7 weeks

I can't believe that my baby will be 7 weeks old tomorrow. Life has been such a blur, but so amazing at the same time. I love my little guy more and more each day. He is smiling now and it's so fun to see. I've been trying to cherish every moment as very soon we will be moving into our new home. I'm trying to figure out how to pack, when to pack, and at the same time not stress out. I don't know how it is that my husband and I remain sane...

I've been also trying to remember what the last 7 weeks have been like with Javier. I am amazed at how resilient we both are. He being this tiny little infant trying to adapt to life outside of the womb - breathing, eating, swallowing, crying. I am sleep deprived, haven't eaten well, and haven't done any substantial exercise, yet I manage to smile and love my baby every single moment. Believe me, I do cry, sometimes out of desperation, but I bounce back and never think twice about what my life has become. It just amazes me that we can live like this and still manage to keep a baby alive. I read somewhere that women produce a hormone after giving birth that basically keeps them strong through this whole experience. I completely believe that. I used to get 9-10 hours of sleep each night and I'm lucky if now I get 6. I do take cat-naps here and there with the baby, but the reality is that I would be one miserable, crabby woman if I didn't have a child and only getting that much sleep. I'm hardly drinking coffee too, which I have to say do I miss...

The 1st day we brought Javier home, that night was like a circus act. My husband and I would wake up every 2 hours with the baby to change his diaper and feed him. We were both always rushed trying to soothe the baby as much as we could. I remember he would change his diaper, I would feed the baby (he would go back to bed) and then I would wake him up so I could go to bed and he could shush the baby to sleep. We did this for the 1st week, but then my husband had to go back to work. I felt that it was important that he slept since he was going to work the next day. So the baby and I have fallen into a little routine since. It's actually pretty great. He started out with 2-3 hour sleep sessions, but in the last 3 weeks he'll sleep 3-4 hours, eats for about 40 min and then sleeps 2-3 hours. This is most nights, sometimes he wakes up a little more often. I'm really grateful that almost from the beginning he's liked sleeping at night. He didn't have that night/day confusion that most babies have so we're pretty lucky in that regard.

In the last 2 weeks, he's been eating then stays up a bit to "play" and then he naps. The play time is fun because he smiling and cooing and he moves his arms and legs like he's running in the air. We give him tummy time, which he doesn't like very much, but we've noticed his neck is strong. We're also introducing toys/stuffed animals, but he doesn't care much for them right now. What he loves is our ceiling fan, go figure. He stares at it and smiles - it's funny.

We've also started using cloth diapers full-time, in the last few weeks. They were falling off of him at first, but now they're fitting well. We've gotten pretty used to it and we're so glad we're doing it. We do use the occasional disposable, but I have to admit I feel guilty when I do.

I go back to work in about 3 weeks. I can't believe that either. How do I go back into the world, wear work clothes, and act like an adult again? This is where resiliency comes in, but I still can't imagine it. Luckily, my mother is coming to town again and she'll be with him when I go back. Javier won't start daycare until Aug 1st. AH! I can't think about that right now.