Happy ONE MONTH Birthday, Tristan!

Well, we somehow made it through the first 30 days taking care of this baby - he is still alive and kicking! Is it learned skill, a little luck, maybe both? We've never really been challenged like this before, but I think we have both handled things quite well, overall. At least we feel proud of ourselves, a little, whether or not we are doing things right. After all, his only demands include eating all day long, keeping a clean and dry bottom, and falling asleep in our arms several times a day. Doesn't seem so hard, but keeping him happy through all these things is what tests your patience, as 6 am suddenly becomes 2 pm, and you wonder how that could be possible, sitting in your spit-up soaked PJ's thinking about what to eat for dinner. It is more work than we ever imagined, but we can still somehow say with unwavering certainty, it is all worth it.

He is well into the 7lb range (maybe close to 8 now), just starting to outgrow some of his "newborn" outfits, but still a little too small for most 0-3 month clothes we have, so yes, he is sprouting, but he's still a little squirt! We like it that way, but are looking forward to the day when he can hold his own head up, find entertainment in silly faces and simple toys, and communicate his issues with us, just a little bit better. We are still waiting to see how he develops - will he look more like mom or dad? We've heard both so far - but still haven't come to a hard conclusion on who we think he takes after most, just yet. We don't know who submitted a request for the wild hair - but we just love it, and hope it doesn't fall out too quickly, like people have predicted. We'll take him however he comes - he's our little Junebug, Monkey Man, Bugaboo, Peanut. He's a keeper!

Hiccups, spit-up and farts

Who knew that infants were sooo raunchy!!  Tristan had a day full of involuntary muscle spasms; diaphragmatic, tracheal and rectal...the hiccups are cute as hell and are fun to watch in a voyeuristic sense.  The spit up draws an empathetic reaction because we realize that he just nursed for a half hour only to heave it back at ya.  He did that most of yesterday, but we were reassured today that these things happen; they just have bad upper GI days.  Now on to the gaseous emanations.  Nothing short of hilarious.  I think Jan has the best story, although i have one that comes close.

She had just finished feeding him and he was just chilling on his back, laying on her legs and looking at her.  He was rustling about and just enjoying his satiated self.  Arms and legs flailing pretty much uncontrollably a this point in his life.  His eyes would dart between her face and the ceiling fan (which he loves to watch).  When all of a sudden he put his arms up in "victory" and his knees bent, brow furrowed and frrrrrrrrp.  I was in the garage and i could hear her busting up.  I arrived only to witness the aftermath of her just about ready tear up in laughter.

Mine comes, once again, shortly after completing a middle of the night feeding session.  Now normally he will let loose while feeding, but it accompanies a nice crap...But i had just changed him and was moving him over to his crib to swaddle him up and put him back to bed.  When i lifted him up and over the crib rail, i contorted him ever so and it must have been just enough for the gas bubbles to escape.  because at the moment that his legs started bending towards his tummy, out comes this billowing brrraaap.  Just like a bunch of college dudes sitting around the campfire, this 7 pound human produced all the volume and seismic activity of his 160 pound inebriated brethren.  It was quite surprising!!

Dont forget to check the Web Album (link on the top right) for more pictures!

I have no idea what the sound at the end of this clip is...Ill have to send it in for analysis!

Long Days and Longer Nights...

Well i think we are getting into a routine, albeit a little backwards.  Tristan loves to sleep during the day and party all night!!  We try to keep him awake when the sun is out, but its pretty challenging.  His morning starts around 6 am when he wakes up and is excited to show us his diaper monster.  We usually try to feed him first because he almost always births a twin monster while eating....oh to be an infant!  Eat, sleep and poop for the next 16 hours or so and then around midnight/1 am he is awake and hungry.  We feed and feed and he usually doesn't want to go down until about 230.  Then he is up around 330 until 430...We are trying to break him of this habit by keeping him awake for more of the day and doing a quick feed/change during the night and minimize stimulation.  We will have to wait and see if our little man can adjust to this.  But with a face like that, it really doesnt matter...because he's our little guy!!

Eat, Sleep, Poop...and repeat

Happy 4th of July! We spent the day much the same as the others this week. Today was pretty good. Tristan stuck to a schedule of eat, sleep, poop, while Seth managed to clean up the back yard (Dublin tore apart his nice yard work when the side gate to his potty area was left open by the lawn guys, while we were away at the hospital). He even had time to enjoy a beer with our neighbor out on our patio --  a little adult interaction goes a long way, with so many new adjustments and demands of our time. Tristan has no problem sleeping, as you can see here. Once he is out, he's out. Too bad this doesn't happen so easily during the night. Getting up at 3:30 am last night was almost unbearable. At least we each got to nap today for about an hour - which felt sooo great. Unfortunately, that doesn't keep us going strong until 1 or 2 am when he goes down with us for "the night," but every little bit helps. 

Tomorrow will mark one week since we've been home from the hospital (and 10 days since Tristan was born), so we have made it through our first week at home successfully, with only a bit of crankiness during the wee hours. Our wonderful neighbors have helped out so much by bringing food to us this week - thank you!!! Yesterday I planned to go to a breast feeding club at the hospital for tips and advice, but unfortunately after we packed up our things and got moving (half an hour late), we were told the class was canceled. bummer - I was really looking forward to grilling the lactation consultants on many things. I'll have to wait until next week. It was great to get out the house, anyway, and run some errands with our little guy.  He slept most of the time, but was really well behaved even when he was somewhat awake. We're getting better at learning how much he needs to eat to be happy. Hopefully he'll be back up to his birth weight before too long! 

Sleep, sleep...We need sleep!

This "schedule" thing is not easy.  The only thing to rely on is that anything goes...We were blessed with around 5 hours of sleep the first 2 nights we got back home, but our little guy decided that wasn't working for him.  So now its like 2-3 hours at a time and we are trying to ween him off getting most of his shut eye during the daylight hours.  We will see how that goes.  Yesterday we had our first appt. with Dr. Kamon.  Tristan is back up a hefty 6#7oz, which is not as plump as she would like to see.  She recommended that we nurse for no more than a half hour (to save Jan) and then give him pumped milk.  Jan was starting to feel like a machine with the 1 hour nursing sessions.  Tristan likes to fall asleep shortly after starting his feed session. 

Jan and I went to lunch with him and he just chilled the entire time.  It was great!

Yesterday we also gave him his first bath.  He didn't seen any more cranky than normal, so we don't think he disliked it.  He may have been getting a little cold until jan remembered that you can put a warm wash cloth over his chest.  His hair was so frizzy after coming out of the bath, it was hilarious.  I think he looks so punk rock with the straight long hair in the back and the frizz up top.  Might be time to break out those old Rollins and Dead Kennedy's CDs??

He is still cute as ever and despite all the pooping and crying; we love him beyond imagination!!  Dublin, on the other hand, is probably tired of being kept up all day and night!!