So we are at the three week mark… and things are changing bit by bit. For awhile there, I thought that all he would ever do is sleep and eat. But, it’s not like I catch many Z’s these days with constant feedings every couple of hours. (These have now increased to sometimes every hour or even every 30 minutes. (We’re experiencing what they call a “growth spurt.”) This is a lot to get used to. I completely ignored moms when they told me that I would not sleep with a new baby. I truly thought that they were exaggerating. :0
Every once in a while after a good feeding, Gabriel’s eyes dart open and he gazes intently around the room or up at me. This is what they call “quiet alert.” His eyes stare in insane wonder, like he is truly seeing for the first time. Conor and I instantly creep in closer at these moments and stare back. I can’t help question what he must be thinking with his undeveloped brain lacking in any sort of vocabulary to explain and comprehend this new world that he has discovered.
This last week, he wakes up even more…(Mainly at night when I am tired.) Against all prior judgements about sleeping in the same bed with a baby, I find myself falling asleep with Gabriel every night. I have learned a valuable lesson about judging other parenting styles before having your own. This works out best for us and we both sleep better as a result. Other cultures, keep their newborns very close by within the first 3 months, so I am learning that this may be necessary for this transitional period.
Today, I was very kindly criticized for taking Gabe out into public so young. While somewhat irritated that someone else would try to tell me what’s best for my own kid, I listened with a very open mind. However, he is such a saint in public…he just sleeps!! Conor and I took him to the Butterfly Exhibit at Fair Park for his first outing. Some of the kids were teaching us how to get the butterflies to land on you. While all of this was going on, one hopped up on Gabriel. (Of course…he slept the whole way through it.)
Also, Gabe has broken out into this terrible rash called “baby acne.” This is another thing that I heard about when I was pregnant but, totally disregarded. A case of the: “those things won’t happen to MY BABY syndrome.” They say that it is caused by the pregnancy hormones but, he looks just like his skin has skipped childhood and went straight into being a adolescent. Slow down GABRIEL!!! You are growing up too fast… 🙂 Anyways, everyone says it’s normal but, I just feel so helpless. Of course, Gabe doesn’t mind….
So we are still enjoying our little man and he is in awe of us as we are of him. Blessings from the Muldoons…<3
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