Moving right along

Corin is passing physical milestones at an astounding pace. His hand eye coordination (read: ability to grab at whatever we're trying to get to our mouths) has become absolutely phenomenal in just the last week. He is able to roll and wiggle himself to things on the floor. He grabs them and they go straight to his mouth. There is no hesitation nor many misses.

He loves to pull himself to standing. He's even playing with shuffling his feet in steps.

He's pulling his knees under him and trying to scoot. He's going to crawl before I know what hit me.

He's really enjoying his toys, too. He loves to look at things, chew on them, explore textures and noises and colors. He gets mad if he gets bored.

I'm going to blink and he'll be in college. Sheesh.

Chowhound

Corin had a piece (1 grain) of rice on 12/23. He didn't actually consume it.

At Christmas dinner, Chrys and I each gave him a couple of bites of butternut squash. Most of it came back out.

Tonight, I gave him LOTS of butternut squash and all of it stayed in. ALL of it.

I had hoped to avoid solids for a while longer, but he was getting really cranky every time we sat down to a meal. He would grab at our food. He would make chewing motions. He would follow every bite to our mouths. The boy wanted food, in a big way.

He started whining a bunch tonight while I was eating my leftovers. I gave him squash. He whined more. I signed and said "more" and gave him another bite. He quickly learned to calm down and start prepping his mouth when I said and signed "more".

He has very little tongue thrust reflex. He can certainly sit with assistance - more on that later. He hadn't quite doubled his birth weight at 4 months, but...sheesh...he probably has now. He had all of the signs of readiness and seemed to really enjoy it. I suppose it gets really interesting from here.

Ob: Santa Pic

Corin was pretty unimpressed. He was tired. There were no tears or apprehension, though, just acceptance. He did look at Santa at one point, but they didn't catch that on camera. One of these years, I'm going to go with someone else so those moments can be captured on our camera. I'm going to need kids willing to wait in line, though. HA!

Danger, Will Robinson

Today, Corin rolled himself off the bed while I was getting ready. I knew it would happen. It did with Ryanne. He was mad, but he's fine. I think she freaked out more than he did.

Thus ends the being able to leave him places. *sigh*

Chrys found him after one of his naps - up on his hands and knees in his crib.

Before dinner, he managed to get a knee under himself, get a toe hold and push a bit.

I can wait, y'know. As much as I said that if he could roll, he better walk - I was kidding. I'm not in any rush.

At least he doesn't try to move his feet when he's standing...maybe he's saving that for tomorrow.

Feeeeeeeeet

Corin has found his feet. He loves them.

It's hilarious because when I put him on his back, one of the first things he does is to grab his feet which causes him to fall over to his side and then he gets upset that he's on his side so he lets go of his feet and goes back to his back at which point he grabs his feet...

He's also found his squeal. I blame his sister for this one. She likes to scream really shrilly when she's upset. When she did it yesterday, he imitated her and cracked himself up. Anything that gets a laugh is worth trying again.

He's also teething. Me, my boobs, my fingers and most of his toys object.

4 month appointment

I can't believe he's 4 months old already. Time needs to stop. Now.

He's 17lbs1oz (90%), 14cm head (90%), and 26" long (90%) - seeing a trend here?

The doctor was impressed by his "strong man routine". He wouldn't stay on his back. As soon as I put him down, he was flipping himself onto his belly. Once there, he was pushing up and trying to get a foothold to scoot. He got royally pissed that when he grabbed the table surface and pulled, it came to him instead of pulling him to it. She says he'll probably crawl soon - it's just a matter of coordination now.

He's got some swelling that indicate we might see teeth someday. I got Hyland's just in case.

I was actually encouraged to take his lead in solids. This is so different from being told I had to have Ryanne at 3 meals a day by 6 months - not that I did, but that's what I was told to do. I took her lead and I'll take his, but it's nice to be supported in that. He likes to watch us eat, but isn't grabby so we've got a while to wait. I hand him a spoon to play with sometimes while he's in my lap and he's enjoying that for now. We'll see when he goes for more and make sure we have some (maybe not so) yummy pureed veggies waiting for when he does.

He got 5 shots - ugh - and one oral vax. He was really displeased about the shots. He screamed bloody murder and would not calm down. He didn't want to nurse or be rocked or anything. He just wanted to scream. It reminded me of his first hour outside the womb. Ah...memories.

He slept kind of fitfully all day. He's a bit flushed and not too happy with life. I'm sure he'll get over it in a couple of days when all of the effects wear off. In the meantime, poor babe.

We broke our vow

Today, Corin wore one of his sister's girly shirts - lavender with some lace on the neck and sleeve. Funny thing was that it was one of her current shirts that just happened to be in the car, not a hand-me-down.

He blew his diaper at lunch and got his coveralls. I didn't have a spare outfit in the diaper bag so Chrys put him in the only thing he could find in the car - RC's purple shirt.

I said I wouldn't leave him in it and set out for BRU to get the onesie I didn't get yesterday (I'm the LITTLE brother and the coordinating shirt for Ryanne). While there, someone commented that "she" was out like a light - Corin was passed out in the pouch. I got him redressed ASAP.

The sad part is that the shirt really didn't look that big on him. I don't know if that's a credit to how little they typically grow from 6-9 months to 3T or a testament to how big this boy really is.

My boobs asplode

Corin slept from 7:00p to 7:15a last night - a first for us. While I was thrilled, once we double checked that he was breathing, my boobs were not so pleased. He was more than happy to take care of that for me.

Huzzah for sleep. I can only hope it continues.

Thibbit

Corin has discovered the joy of the raspberry. This delights his sister, parents, grandparents, and aunt. It's a guaranteed smile followed by a spit bath. HI-Larious!

Robbed redux

I got my first post-partum period last week. It's a couple of weeks longer than I made it with Ryanne. I still feel quite cheated. Hmph.

Make it stop

Time, that is.

Corin rolled over today. Twice.

Yeah, rolled. All by himself. Back to front (to the right).

He's been getting up on his hip for a while now (2 weeks, maybe), but hadn't made it all the way over without the aid of the cradle swinging. He was close a couple of days ago, but the mirror on his play mat got in the way.

The first was at pilates this morning. He was on the mat while I did weights. He rolled himself over to watch the little girl in the class. Then, it looked like he pretty much fell asleep with his eyes open (probably as a result of having been on a 4+ hour nap strike - ended around 5 hours, but sucked). When I got his attention back, he got himself back up on his hip and I nudged him a bit (with my toe) to get him back to his back and he freaked out.

Then, we went to a play date this afternoon and he did it again. He wouldn't show his daddy the new trick, though. He'd go to his hip and no further.

This is insanity. I've been told he'll do things earlier than she did. This is 1.5 months earlier. I was hoping the 'boys develop slower factor' would keep him closer to on par and not ahead. I don't know if I can handle him walking in the next 6 months.

Yeah...dt/dt > 1 in the grand scheme of things. I mean, he was just born yesterday. Sheesh.

Stop and smell the baby

I found myself anticipating Chrys' return to get Corin after his last nursing of the evening. I wanted him to hurry downstairs and get him so my day could end. I wanted him to cut his time with Ryanne short so I could get on with other things.

Then, I realized what that meant.

I started relishing those last moments as Corin slept in my lap. I started enjoying watching him sleep. I started studying his face. I started watching his motions. I started soaking up the scent of freshly washed baby skin. I started touching him a bit more to enjoy the softness of baby skin. I enjoyed my time with him because I realized that it will all go by way too quickly and it will be my last.

I feel less rushed. I don't take the time for granted as much. It's given me some patience. It's made me try to enjoy my time with Ryanne, even when it's REALLY hard.

I'm happier for it.

Nick of time

Ryanne and I spent the afternoon (while Corin napped) reassembling the crib in his room. Turns out, the time couldn't have been better spent.

Apparently there's a gift that comes from being almost 20lbs in a rocking cradle. You can rock and roll.

He figured out today that he can rock his hips (something he's been playing with quite a bit) and get himself on his side. Once on his side, if he's in the middle of the cradle, the cradle will tilt and roll him the rest of the way over so he can sleep on his tummy.

For the record: This is a sure fire way to freak mama out because she sees you with your face buried in the bumper after a brief fit of screaming (which is why she's in the room anyway) and assumes the worst. Turns out, you likely scared yourself actually flipping over and once you realized it was ok found yourself in your preferred sleeping position and passed out.

Once he woke up from the marathon nap (almost 3 hours!), I put him on his mat downstairs and he was trying everything to get the leverage to roll over again. This is stuff Ryanne didn't do until she was almost 5 months old - I remember being scolded at her 4 month appointment that she wasn't getting enough tummy time or she would have rolled already.

When Chrys put him down for the night, we heard, over the monitor, the telltale squeaking of the cradle as it tried to rock in the locked position. Sorry, buddy.

Bit the bullet

This weekend, we admitted to ourselves that Corin was within 1" of the top of his baby bucket and moved him to the Britax. From a convenience standpoint, this is very sad. No more carrying him into someplace in his car seat. No more dropping the car seat right on top of the stroller. No more keeping him asleep as we move him in and out of the car. No more lugging around 15lbs of seat in addition to my 20lbs of baby - wait...I'm not sure that was so convenient.

I feel like all I do is talk about how big he is, but he's huge. I put him on my lap today in pilates. I put his head at my hips (pelvis) and he was kicking my ankles without having to work at it. It's insane. He's going through a size of clothing a month. We bought his Christmas outfit in 9-12 months because we really do figure he'll be 20lbs by then.

That said, I don't know how long I'll be able to keep slinging him. At this point, I can't take the weight of the Bjorn on my back. The sling is just my shoulder (and I suppose a bit of my back if I get it tightened right), but even that is pretty tiring after a bit. He's a heavy dude.

I think I may need to ask for one of these for Christmas just to keep from killing my back before he can walk.

More milestones

I got my first belly laugh on Wednesday. He sounds almost like he's choking, but it's cute. I'll have to see if Ryanne can get him to laugh for the camera. I made him laugh for Chrys and it took a minute for him to process what Corin was doing.

He's starting to whine a bit when he's not being stimulated enough. Luckily, Ryanne is always willing to help here. Right now, they're on the play mat. He actually managed to grab hold of the monkey's hand! He looked SO proud of himself. Then she gave him a blanket to chew on and that was the end of interest in the hanging things.

He's also figured out how to make his hands grab each other. He then sits and goes cross-eyed trying to watch them as he brings them to his face. It's cute. Next stop...feet.

Slow down already

Time is going by all too quickly with him. I can't believe he's almost 3 months old. I also can't believe that I can barely snap a 3-6month onesie over his tush. We caved this weekend and went to get him some 6-9 month stuff. I hope it lasts him to Christmas, but I didn't buy anything really nice on the off chance that I have to shop yet again.

I think he's between 17 and 18 pounds, but I haven't gotten on the scale with him recently. All I know is that he's huge and gives me a great workout when I use him as the weight.

Speaking of which, we're going to postnatal pilates twice a week. It's tons of fun. We do some strength training at the beginning and then move into pilates with the babies. Most of it is just having them on our abs so that we are having to move the extra weight. It's fun for both of us, though. He REALLY gets a kick out of push ups when I kiss his nose.

He's smiling more, but still not on queue. He shows no interest in rolling yet, but does like pulling his feet up and twisting his hips when he's on his back. He's gaining leg strength and getting better able to push his weight when we hold him up. He hates tummy time and will lie there with his head buried in whatever and scream.

His eyes are still blue and still aren't showing signs of darkening, yet.

And he still has a head full of dark brown hair.

2 month checkup

Corin was 14lbs 9.5oz. Jeez! He's 97% for weight. He was 75% for height and 96% for head circ. The goal is more weight than height and we've got that taken care of.

Poor guy got 5 pokes, all mercury free. He also got the oral rotavirus vax. I wonder about vaccinating sometimes. There are so many people that don't want to do it, but they are relying on those of us that do to keep their kids healthy. Herd immunity is great, but many more are starting to stray from the herd. It's going to get us in trouble. He didn't have a reaction to them. He was a little more sleepy and a little cranky, but nothing major.

He's getting over his first cold. Ryanne brought it home from school. He got crazy congested, was throwing up (because of the mucous), and just generally a mess. We had him sleep in his car seat in the cradle for a few days because that seemed to help him breathe. We did breastmilk up the nose, saline up the nose, blue bulb suction. None of it really helped, but he seems to be better now.

Around the same time he got sick, he started sleeping more. He's up to 7-8 hours before his first night feeding! It's amazing. If I get to bed at a semi-decent hour (before 11), I get a decent stretch of sleep.

Which is good because I need rest to heal. The big toe on my left foot is shattered. I'll have surgery to fix it on Wednesday. We'll talk to the doc on Monday to see how long it's going to take, what medicines they'll give me, etc, so I can get a feel for how much milk I need in the freezer to feed Corin. I have been trying to pump while he nurses since Thursday (when I broke it) so I'm building a little stash. I think we'll get through as long as it's only a day or two that I can't nurse.

13.5

Ok...it's not 14lbs, but it was still a decent gain. The midwife couldn't use the fish scale anymore. She had to drag out her digital. He was 13lbs8oz. She was impressed.

The appointment was uneventful. He's doing wonderfully. I am fully healed. She did the pap. We talked birth control - stupid insurance won't cover the IUD, though.

I've been spotting since that appointment (maybe a day or two before). Today and yesterday I would actually consider 'flow,' though not nearly what I'm used to from a normal cycle. Thus, I have NO idea what's going on. I suspect it might be my period since I got it back when Ryanne was 2.5 months old (Jan 11, to be exact). At least the discomfort is gone. I imagine things are pretty whacked out with me right now. I guess we'll see what happens in the coming weeks and decide if it's cyclical or not.

Corin's 1 month pictures are on .Mac.

It's been one month...

I weighed him on Labor Day weekend. He was 13lbs. Sheesh. I think he'll get weighed again on Friday and my money's on 14-15lbs.

We got our first smiles this past weekend (9/9 - 9/10). Chrys got the first big, open mouth, gummy grin. I have had a few more since, but they are still inconsistent.

He's got amazing head control and can pretty much right himself when it falls forward in the car seat. One of the ways I can tell he's asleep these days is that it stays forward.

He's a sleeper. Seriously, if I had known babies could be this easy, I could never have dealt with RC. He will sleep in til 9 with me on weekends and wake up easily at 7:30 on the weekdays. He's pretty laid back and easy going. He only really cries these days when he's hungry and I can't get to him (in the car) or too tired to just pass out.

Speaking of that, he does just pass out. I can be carrying him along and he'll just go limp. There's no fighting every nap. Honestly, he fights some in the afternoon and I'm lucky to get cat naps during that time. Bed time is still a struggle, but I think he'll get that figured out, too. It will also help when he gets his afternoons worked out.

His hair seems to have a bit of curl to it, like RC and Chrys, even though it's my color (unlike RC and Chrys' lighter brown). You can comb it straight, but left to its own devices, it forms little curls and he gets quite the 'fro going. I get comments on how much of it he has all the time. He hasn't lost much/any yet.

Still waiting on eye color, though the blue/grey is still pretty light - lighter than I remember Ryanne's being (and she ended up with brown that may be lightening to hazel). His eyes seem to be small and squinty like daddy's. It's pretty funny to watch him pull his eyebrows up to his hairline when he's trying to really look at something. He just can't get them very far open, though.

Diapering a boy

There are some considerable differences between diapering a boy and diapering a girl. Chrys learned this the hard way.

He's used to going to the pediatrician and just being able to put the blue waterproof pad under the baby and have it all be ok. When RC peed and was nude, it just went straight down.

Well, Corin had other things in mind. Chrys had just put him on the scale to be weighed at his 5 day appointment when I see a stream of liquid going everywhere. Chrys scrambled in and realized he hadn't put enough of the pad forward to be able to cover the bits creating the mess. Eventually, he got him covered, but the damage was done. The nurses (and I) were quite amused.

RC has commented on Corin 'peeing everywhere' each time we've walked past the scale since.

My escapade was saved for home. He didn't get much as I had his legs up in the air at the time so he was pointed at himself for the most part. Poor guy ended up with hair (and ear) full, though.

Beefcake! Beeeefcaaaaaaake!

Chrys says I'm feeding him Weightgain 4000. 11 lbs 2 oz at the midwife's office yesterday. Susan could barely cram him in the little sling to weigh him. He's wearing size 2 diapers (when he's not in cloth, which is most of the time until we get the last bits of cord off of him) and moving into 3-6 month clothes. *sigh*

He and I are still proclaimed doing well. I got my fist sized clot (where the placenta meets the uterus, apparently) out of the way last week and that seems to have stopped the rest of the bleeding.

The pediatrician said that with his size and obviously well established eating, we should try a bottle now to make sure he'll even consider it. Chrys gave him one tonight and says Corin took it like a champ. I pumped 3.25oz this morning and he left 1oz behind. I got him another 3.5oz while he ate that bottle (in under 5 minutes). Moooo!

I just play one on TV

I have one of those newborns that people laugh at on television shows. You know, the ones that are the size of 2 month olds when the doctor pulls him/her out from between mom's legs.

This kid weighs 10lbs 2.4oz. Yeah...that means the 0-3 month clothes might fit for another week or so. Guess the long sleeves and pants that we have in that size won't get much use.

In other news, he's now 22 inches long and the last bits of his cord are thinking about coming out (if they can find the exit from the depths of his belly button - he's got a DEEP inny like his mommy).

He was pronounced healthy and NOT a little man.

I love breastmilk

His right eye was a little goopy. (We were warned that this might happen when we/I elected not to give him the eye antibiotic at birth.) I sprayed it with a few drops (this takes FAR more luck than most would imagine...it's not like the milk comes from precision targeting devices). He didn't particularly like it, but wasn't massively upset. He's been a bit crusty today, but no goop. We'll see how it goes with his left eye that got treated tonight.

What a difference

One of the things I never did for myself while I was nursing RC was buy a really nice nursing bra. In retrospect this was kind of foolish. I nursed her for over 2 years. The ones I had were functional, but not really comfortable and certainly not stylish. They were cheap, though, and easily available at department stores.

Well, realizing that my milk was coming in and that I didn't have a good bra stretchy enough to take it, I decided that wasn't going to be the case this time. Summon road trip.

We drove halfway around the 360 loop to Due Maternity and took advantage of tax free weekend in Texas. I got 3 Bravado original nursing bras at 25% off and no tax. They are divine. I am not really crazy about the sports bra styling (no hooks on the back), but man are they comfy. Best of all, the cups are really stretchy so they are handling my fluctuating cup size as the supply equalizes. On the other hand, they are not so stretchy that they don't support - something very important when you start off large chested to begin with.

I told Chrys that when the supply stabilizes, I'm going to get myself at least one nice, stylish nursing bra. Considering they were about $60 for most of the fitted ones (not what I was in the market for at the time), that's a big deal.

Let's get this out of the way

He's a boy. We did not have any elective surgeries. We have no religious reason to do so. We found no compelling medical evidence that it should be done.

Incidences of elective circumcision in the US are dropping. However, we still perform more of them per year than any other 1st world country.

5 day checkup

At 5 days old, we had to go see the pediatrician. Apparently their policy is to see the baby at 3-5 days if they don't get to see them in the hospital. Since we were only in the birthing center for 6 hours, they didn't see us.

I'm always amazed at how clueless the nurses at the pediatrician's office seem. Of course, they probably deal with a lot of clueless parents, but sheesh. I had to fill out two forms with names, family, history, etc. When we got into the room, she asked me many of the same questions as I had already answered. On top of that, she had to ask if I had a c-section or vaginal birth when I told her it was at the birthing center - uh? When I said I was exclusively breastfeeding, she asked about supplementing with formula. It went on like that. Chrys and I exchanged a few awkward glances, but none moreso than after the c-section question.

She also asked how much he slept - I said most of the day and she asked how many hours. I told her I really didn't keep track of the total number of hours each day he slept. She seemed surprised. He sleeps. My first one didn't. I am not going to question or analyze this any further. She'll live.

Corin weighed in at 8lbs12oz (actually 12.8, but they wouldn't go to 13oz). She said he looked a bit jaundiced, but she was sure that would clear up. She wanted me to wake him up every 3 hours to eat (after I mentioned that I'd gotten a 5 hour stretch the night before - bliss) until I mentioned that he was 8lbs6oz on Friday. I also reiterated that he had been cluster feeding (once an hour for 3-4 hours) up to that point. I was told I could let him sleep.

Now, if we could just finish clearing up the difference between days and nights.

2 day visit

At 2 days old, we went back to the midwife's office for our checkup.

Corin weighed in at 8lbs6oz. While he nursed, she drew blood from his arm for his PKU (much easier than the stupid heel stick and squeeze method they used on RC).

I got my Rh- shot (stupid A+ husband making A+ children).

I was pronounced healing marvelously. My bleeding had slowed to almost a halt. My stomach was almost back to it's original shape. My nips didn't look too bad, but you could see a spot on each where he'd gotten me at night before I learned to turn on the light to make sure I could see his latch. They certainly looked (and felt) better than they did at 2 days post-partum with Ryanne.

Susan gave me a hard time for not letting her deliver him.

We go back at 2 weeks.

Gold

His dark hair has blonde highlights. When the sun hits it, it's like little flecks of gold on his head.

Birth story

Corin Oliver was born at 8:02am on 8/2/2006. He's 9lbs 3oz (2lbs bigger than his sister was), 20 3/4 inches long (2" longer than she was). He's got a head full of dark hair. His Apgar was 9, but I don't know why he was docked that 1 point.

Labor was...quick. Thinking back, I had felt a few menstrual cramp type contractions when I woke around 3ish, but I was able to ignore them and get back to sleep. I woke again at 5:45am and figured it was for my usual pee break. I laid there for 15 minutes because I felt stronger contractions and they were about 4 minutes apart, but only every other one was intense.

I finally caved and went to the toilet and started having some mega contractions. I kept trying to stand, but since it felt like I had to go to the bathroom, it was hard. Plus, I was having a hard time gauging the contractions without a clock and by the time I got myself together, another would hit. Eventually (30 minutes later), I managed to get enough control to stand up, get back to Chrys, wake him up and tell him to call the birthing center. I went back to sitting on the toilet. As he was on hold, I felt a pop and water started trickling out - it was clear.

He answered their questions, including the new info on the water, and they told us to head over there.

When I stood up to get dressed, the water felt like it gushed out with every contraction. I put a pad on to contain it and it did.

As I waited for Chrys to pack up last minute things (food) in the bag, I set my AIM message and made a quick post to my mommy's board to let them know I was out. I realized as I was typing that I had no sense of humor or ability to really communicate. I was able to provide facts and little else. That left me a bit worried about where I was in labor (closer to delivery than I'd like since we were still at home).

The car ride wasn't too bad. I was a bit warm so I just left the window cracked. I didn't want bunches of air, though, because it was distracting. I kept an eye on Chrys' clock and noted that the contractions had slowed to every 4-5 minutes, instead of every 3-4. The slowdown I expected, but the intensity didn't go down any at all.

We got to the birth center around 7:00am and Heather wanted to check me in an exam room. I kept having to pause to get through contractions so she had me go straight to the delivery room instead. I managed to get undressed and get into a gown. She checked me and I was already 8cm, which corresponded to me telling her it felt like I woke up in transition. She asked about my labor with Ryanne and I was able to tell her enough that she realized she shouldn't go far because this was likely to be over very soon. I heard her tell the nurse that I would be delivered within the hour and I think that gave me the strength to get through.

My cervix was still way back so they put me on the birthing ball so I could lean forward without the pressure of being on my hands and knees. Chrys brought me water and I sipped on that between contractions. For a while, I was experiencing a great deal of pressure prior to each contraction. That really helped because I got a little warning to relax before the pain would start. That sensation went away after about 30 minutes and, before long, I couldn't stand the pressure of the ball so I stood up.

Two contractions later, my body started pushing. I got up on my hands and knees on the bed and was there for 2 more contractions as Heather encouraged me to the head of the bed. I managed to crawl to a mostly seated position. She tried to slow me down and asked me to breathe instead of push, but my body kept bearing down with each contraction and I wasn't getting much time to regroup between them so I lost my focus. Chrys asked for a mirror for me, but I knew there wasn't time so I decided to forego it. I did get to touch his head as he crowned and that was amazing - it was slimy and wrinkly and, because of his hair, felt totally unlike what I expected. I think it was two more pushes to fully deliver him. I ended up tearing exactly along my scar tissue from Ryanne, but no worse. I don't know how many stitches it took to fix me, but they were all in the perineum this time (no internal damage).

He came out covered in vernix. The midwives tried to wipe him off with the blanket, but once I got him, I started rubbing it into his skin wherever I could find it. They said they'd rarely seen one that far along with so much vernix on him. My hands were VERY happy to have it, too.

The cord was allowed to stop pulsing before Heather cut it. (Chrys didn't want to. If I had thought about it, I might have asked to do it myself.)

He spent his first 30 minutes (or so) of life screaming. He's got an amazing set of lungs and was all kinds of mad at the world.

He roots a ton. I have a hard time convincing him I have the breast in his mouth, though. Once he gets latched, he nurses himself right to sleep. He has a very strong suck, too. He gets frustrated with not finding the nipple very easily and this is another scream trigger.

He's a great sleeper so far, but has quite a wail when he wakes up. Ryanne says he sounds like he has a squeak toy inside him. She's totally enamored with him and just follows whoever is holding him around so she can talk to him. She's sung him songs and read him books already.

He also wails when his diaper gets changed. Hopefully we can make that experience less traumatic as time goes on.

All in all, though, it was a beautiful birth experience. I am so thrilled that I didn't have to go through all of the stuff at the hospital. Most of the things I wanted in my birth plan were standard procedure at the center. Getting to come home after only 6 hours was blissful, too. I am so much more relaxed about everything and happy to get some sleep in my own house.