Twas the night before Christmas…

And all through the house,
Not a creature was stirring,
Not even the baby!

As my little devil naps away, I’m listening to carols and finding it hard to believe that this Christmas hubby and I will be celebrating as parents. All of a sudden the holidays have taken on a new meaning and joy. I don’t really care about what I get under the tree; I can’t wait to see what goodies Drew amasses. Granted, he’ll have no understanding of what the heck is going on and will probably just stare at the tree with a glazed look in his eyes, but it’s exciting for hubs and I nonetheless.

This year we’ll be making the rounds at both of the Gradparents’ houses – Christmas with my family and Boxing Day at a big shindig at my Father-In-Law’s place. Of course, hubby and I will be continuing our own tradition with a Christmas pancake breakfast, complete with mimosas, while opening our presents at home in the morning.

I don’t think I have been this excited for Christmas for years. It’s the start of many wonderful memories for our little family. Tonight I’ll be keeping with an old family tradition that harkens back to my own childhood; I’ll be reading “Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The only difference is that I’m no longer the child sitting in my mother’s lap, I’m now the mother with her own child on her lap.

Merry Christmas everyone and all the best for 2010!

Ahh Goo!

No I’m not having a vocabulary regression; I’m simply referring to Drew’s new favourite phrase / noise.

It seems that I have a little chatter on my hands these days. While I swear some days that he’s the devil masquerading as a baby, Drew does like to bestow me with a few smiles and some friendly banter. There’s nothing that brightens my day more than a big drooly smile, flailing limbs and some very enthusiastic “Ahh Goo” greetings.

I often like to think that Drew is trying to say, “I love you Mommy,” and not really “Hey chump, come and change my dirty diaper!” At any rate, it’s nice to get some positive / happy feedback from my little man.

My BIG oily baby

Intriguing title is it not? Not far from the truth either.

Today hubs and I met another milestone in parenthood; we survived Drew’s first round of vaccinations. He had three shots in total and an oral vaccine for Rotavirus. While he did the customary screaming and hollering for the needles, he calmed down fairly easily once I had him in my arms. (Hooray for Mommy magic) As for the oral vaccine, he would have happily gobbled a full cup of the stuff…my little porker.

Speaking of porkers, guess how much “little” Drew weighs? He’s a whopping 13 lbs 2 oz, which is roughly the average size of a three-month old. Considering Drew is just going on two-months tomorrow, my jaw dropped when the nurse called out his weight. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as he’s also topping the growth charts for length at 24 1/2 inches. If he keeps up at this rate, he’ll be patting me on the head before I know it.

The rest of our two-month checkup went well; Drew is thriving and in excellent health. The only little issue we have to deal with is trying to clear up some cradle cap that has developed over the past few weeks. The poor little guy has been losing his beautiful red hair due to an increasing number of dry, scaly patches. Tonight we decided to tackle the problem head on (cheesy pun intended) by moisturizing the heck out of his head. As I type out this post, Drew is currently napping in our bed with his head slathered in olive oil. Nothing says fun like spending a Friday night in with hubby, greasing up the baby’s head.

I best be off now as it’s time to throw a sleepy baby into tub and “hopefully” down for a very long sleep tonight. I’m sure it was a very harrowing day for the poor little rascal.

Case of the catnapper

While I can’t complain about Drew’s nighttime sleeping habits (knocks on closest piece of available wood), day naps are an entirely different story.

It seems like the bulk of my day is spent either (a) fighting to get Drew down for a rest because he’s getting overtired or (b) living out the oh-so-glamorous role of “human bed.” No matter how hard I try, no matter what soothing tactic I use, this kid is a horrible napper. He may have the odd sleepy day, that’s how I get to make blog posts after all, but most of the time my arms are occupied with a very tired little lad that won’t shut his damn eyes.

At two months of age I can’t start any sleep training or the “cry it out” method; right now I’m pretty much at his mercy. I have, however, started to simply put him down while he’s sleepy but awake, let him fuss and go in to sooth without picking him up…God bless the pacifier. Sadly, he hasn’t learnt to keep his paci in his mouth so I have to hold it in until he gets drowsy. Sometimes it takes a few attempts, other times it doesn’t work at all without some extra rocking and holding. My biggest fear is that Drew won’t become a self soother. I don’t mind rocking him a little but I don’t want him to view me as a daybed for his entire infancy. I’ll probably start some form of real training after 4 months, should he be ready for it. I have a feeling that the crying will be harder on me than him.

Tis’ the season...

Last evening hubby and I reentered the social scene by attending our first holiday party at a friend’s house. Because it was on a work night, neither of our parents could babysit Drew. Rather than missing the fun, we decided to take him with us to “introduce” to folks and then put down to bed in his bassinet. Sadly, Drew had another idea…

After a brief introduction to our screaming baby, who evidently is “not” always soothed into a sleepy state of submission by car rides, hubby whisked Drew off to a quiet room in the basement for a feeding and some shut-eye. Two hours and three attempts later, the little guy still did not want to miss out on the action and kept waking up crying. It turns out that the poor little fellow spat up considerable and was lying in his own mess – a new talent which he, of course, decided to test out while we were away from home. We gave up on all attempts of holiday merrymaking at 9:30 PM, packed up our gear and bade our farewells. Guess what Drew did in the car all the way home…SLEPT!

Lesson of the day = Drew does not do well with too much stimulus; he gets too keyed up by everything.

Looks like we’ll have to find a sitter for him on New Year’s Eve. Are you reading this Mom and Dad? Ahemmm…

BIG boy

It has recently come to my attention that Andrew is quite the “sturdy” boy for his age. While 13 lbs is supposedly the average for a three-month old, I’m fairly certain that my chunky little monkey has already reached 12 lbs at only seven weeks of age. I wouldn’t call him fat but he certainly is long with a very healthy appetite. He has already outgrown some of the 0-3 sleepers and I have almost been tempted to cut the feet off of several of his cuter outfits. I have a feeling he’ll be taking after the tall men on hubby’s side of the family. Before I know it, Drew will be looking down on his tiny little mother and patting her on the head…sigh.

Things have been going better as the days go by. Drew certainly has his bad moments but either (a) he’s getting slightly better or (b) I’m becoming more confident and in tune with his cues. It seems like we’re falling into some sort of routine and rhythm. It’s nice to get the odd smile and coo from him now; it warms the heart and makes me feel like a good Mommy. Honestly, the best part of my day is during diaper changes, post feedings. I got into the habit of turning diaper time into “fun time” with silly songs and rituals. In a matter of a week I went from having a baby that screamed on the change table to one that smiles and interacts with me. Suddenly I find myself looking forward to poop!

Return to sender

Just Kidding!

Thankfully, after a long talk with Drew and many threats that he wouldn’t make Santa’s “Good” list, he decided to grant me a lovely calm day. To reward him for his efforts, I dressed him in a ridiculous outfit and dumped him in a box. There’s nothing that screams “Happy Holidays” more than shoving your newborn baby boy into a wrapped parcel for a gratuitous Christmas card photo. Are we mean parents?

Oddly enough, this experiment yielded some interesting results. Not only is Drew a big fan of kicking cardboard boxes, he also LOVES to crinkle tissue paper. Had I known that my boy would be pleased by something so simplistic, I wouldn’t have bothered buying his bouncer…swing…rattles…you get the point…

The new equation

I will teach you a new mathematical equation that I stumbled upon at dinnertime this evening. I think that all new parents, especially those with fussy and coliky babies, should learn this…

Bouncer seat + dishwasher + swaddle + soother = Happy dinner with husband

That is all!