a new record!

Last night was amazing. Emmett slept for 12 hours, waking only once for 30 minutes for a quick diaper change and feed. The first shift was 7-3, which, if you count on your fingers, is EIGHT HOURS straight. It was pretty nice except for the fact it was so early in the evening that we couldn't think of hitting the hay ourselves. I thought for sure that E would be up before midnight, so around 9:30, I went to bed and was completely astonished when I heard him fussing and looked at the clock that read 3am. The only drawback to this entire situation is that Damon has spent only about 20 minutes in the last 30+ hours with an awake Emmett, which makes me very sad. I can't wait until Damo's work situation changes and we can all be spending more q.t. together.

To continue this boast of our amazing kid, I had to go to work today to watch a demo lesson and interview someone and had to bring Emmett along. I was very nervous because I didn't want him exposed to cooties at the school, but I also don't want to be that overly paranoid parent who freaks when someone touches their kid. The demo lesson was in my classroom, and the first graders have yet to meet the little one, so I thought the whole morning was going to be chaos. I decided to carry Emmett in the Ergo carrier, so I could protect him from kids sticking their dirty little hands in his face. I did bring along the stroller, but parked it in the office in case the baby started to freak out. The secretaries keep offering to watch him while I interview--so sweet. Anyhow, Emmett slept for the two and a half hours that I was there. I was able to catch up with everyone, interview two people and hire one for an assistant job, watch the demo, introduce Emmett to my class, and have a short meeting. Plus, nobody touched him (except his feet, which stick out from the carrier, but he had socks on). All in all, I must say I have an amazing 8 week old. Plus, now that he is on such a great sleep schedule (day & night), he is all smiles when he is awake. I sure love this kid.

Sleep on the Mind

Yesterday I went to the new mom's support group for the third time. It's helpful to be around other women who are in the same place. We usually go around, introduce ourselves and our baby, then ask a question that has been on our minds. When it comes to be my turn, I usually have to make something up or rack my brain to think of a problem we are having. Yesterday I brought up the nap/sleeping routine. Emmett has been doing good at night, swaddled in the co-sleeper. He also naps good, but usually it is either in our arms, the sling, the stroller, or his bouncy seat, never in his bed. So it turns out, we need to start putting him down to nap in his bed, at least once/day to get him used to the idea. So today, I've already put him down twice in the co-sleeper. The first time, he feel right asleep and the second, he protested a bit, but is now sleeping soundly. I am told he should nap every 1 1/2-2 hours. That kid sure does sleep a lot. Damon is fantastic in the middle of the night and I feel like our night time routine is working well. Usually, Emmett goes to sleep around 9 or 10pm, wakes around 2 or 3am, Damon changes him and brings him to me to feed in bed for about 20 or 30 minutes, then I put him back down to repeat this process again around 6:30am. As I am writing this, I am thinking that I am totally jinxing our "routine" and I'm sure the whole thing will be thrown out the window in a couple of days. The white noise machine seems to help us all get a better night's rest too. As you can see, sleep is a focus with babies (or more with tired parents), and I learned from my group that some babies wake every 1.5hours and other sleep eight hours straight (very unusual). I feel like we've had it pretty easy so far. Yesterday after group, three of us moms went to a nearby cafe for a beer! Next week we have a date that resembles life pre-baby.

Here is a sweet video of E awake and happy. Please ignore the ANNOYING noises I am making in attempt to get him to smile. Keep in mind I spend my whole day with baby...

funny looking hair

Emmett is losing his hair. Only in the front. It now is more like fuzz in the front and still dark hair in the back. Don't get me wrong, he is still adorable and cute as pie, but he looks a little more like John McEnroe (as our pediatrician noted) each day.

vibrators

Emmett loves his vibrating chair. A lot. When Angela first gave it to us, I considered getting rid of it, due to the fluorescent jungle animals and plastic musical attachment. She insisted, however, that I keep it around, "just in case". Well, she never could have been more right. Emmett loves being held by mum and dad, but it seems when he gets overly tired, or he just wants to chill out and soak in his surroundings, he prefers the vibrating chair (with said plastic attachment unattached). I feel a little guilty putting him in it, since we are doing our best with "attachment parenting", but I must say, I am able to shower and write the occasional blog post because of this chair. I read somewhere that a child's IQ increases if they are able to stay peacefully awake and observe the world around them, and that is such the case with Emmett. I worried that he is turning a little anti-social, but he does still like to be held. I hang out with him in front of the chair and talk to him and read him the New Yorker. I guess no matter what your child does, you always question if you are doing the right thing for him/her and hope you aren't screwing them up for life.

On a different note. Emmett laughed at me for the first time yesterday. Why, you might ask, did I not capture this precious moment on film (or digital camera)? Well, the circumstances were as follows: I was changing E's diaper and he was buck naked when he started pooping some more. I was fumbling for another diaper to put under him so that poop didn't go everywhere. When he was finished, I wiped him up and that is when he started to laugh. It was pretty funny, and I had to laugh too. I guess he enjoyed seeing mom squirm and juggle everything under his behind. That little bugger! Plus, I think he just enjoys a good b.m. Like father, like son.

BFF

Here is a cute picture of Belinda and Emmett along with a pic of Emmett and Augie. Augie is two days older than Emmett. They like to hang out during the week. Augie tells funny jokes.

mr. cuddles

This week is spring break for us teacher folk, but seeing that I am on maternity leave, it is like any other week, except better because my friends are off! I am getting a sneak preview of summer time--long walks in the sunshine, hanging out in the park, leisurely lunches in the Mission, a glass of wine in the late afternoon (just one!) and nap time on the sofa. This is just what I did yesterday with Belinda, Allie and Sabina. When we returned to my house, we passed Emmett around for cuddle-naps. It is pretty intoxicating to have Emmett lay on your chest and sleep and I think Allie may have went straight home to make a baby of her own.

Today we are heading to the pediatrician for Emmett's check up. I can't wait to see how much he weighs and how long he is. He is already outgrowing some of his clothes.

Damon told me I need to stop saying how cute Emmett is. People don't want to hear a baby's mother talk about how precious her child is (but he is!).

long hiatus

I am sure that nobody in still reading this blog, especially since Damon showed me up with his fancy, longer length, more descriptive, nicely written blog. But whateves. I know I write stuff and don't even re-read it for typos or spelling or grammatical errors. That is how I roll. But I just thought I'd give me little two cents on how life is going with little Emmett.

My days are full of Emmett. The only time when he's not on me, or at least in the same room as me, is when Damon takes him to the couch for sleep. For some reason, Emmett is able to sleep much longer periods on the couch with dad than when I'm around. I must be like an oven full of freshly baked cookies to him. Anyhow, there have been a couple of 5+ hour nights between feedings, which have been nice for me. I am not able to really nap with him during the day (which is a big surprise, as I am a seasoned napper pre-Emmett). But all in all, I'm not feeling too sleep deprived. I have my moments in the afternoons, but I'm feeling pretty good.

Yesterday, Emmett smiled at me for the first time. He smiles in his sleep all of the time, but on this one, he was wide awake. It was an especially sweet moment because we were sitting on the couch and I had just read an upsetting email and was feeling pretty blue. I started to tell Emmett about it, and he just looked up at me with a huge grin. He instantly made me feel 1000% better. What a great little guy.

Okay, that is all I have in me. Hopefully I can start to update more regularly. Let me know if you are still reading this. It might motivate me...