How much do you think I could get for him on eBay?

Thanks for your comments the other day. You are all fabulous lovely people. Liars, but lovely nonetheless.

But let's move on to the next crisis, shall we?

The baby seems to have missed reading the ground rules I posted in his room. The ground rules are as follows:
1. Contrary to what Dr. Sears would have you believe, Mommy is not a pacifier.
2. Daytime is for playing, nighttime is for sleeping.
3. If you're going to be fussy, be fussy when there are people around to help, not when they go home.
4. Breastfed babies do not spit up and get gas.
5. If you're hungry, please ring the bell.
6. The management prefers if you fill your diaper immediately before we change you, not immediately after.

I think I got, oh, three hours of sleep last night, and those were not consecutive hours by any means. Maybe not even consecutive half hours. And not because I have a fussy shrieky colicky baby. No no no, I have a baby who is simply AWAKE. And when the prince is awake, he prefers human contact, preferably in the form of holding and bouncing and vigorous patting. Plopping him down between his parents in their bed is not good enough, even when he can smell their rancid nighttime breath and one of them is holding his arms down and the other is keeping the pacifier jammed in his mouth.

The boy is a perfect sleepy adorable angel during the daytime, when his grandmother is here to help. OF COURSE.

Are YOU going to play with me? Maybe YOU? Or YOU?

Also, yesterday I had to use spot cleaner on the carpet in my bedroom.

Whatever, it wasn't me. I am too tiny and cute to produce that amount of disgustingness.

There was an article in Newsweek not long ago about breastfeeding. Maybe you saw it? About "exposure" and laws protecting it or hindering it and how mothers "feel" about breastfeeding in public. The article even went on to say that the reason fewer and fewer babies are breastfed (according to the article, at least) is because mothers (mothers!) are too American for their own good and are caught up in the sexualization of breasts. And I was all, WHATEVER. Mothers quit breastfeeding because it freaking HURTS.

You are lucky you are my baby, because anyone else who chomped on me like that would get a swift kick in the shins.

Holy crap, I think my kid just smiled. Like a REAL SMILE. When does that happen? Is it too early? Of course it's too early. But STILL. I smiled at him and then HE SMILED AT ME. Shoot, the no sleep is SO WORTH IT.

One month old, people. ONE MONTH OLD. Fat the Bunny better watch out.

(Phillip is hovering over Jackson saying, "Did you accidentally smile at Mommy? Accidental smile? Are you going to smile at Daddy? Daddy doesn't want to sell you on eBay- smile for Daddy!")

Comments

[carrie]

That last picture of him next to Fat makes me want to pick him up and kiss him!! Maggie, he is ADORABLE!

Yes, ITA on the breastfeeding thing. Good thing we love these little men who chomp on nipples like they're chewing gum!

Phillip totally cracked me up. It was kind of just a snort type thing though. Laughing is never worth waking up a napping babe I say. :P

[Dooneybug]

No! It's not too early for a smile!! My son smiled at me the day he turned a month old. We have photographic evidence and they were honest to goodness smiles.

You should take a picture of him next to the bunny every month to show his growth. That'd be fun to look back on.

What a cutie pie! And he's totally hamming it at the camera when you're burping him.

[Arwen]

I agree, it's not too early! Bryan got a smile out of Milla when she was four weeks old, and I refused to believe him until she smiled at me two days later. And according to my baby book I smiled at four weeks too. So it seems about on target to me.

I LOVE the picture of him on the bed.

[Jennifer]

we think that b has been smiling, too.

And YES about breastfeeding. AND people quit because bottle feeding is much faster and more efficient in the beginning.

B is currently in a pattern of very LONG nursing sessions piled on top of one another.

I had a very rough night last night, too!

[Maureen]

Yay, smiles! Definitely real. Definitely.

Also, breastfeeding eventually stops hurting. Mostly. Until he starts biting. So, you know. Look forward to that. (I'm exaggerating for comedic effect, though, because I actually have not yet been bitten despite the two teeth.)

Pumping, however, remains a hated, dreaded chore. My sister asked me recently about pumping and that she didn't know whether I was planning on pumping after 12 months and I was all, "HELL no." I may still nurse after 12 months if he wants it, but I'm most definitely not going to be pumping then. Still, it's ultimately worth it, blah blah, mushy stuff. And you get to pretend to be busy nursing the baby while your husband cleans up the kitchen, but really you're comfortably dozing in the rocking chair.

Love,
Maureen

[Sara]

Man, I've been there. My fifteen month old just slept through the night twice in the last week for the FIRST TIME SINCE SHE WAS FREAKIN' SIX MONTHS OLD. Jeeze.

A couple thoughts-
-Normally bfing should stop hurting after the first couple weeks. What I realized waaaay too late in the game w/my first daughter was that I wasn't making her open her mouth wide enough-she'd kinda slurp the nipple in, and man, that hurts. Make sure his mouth is wiiide open and you jam that nipple right in there. Also, make sure his lips are turned out, not sucked in. Believe me, those two things make a world of difference.
-The child who hasn't slept through the night in 9 months? Prior to that time, she could fit in her Amazing Miracle Blanket and was swaddled tight every time she slept. Once we figured that out, she slept insanely well-nine hours straight most nights from 7 weeks to 6 months. YMMV, but it worked really well for us (and she is a breastfed baby).

Getting any naps during the day when Grandma's there? I know that I never had a clue what real exhaustion was til I had a baby. It will pass.

[Laura]

Well, my baby slept through the night, pulled up, sat on her own, laughed out loud...etc.. the first month ..of course she was 13 months old at the time. There are times when I am sad about missing the first year of her life but we have had so many other firsts and reading this makes me not so sad about what I missed LOL
Hang in there...and tell hubby he did smile at you first!!

[Emeth Hesed]

My baby smiled at about a month old, too. I don't care WHAT the baby books say about being "too early" ... a smile is a smile.

If breastfeeding hurts for more than 2 weeks or 3, get help from someone who knows how to teach breastfeeding, whomever it is. I had mastitis and plugged ducts and bleeding for 6 weeks and almost quit breastfeeding. I thought she was latching on correctly because I have a pile of books with photographs of breastfeeding but I had it all wrong anyway. Maybe I'm just stupid and can't understand pictures, but it made all the difference in the world when a real person showed me how to latch correctly.

[Tara]

My goodness, that boy is cute. Especially next to Fat the bunny!

I hear you on the minimal sleep nights. About two weeks ago my little darling dear thought she would fool me by sleeping 5-7 CONSECUTIVE HOURS for about four nights in a row. Then she stopped. I guess these crazy kids have to figure it out sometime or another.

[Antonia]

Hi!
He IS super cute!

I've just done my paediatrics exams, so I can tell you anything you want to know on child development.

The mean age of smiling is 6 weeks; so 4 weeks is perfectly within normal limits!

(you'd only be worried if he wasn't smiling at all by a couple of months of age)

Hope he smiles for Phillip!

God Bless
-x-

[jenney]

Look at him! He is getting so animated!
I had a really tough time breastfeeding the first one b/c he was so small. My breast was bigger than him so it was really painful for me. I think it was like trying to get a drink off of a giant beachball. I had to see the lactation specialist and then I breastfed him until around 18 mths. the second one being the bossy independent girl that she is wanted no part of my breasts and we quit after 8 struggling months.
pssst... I want to trade mine in for a puppy some days.

[Holly]

Re: the whole public nursing thing, I'm a health reporter in South Carolina, and I covered the craziness that resulted a year or so ago when a mom was denied permission to nurse her baby in a dressing room at VICTORIA'S SECRET. Oh, the ironies...

Turns out that we were one of the few states that didn't have legislation to protect nursing moms' rights to breastfeed in public, but that didn't last long -- a big gang of super-cool women got together and railroaded the state legislature into changing the laws. When, I wonder, are we going to stop hearing these awful stories about moms being kicked off of planes, out of stores, etc for needing to FEED THEIR BABIES??

[Jennifer S]

Is it just me or is Fat looking a little menacing at you and Jackson while you're nursing? I hope Fat isn't planning some sort of an overthrow!

[karianne]

One month? That little turkey keeps getting cuter. How is that?

Hope you get some sleep soon.