Elvis Is In My House

I've got an addition to Things To Try When Karston Fusses (not just hungry, burp-y, wet, cuddly, or sleepy). He usually fusses for this during tummy time, as my mother showed me. What he really wants to do is to stand, with the help of a little upper-body support. If he's very active, he also tries to walk. If you don't help him stand, he gets very frustrated. However, since his balance isn't the best yet, his hips move all around, so I call him Elvis when he wants to stand up.

Pull Up to the Snack Bar

He grabbed my shirt today with both hands, and pulled himself upright. First time I haven't actively provided some balance for him standing ... this baby wants to walk already??? His first unassisted pull up.

Karston has a lot of two minute feedings now. He sounds hungry sucking on his arm, but then he's not really interested and goes Gourmet. I'd rather be a Breastaurant, but he says Snack Bar! On the other hand, he can go longer between meals now, and he'll even nurse for longer than nine minutes now! Oh, and that nonsense you hear about nipple confusion, ha! This Barracuda has no confusion: a bottle is not as good, and is usually unacceptable! We tried the bottle late in the first month, and he hasn't taken to it since. On the other hand, I can usually type things like this while he's eating ...

Barracuda and the Gourmet

I read about the types of baby breast feeding habits in What to Expect the First Year. Guess what? One of the modes is the Barracuda, and it describes Karston! The book doesn't mention the head snap or the suction that works from across the room (at least it feels that way to me), but it's the same name I picked! Although Angry Face is gone, it's been replaced with The Gourmet, using the book's term. The whole attitude is, Hmm, I think I'll roll this around, lick it, swish my head around, and think about eating ... or not. I usually make him come back later when he's hungrier, but the one time I let him tease, it took him 30 minutes of playing before he started nursing! Then again, he really does have all day to enjoy the world, and he does have a great time. I think a video of Karston as The Gourmet would be excellent blackmail when he's a teenager.

Roll Over

Karston and I got up at 6 AM this morning because he was awake, babbling, and doing his baby boogie ("baby boogie" is when he waves his arms and legs, usually just after he wakes up in a good mood). I decided we should let sleeping Daddys snooze. Since he's difficult to hold when he's motoring around that much, I set Karston down on his play mat for tummy time. He looked at me, and rolled over onto his back. Well, that's nice, I thought, but this is tummy time. So I flipped him back on his tummy. He lifted his head to look at me, and rolled over again. I set him on his tummy again, he gave me that look, and he rolled over again. Yes, three times in a row in about a minute, 180 degrees each time. He's six weeks old, and he rolls over when he wants; I think we'll be childproofing early.

Six Weeks

What's new at six weeks? It's about the same as five weeks, actually. The smiles are great! He's been cuddling, shaping to hold on to you when you hold him. He sucked just his thumb last Saturday, just once, not his fist or his arm as he had been doing. It's funny, because I saw him suck his thumb in one ultrasound, but he goes for larger sucking targets since birth. Last week, he could hold himself on all fours, and push himself higher from there, and move forward one crawl; this week he can even push himself up when he really wants. He seems awfully frustrated that he can't crawl yet! It's best to help him crawl if you like your hearing. And unfortunately, he vocalizes in his sleep now *sigh*. He has a lot to say when I'm trying to sleep, and it's not about feeding either. The first month was easier at night: if I heard baby noises, I needed to get up to feed him. Now I have to decipher the noises and look at the clock to decide if he's hungry or just talkative. Or if he needs his diaper changed, meaning possibly an hour of coaxing him back to sleep. I could manage the first four weeks of sleep deprivation, but this ... on the other hand, I can now fall asleep in no time flat, and a fifteen minute nap feels great! I used to be a sleep onset insomniac (two hours to fall asleep, dropped to thirty minutes when I started working on my PhD), and my rare naps used to be two hours. I could get used to these new sleep habits if I don't have to feel zonked. He also has a bald spot on the left side of his head. I don't know where his original dark hair went, but it's coming back blond and the contrast looks like no hair. So there's plenty to watch and learn!

Good Day Sunshine!

The smile is out! Last week I coaxed Karston to smile at me when he was in the mood to imitate my facial expression, but that was just (adorable) imitation. Yesterday, his daddy had a difficult time leaving for work because Karston was smiling at us when we smiled at him! Those smiles just made me melt ... And today while we were playing, Karston was genuinely smiling at me first! It's an enjoyable time!

Pediatrician: One Month

Once again, we went back to the pediatrician today, this time for his one month checkup. Karston's 9 pounds 3.3 ounces, 21.25 inches long, and 14.5 inches head circumference. Those numbers are normal, and all of his newborn test results came back normal. For medical things, normal and boring is good. ...And then there was the second Hepatitis B shot administered today. To deal with the crying, I had to remind myself that hepatitis would be awful for an infant. He cried for the shot, then quiet, then loud crying while I switched an appointment, then finally quiet in the car on the way home, then crying loudly each time he woke up.

No wonder size N diapers are getting small, though. They're rated for 6 to 10 pounds, and he's past 9 pounds.

We had a baby first yesterday, but not the good kind. I burped him after his 9 AM feeding, and ended up with baby barf down my back on the third pat. Everything got a good shower after that yesterday: Karston, me, our clothes, and the nursery carpet. The pediatrician isn't worried about his health, so it's just one of those things. Some days the baby's just going to vomit. On me.

The night before last, Karston was lying down with his daddy, waiting for me to finish getting ready for bed. Karston opened one eye just a slit, saw Daddy, hiked one leg, farted, and took one more peek. I would have thought he was too young for me to say this, but: Yes, he's a boy.

Don't get me wrong, though: I still think he's the cutest!