Leaving Nothing to Chance

So, it has been a while. But it seems I never have time to do anything anymore... Who knew a newborn would do that to you? It seems I have never given mothers enough credit... When you see people out and about with their babies it always looks so fun, so easy. You never see the behind the scenes...what it took to get out and about (making sure they were fed, diapered), getting them in their carseat and keeping them happy while you head to your destination, making sure they have napped or had a good night’s sleep. Now I see all the behind the scenes work and let me tell you Jon and I are working our tails off.

I am so blessed that I am able to be a stay at home mom, but don’t let anyone tell you that it is easy. Especially at this stage. Cole is 6 weeks old and everyday seems to get a little better. We have had him in his crib since he was 2 weeks old and this seems to be working out well. We started putting him to bed between 8:30 and 9:00 this way we can enjoy a little time to ourselves before we go to bed. We used to be night owls staying up late, now we are always in bed by 10pm, usually before that though. Cole will sleep anywhere from 2-5 hours at first during the night. It is usually about 3 hours and then he wakes up and one of us feeds him. During the week Jon usually takes the first feeding and I take all subsequent feedings which are usually like at 3 and 5. By 5am Jon is getting ready fro work so I get up and get my coffee and then take care of Cole, who on a good day will go back to sleep after the 5am feeding. This past Monday was not one of those days. He would not go back to sleep and he wanted to eat hourly almost. I finally figured out he was probably going through a growth spurt. This happened 2 days this past week, fussy not wanting to sleep and only wanting to eat. So, it was tiring for all involved.

Cole really doesn’t like to sleep on his back. So, during the day he naps on his tummy and I check on him regularly. I am afraid to do this at night since he is across the house in his own room. So, we had to figure out how to make this work. We swaddle him tightly after we feed him and then wait until he is relaxed and put him in his crib. Jon is so good at getting him down at night, it is such a blessing. If the swaddle comes undone he is awake, if he went down with his pacifier and it falls out he is awake and if he is hungry he is definitely awake. Sometimes he wakes up just to be held, he is definitely a cuddler and loves to be held. Sometimes he’ll wake and as soon as you pick him up he is fine and falls back asleep in our arms.

Cole hates all things carseat...the car, the stroller and the carseat itself. He did so good at first. By at first I mean about the first week of life. After that it has been a challenge. We put him in and strap him in and he cries. So, we give him the pacifier. We get into the car and he does okay at first. Then the pacifier falls out and he cries. We put it back in, it falls out, we put it back in until finally he is done. Nothing will calm him down and he screams. He is only better once we are at our destination and we get him out of the carseat. So, the last couple of outings we have had (with both Jon and I, I have only ventured out once by myself and am scared to try it again) I wear him around in our Ergo Baby Carrier. He loves this and usually goes to sleep while we do our shopping. At least this works. He does okay on walks but when we have tried to go shopping someone usually has to get him out and hold him while the other pushes the stroller. We are definitely learning more everyday. Life is different now and chances are it will never be the same, but that is alright because God blessed us with our little miracle named Cole.