The Tiny Human

In Zain's second week on earth, he has been busy changing from an external fetus to a tiny human.  He's more alert and is  looking around more.  I'm not sure how much he can actually see, but he loves to stare at objects with contrasting colours.  We put him in his crib sometimes after a diaper change (right now, he sleeps in a cradle in our bedroom) and he stares at the white slats contrasted against the dark blue walls.  Other favourite visions are the yellow giraffe on the blue nursery wall and the bathroom door jamb (??).

Swinging for the first time

He's gaining more control of his body.  From about Day 2, he's had some neck/head control, but he's getting even stronger at that.  And his crazy arms, while still wildly out of control to his displeasure at times, are slightly less spastic, and he's managed to get his hands in his mouth a few times.  His arms are also much more relaxed when he sleeps now, which results in some very cute poses.

Zain is still feeding like a champ.  Shif spends probably half of her waking hours (and some of her sleeping ones!) feeding the kid (which is probably why I'm the one blogging).  At this rate, he's going to weigh 20 pounds by next week!  His previously tiny round little face is now underlined by a double chin, and we think he's working on a triple.  And he's already grown out of his newborn diaper covers. Unfortunately, he's also not quite big enough for the regular size, either; so his diapers sometimes look comically large on him.

Gapping!

He continues to be a pretty laid-back little dude.  He still sleeps pretty well compared to a lot of newborns [knocking on many pieces of wood right now...].  He did have several pretty fussy days this week, so we're still working on figuring out what works best to calm him down.  My sister had given us her copy of The Happiest Baby on the Block a few months ago and we'd heard several other people had recommended it to us, so we had both read it.  It has been incredibly helpful!  Things that seem so counterintuitive are actually so helpful in calming him down or getting him to sleep.  The theory is that for the first couple of months (the "fourth trimester"), a newborn is essentially still a fetus, so to calm him you recreate the conditions he experienced in the womb - including loud noise, constant motion, and being tightly packaged!

The burrito in his crib

There are still those moments, though, when we have no idea how to make him happy.  He has this sad little "I can't do this anymore" cry where he sort of bleats like a tiny goat. It is generally our goal to not hear that cry.  But there seem to be no patterns sometimes.  What worked last time might not work this time.  It's all about finding what's magic in the minute, I guess. 

In general, though, life is great.  We are totally in love with the little guy.  I've never felt any better feeling than when he falls asleep on my chest.  I love being a mommy and I was happy to find that I'm better at this than I thought I'd be.  :-)

Stopping for a snack along the Humber River trails