Mountain Mama

Ben is only 4 months old (tomorrow!) and already there are several examples of things I swore wouldn’t happen to MY baby… that happened to my baby.

It started when he was about 2 hours old and suddenly a pacifier appeared in his hospital bassinet. I have no idea how or when it got there. I had already “decided” that we would not give our baby a pacifier- we would “meet his needs” rather than “plug him up.” I thought, “if his needs are met, he won’t need a pacifier.” I was a little groggy from the surgery so I didn’t do anything about the offending pacifier. I think I thought it was decoration- how cute! The baby sleeping in the bassinet, all bundled up with his little hat and the pacifier laying there next to him…Awww! Then he cried and a nurse put it in his mouth. The horror! I reached into his bassinet and grabbed it right out of his mouth. “We aren’t going to use a pacifier,” I said to the nurse. “OK,” she said, smiling, with just a touch of sarcasm. I thought for sure that nipple confusion would set in right away and he would never be able to breastfeed again after taking that pacifier.

2 weeks after bringing Ben home from the hospital, I bought my 2nd 2-pack of pacifiers. Only by then we had a nickname for them, thanks to his pediatrician: Binkies. We now have one in the crib, one in the pack and play, one in his little chair, and one in his carseat. Plus the original hospital floats around the house as a spare. It’s not like he sucks on them constantly, but there are times when they really…well…pacify him! And he is still breastfeeds like a champ!

One footnote to this story for any expectant mommies reading this: a couple days after coming home from the hospital, Ben developed a red spot on the tip of his nose that eventually scabbed over. It took a couple days for us to realize the culprit: that little “Soothie” binky from the hospital was too big for him and it was rubbing his nose! So he had a sore nose for a while and I experienced my first “mommy guilt.” You can see it in the picture below.

THEN we tried binkies we had been given as gifts- they were butterfly shaped and didn’t rub his nose, but they were too big and he couldn’t keep them in. So we bought “newborn” binkies at Target and they did the trick (he’s still using them). The binky in the picture at the top is one of the big ones. I don’t have a pic of the newborn ones, but they are a lot plainer than that one. Oh, and he’s gotten big enough now that the Soothie doesn’t rub his nose!

Ben has been sleeping really well this week! Our bedtime routine seems to be working:

6:30 pm*: feed Ben
7:00 pm: give Ben a bath- This seems to be his favorite part of the day. As soon as we start undressing him he starts smiling and looking around. Even if he is crying, he stops crying when he realizes his bath is coming. He smiles in his bath and looks at a little rubber ducky toy. Sometimes he tries to grab the toy but isn’t coordinated enough to do it yet.

7:15 pm: feed Ben until he falls soundly asleep- By “soundly asleep,” I mean he doesn’t wake up when I sit him up and burp him!

Then I put him to bed and he sleeps until about 4 am. This morning I put him back to sleep after that and he slept until 8:15 or so! Usually he wakes up again at 5:30 or so.

Yesterday we had a “bonus” day together, thanks to the “Potomac Primaries.” Today, we have another “bonus” day, thanks to the weather! Even with the weather yesterday, I took Ben in to see Tim. Tim wanted to show him off at work now that he’s “interactive.” I dropped him off at the CAC and did a little shopping. Tim said after a couple of minutes talking to each new person, Ben started to stick out his lower lip like he was going to cry. Is the the beginning of stranger anxiety?

Ben continues to enjoy watching TV! Right now we can just turn him away and he forgets about it. Soon “Law and Order” will become a thing of the past in our house…

One other thing to note is Ben’s journey towards finding his thumb (or first finger, or both!). He started several weeks ago putting his knuckles in his mouth. Then he started last week putting his thumb and pointer in together. Now, he sometimes puts his thumb OR his pointer in individually. Sometimes he still puts both in. And just when I think he’s showing a hand preference, he changes it up again! The point is, he’s self-soothing a bit, and that’s a good thing.

*All times are approximate

(This picture is not Ben, but this is kind of what he looked like Sunday night playing with my computer. Except he was sitting on his dad’s lap).

I think when Ben was playing with my computer, he must have read all the bragging I was doing about him sleeping for so long and decided he was being too easy on me. This week he has gone back to 5-hour stretches. Hmm… Ben, if you’re reading this, Daddy and I want you to know that it’s OK for you to sleep through the night again. There is nothing that says a baby has to wake up in the middle of the night.

This evening Ben was sitting on Tim’s lap on the couch. I had left my laptop sitting open to a news website on the arm of the couch (don’t worry, it’s a wide, flat arm). Ben started looking at the screen (a habit he’s gotten into lately- watching TV and looking at the computer) and touching the keyboard and touchpad. Suddenly a little box appeared on the screen and then disappeared. Then, a video started to load. Somehow, unassisted, Ben managed to play a video! First, a Swiffer commercial came on (which he watched with rapt attention). Then a video about hosting a tailgating party came on. Soon he’ll be downloading an Elmo video.

As I write this, Ben is watching the Superbowl…

…where all the women are strong, the men are good-looking, and the children are above average….

Well this has certainly been a good week. Much better than last week. I actually felt like a functional human being most of the week! Ben hit a new sleeping record last night! 8 HOURS straight! He still usually only takes 20-minute naps during the day.

We took Ben to meet our neighbors (they have a vacation cabin and only come once in a while but they are very friendly and sent a gift when he was born). They were oogling over him and we were bragging about him and Tim mentioned that he could roll over. She said, “isn’t that early?” I said, “yes, and he started doing that at 11 weeks, which was REALLY early.” Then I smiled and sort of sarcastically said, “of course, Ben is very advanced.” The husband said “Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the children are above-average.” We all got a good laugh, but I secretly wasn’t joking.

Ben got to visit me at school Monday evening, which was great fun. I had parent-teacher conferences and had to stay until 7:30. Tim brought him at 3:30, after I was done with bus duty, and we visited (and nursed) until about 4:10. Tim got mega-double brownie points for bringing him in. All the teachers were impressed with his thoughtfulness and super-impressed with Ben. They have seen him before, but I had to show him off again. I’m so proud. One of the teachers said, “I’m not kidding, Laura, he’s one of the best-looking babies I’ve ever seen!” See, it’s not just me. Other people can tell how wonderful he is too!

Of course, he’s not perfect. Yesterday at about 5pm he had such a major diaper blowout, he had to be stripped immediately and placed directly into the bath. My advice for anyone who hasn’t had a baby yet: You will know they need a bath when they have poop in their hair.