Long Overdue Update

I thought I would be more motivated to blog once I had a kid to blog about, but apparently I was mistaken. I guess my discomfort with talking about my little world remains. Nonetheless, I will try to keep it up, if sporadically.

Life with a newborn is going well. I generally feel more rested than I think I should, but I have been averaging 6-7 hours of sleep between 9pm and 8am. And two of those chunks are usually 2-3 hours at a time. Not bad for the breastfeeding mother of a 3-week-old. I've also come to accept that my son simply doesn't need the recommended 16-20 hours of sleep per day (for newborns). He gets about 14 hours on his best days and has probably averaged around 12. But since we've been able to convince him that the majority of those should take place between 6:30pm and 6am, I'm told I can't complain about the shorter daytime naps.

All in all, we're told by many other parents that we have a relatively easy child. I can't help but attribute a large part of that to Babywise and the Baby Whisperer. Braxon has taken really well to the 2 1/2-3 hour feed/wake/sleep routine. He's also been pretty good at putting himself to sleep in his crib, though he does often lay there fidgeting (and, rarely, fussing) for 20-30 minutes before really being asleep. And occasionally won't go to sleep at all, just to keep us on our toes.

Just to disprove the naysayers (who claim that feeding on any kind of routine, even if it's very flexible, leads to slower growth rates), he gained a little over a pound in one week last week! I suspect he had his 3-week growth spurt at the end of last week, because he suddenly started waking up hungry from naps and eating every 2 1/2 hours after being happy with 3 hours all week and needing to be woken to eat from many naps. Either that, or we're going to have one huge baby on our hands in a few months.

The icky umbilical stump finally fell off last week, so we were able to give him his first bath. I think he liked it, though it's very hard to tell at this age. We have a really cool bath tub that fits into our bathroom sink--the Puj Tub. I recommend it highly to anyone else living in tight quarters with a baby. We plan to take it with us to China, since it's so light and can fold or roll up, so I'm hoping he can fit in it at least until we get back at the end of July.

Speaking of China, our departure date is looming very close--and scary--on May 14! I'm ready to get all the transition over with and be there and settled in, but I'm nervous about that transition. For one thing, I detest packing because of all the decisions that have to be made about what to bring, and my fear that I'll forget something important. For another, I'm not really looking forward to sharing a two-bedroom apartment with the in-laws for a week and a half after we get there. They are traveling with us and will be a huge help, but also a huge source of stress for me. And the whole flying for 14 hours with a baby doesn't sound very fun, even though we were able to reserve a seat with a bassinet. Then there's the jet lag, which is bad enough to deal with yourself, but will likely be even worse for Braxon, who's done so well at sorting out his days and nights. If anyone out there has any tips for baby jet lag, I'm all ears!

On a lighter note, of course I'll include a few pictures!

Contemplating the bath

Trying out the Moby wrap--I think he likes it, but I'm not a huge fan when it's warm out!