So, is there some kind of code of secrecy that mom's have that I am not aware of? No one told be about childbirth and the aftermath, no one told me what it really feels like to be puked on at 4 in the morning, I really did not have a clue what a "colicy baby" meant... maybe it is not a code of secrecy, but a coping mechanism. Like saying, "if I don't go outside, I won't have to shovel the foot of snow on the deck." Translated into baby speak, "if I don't tell anyone that I had 3 ounces of spit up dripping down my neck, I won't have to acknowledge that Anika is not an angel baby." Screw the Baby Whisperer and all of her categories of babies. Anika is an angel baby while she sleeps and then a demon baby from 9 PM to midnight, or 1 AM, or sometimes 2 AM... but somehow, she was smiling as all of her formula exited her body and sloshed all over me at 4 AM.
Burping. Burping is our new issue at 3 weeks old. How in the h. e. double hockey sticks do you get a baby to burp? If you would like to show me your burping skills in person, any day between 9 PM and 2 AM would be a great time to pop in :) We have tried the standard over the shoulder, higher up on the shoulder, sitting on the knee, laying down over our knees, bouncing, ... even the tick tock method. My mom was here for a few days helping me out - and all she had to do was look at Anika the right way and a huge burp would come on out. So Anika was happy during the day, but when night came and Kevin and I were alone again, the burping battle continued.
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| a happy Anika, recently burped by her grandma |
We are starting to play a bit with Anika. She looks at black and white books with us, she grasps small toys, she feels different textures and listens to rattles and different sounds. We don't play for long so she continues to like play time and is not over stimulated, but enough to prove to us that she is an overachiever. And the smiling - boy does she like to smile. No, it is not gas... she recognizes us and loves to have her cheeks kissed and therefore rewards her parents with a smile or two. Now if we could only get her to smile from 9 PM to 2 AM...
"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." Albert Einstein
2 comments:
Ah yes, 'Demon baby'... now I see you've discovered the true nature of the infant. They're adorable, but they turn on you in the night!
Really though. She's adorable :) Thanks for keeping us all posted.
~Mikael
Mikael is right on all counts!
Also: I think one reason you don't hear all of those details from other parents is that the memories get erased by the exhaustion. It's part of our evolutionary development - if we let word get out, there would be no more babies.
(Hang in there!)
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