duty and your baby is screaming when you put him down and the nanny is expected at 9am and it's 8:50am and you've only got 10 minutes to go to hand him over to the nanny yes the nanny can feed him you can duck out of there no sweat at 9am it's only 10 minutes but he's sobbing in the crib and bawling in the swing and hmmm maybe he's hungry or is he just needy hmmm yes he seems hungry he hasn't fed in a few hours. What do you do? You feed him you jerk.

That's what you do.

8 1/2 weeks

Nate is going on 9 weeks now. When he's home and you're not holding him, the boy fusses with a capital F. Fusses! When he's out of the house -- especially in a bjorn -- he's laid back. Hmmm.... When Shana spends full days with Nate -- we just hired a part time nanny Leisha to help with these long days -- she's seriously wiped out at day's end. Nate breaks into a ferocious, ear-splitting, gasping cry if you put him down somewhere. If you hold him and let him lie on your chest, he's ok. We've taken him out to bars and restaurants and he's been a rock star. On saturday night in fact we took him to The Knitting Factory, where we had a pint and watched bands play silently through the see through glass. He wore a shirt that said "Rock Star". But he wore it with irony so it was ok.

Yesterday Nate went to the doctor. He is now more than 11 lbs and is an inch taller than he was at his last visit. The doctor poo-pooed our claim that Nate suffered from reflux. she was not moved when we told her about his screaming, arching his back and general discomfort when NOT snug in a bjorn. More or less she said we should tough it out. She also told us Nate should not be sleeping in the car seat either. Ugh. I still don't get why. Last night Shana wanted Nate to sleep in the crib per the doctor's orders and it was pretty much a disaster. Nate slept for 2 hours there but at 2:30 he was up and he would not go down after. He slept on Shana's chest on the couch until morning. Shana was exhausted.

But Nate's a good boy. He is smiling -- mostly by looking at his mom -- and it's lovely. He shadow boxes in his crib listening to classical music while watching the odd animals turn round and round on his mobile. He isn't terrified of tummy time.

Shana and I are beat but soldiering on. I think we're in the heart of the darkness right now. That's what everyone is telling us anyway. Grandma Simma and Omi Ron went back to DC. Nana Judy and Grampa Larry have made some key trips to take care of Nate since. Nate's eyes are steel blue like Grandpa Larry's.

Nate is 9 weeks old tomorrow.