Early Lessons

So you may have noticed that all I've had time to post since Sam was born is pictures and videos. I've thought about various post ideas, like processing his birth or the first few days with him home, but every time I sit down to write even an email or a thank you note, I invariably get interrupted by a dirty diaper, or a feeding, or cries of boredom. It would probably take me a week to get it together. So instead, here's a list of things I've been learning along the way:

1. Mothering is a full-time job and the baby is your boss

2. Cloth burp rags also make excellent napkins in a pinch

3. Mastering the perfect diaper tightness is essential to not changing baby's clothes with every wet or dirty diaper (really, how does the pee get all the way up to the armpit?)

4. When baby cries, trouble shoot in this order: check diaper, soothe, check if baby warm/cool enough, feed. If still crying, repeat cycle.

5. The 5 S's of Soothing an infant: swaddle, sway, suck, side-position, "shh." If at any time you are doing 3 or more of these you can usually be confident that you are in fact soothing the baby. On rare occasions, you are instead totally overwhelming him.

6. The "Baby Blues" is a very real phenomenon.

7. The infant stage is to many parents what birth is to mothers: totally painful and difficult yet somehow all negative feelings are blocked from memory. (Veteran parents:  "Oh my gosh, this is such a precious time! He"ll never be this tiny again" New parents: "Thank God for that.")

8. Finishing your morning coffee in one sitting without interruption (and not having to re-heat it) is a triumph! It also helps to drink it out of a lidded-mug.

9. Worst moment: It's 4am and you just woke up, changed his diaper, breast-fed for 30 minutes, then burped and cradled him for 5 minutes. You are just about to put him down when you hear/feel him take a very large dump. For a minute you contemplate letting him sleep on it (Hey, if it didn't wake him up already...), but then the thought of your child stewing in his poo is too awful so you do the right thing and get back up to change him. Again.

10. Best moment: Watching your child fall asleep in the crook of your arm, noting the way his eyelids flutter, the way his breathing increases then slows, and the way his lips sometimes curl into a smile, leaving you wondering if you had something to do with this flickering moment of joy.

The little guy hanging out in the most awesome sling that Lindsay made for me. She's so crafty!

18 Days old, 9lbs 8oz, 22in