Looking Back

Everyone says that you will miss it when your baby isn't a newborn anymore, but in my case they couldn't be more wrong! Looking back to how things used to be, I am enjoying this stage of Jackson's life so much more! We used to always have to support his head and be oh so gentle with his delicate little body. Also we were often confused and bewildered at his behavior! Sometimes he'd cry for no reason (it seemed) for ages! In the very beginning he slept quite well, but soon that disappeared. He was always cranky and not going down for naps, then he'd suddenly take a big long nap at dinner time. Of course then he'd be contantly waking at night! It's taken so long to figure out this little monkey of ours, but i think we've finally got it.....at least for now! I remember when the midwives came to our house when he was first born. We were already feeling that things were "too hard". They told Cory that after about 10 days things would get easier...he actually believed that! I figured that by 6 weeks everything would be easier, because that is what most people and books say. I was sadly mistaken, it didn't start getting better until about 12 weeks! At six weeks I found out that babies are at their fussy peak. They cry the most they are ever going to cry at six weeks, then it slowly declines from there. So we dealt with the wailing and the constant soothing that went with it. We tried just about everything we could think of! Until recently the best thing was the blowdryer and soother combo while pacing the hall! Now that he's 15 weeks old he is a lot more stable. He hardly cries when he wakes up and usually only whines for a bit when we get him to sleep for a nap. When we do have to calm him, all we have to do is rock in the rocking chair and pat his little bum, and occasionally give him the soother! Sometimes I still miss, or ignore his cues when he's getting tired and I have to stop him from crying before he can settle down for a nap. Now though it takes less than a minute, whereas before it could take 20 minutes to stop him from crying!! In the past few days alone he's become more regulated with sleep times. Three to four naps in the day then waking only twice in the night to feed and rising at 6:30 or 7am to start the day. All in all I really can't believe how are lives used to be in the beginning and how much better they are now! So when I think things are going rough now, I just think back to when I used to spend all day in the rocking chair, or when it used to take Jackson 45 minutes to feed! I know it will only get better with time, he will start getting more and more indepentdant and more stable! I am so excited for the changes that he will go through in the next few monthes and years!!