What I Know about BBJ So Far (Part 2)

Months before he was born, I posted what I knew about Banner. So many of those things I knew at that point are still true to this day, from him calming to the sound of my voice to loving music. But, I thought I'd write another list of what I know about my three week old baby at this point in his life:

• Banner loves water. He loves the sound of it, loves feeling it against his skin, and loves to try to lick it when it touches his lips. He especially loves the feeling of it on his head, as he calms quickly when I shampoo his hair.


• He knows well about "the witching hour," when many babies are cranky and fussy. He joins right in with the rest of those babies, wreaking havoc in my house from about 4:00-7:00pm or so. Some days, we're blessed with only those hours of frustration; other days, Daddy comes home to a long night of fussiness. We're hoping these fussy evenings are going to quickly be a thing of the past, but from what I've read and heard, this may not pass as quickly as we'd like.


• Banner loves to eat! He's a fast, mighty sucker, and he loves to chow down on his milk! He often gobbles it up faster than we'd like, so we have to stop him frequently during feedings to get him to take more time. This scarfing of food often has great consequences for us and everything around us - clothing, furniture, and Banner of course. He spits up a little too much in my opinion. I'm not convinced he doesn't have reflux, but helping him to calm his eating will definitely be helpful for this problem.


• He loves his mommy! He quiets more easily on my chest (which we've begun calling "baby crack" after my step-brother coined that term), and he seems to love my voice. During those witching hours when I can't quiet him any other way while waiting for Sam to relieve me just for a bit, I turn on World News, bounce on a yoga/exercise ball, and read the closed captioning so he can just hear my voice go on and on. (I also get a chance to know what's happening in the world outside my little home.)


• Banner will quiet when being read to - whether it's Sam reading Banner the Constitution most days, or whether it's Sam and I reading aloud one of our parenting books to each other. Baby Boy will try his best to listen in and conk out eventually. Sometimes Sam and I have to raise our voices over the crying to hear the parenting advice on how to stop the crying, so this must be Banner's way of telling us to keep reading. The Constitution, well, I share Banner's sentiments when he just falls asleep!


• He's extremely strong. No, I'm not just a proud mama boasting about how advanced my newborn is. He really is a very powerful boy as most who have held him will tell you. He has great head control and loves tummy time (usually). He can turn his head well, kicks his legs vigorously, and will often turn to his side during tummy time. When we went to get his newborn screening, the nurse taking his blood was impressed with his ability to practically roll over. Yes, we know this is all involuntary now, but I'm hoping he keeps up this strength so that he'll roll over on purpose more quickly because...


• Banner loves being on his tummy! Like my nephew, Caden, Banner will probably sleep much better once he can sleep on his belly. He likes a little bit of pressure on his tummy and would prefer to sleep on his side. Although we follow the rules and put him on his back, he will often turn himself to his side.


• He's probably going to be a cuddler, which I can't complain about. Again, much like Caden, Banner sleeps best when being held. Once we put him down, his quality and quantity of sleep greatly decreases. That's why I've taken to liking the Baby Bjorn so I can let him sleep while I carry him without hands in order to get ANYTHING done around the house (dishes, laundry, eating... you name it, even using the restroom!). While I LOVE holding my baby, it gets difficult to do much of anything else if my hands are constantly monopolized for his use only. I can't wait to really snuggle with him one day, though, when he can hug back!


• My little nugget still loves his hands near his face! He hates being swaddled because of this. The only way to swaddle him is with his hands out so they can touch his face. True to the sonogram photos we saw each time, Banner sleeps well with hands able to be free to reach his head. Any swaddle we've put him in - with a regular blanket, a SwaddleMe, a SleepSack Swaddle, and even the SwaddlePod - he will wiggle his hands out of in order to touch his face. I noticed this in the hospital, and I thought once we got home to our special swaddling blankets that he'd love being swaddled. Well, no, that's not the case. And, I worried about this at first, but once I looked back to the first family photo (the one taken in the operating room, which can be seen in my previous post), I saw that even then he had wiggled his hands up to his face moments after the nurses cleaned him up and swaddled him right away. Another problem with this is that he scratches his face up all the time. We have to keep mittens on him so he doesn't keep knicking his soft skin on his face, and no matter how short we keep his nails, he finds a way to dig in. It's not the length of his nails really, it's the way he claws with nail beds completely against his face. I'm working on getting him to relax his elbows a little more, in the hopes that he'll release his hands to go elsewhere, but right now, that "ain't happenin!"


• He loves motion like other babies his age. He quiets quickly in the car and loves to be rocked.


• I think he will love his older cousins. Caden, Mara, and Miles are great with him, and he likes to listen to their sweet voices. I know his smiles are not social at this point, but forgive me if I think there may be a little more to them than gas when his cousins talk to them as Banner shows a dimple when he hears their voices. So, either they make him pass gas or they have a super ability to get him to smile early on - I'd like to think it's the latter.


• As I noted in my earlier post about what I knew about him months ago, and like most babies, his most active times (seem) to be when I'm wanting to get something done - like type this post! I once said this made him quite the entertainer when I was in a meeting or conference, as I could feel him active in my belly. Yet, now, it's quite annoying, as the moment I want to relax or unwind by watching a small second of TV, by checking my email, by trying to fill out his baby book, by trying to return a friend's phone call, by having a little snack, by even contemplating taking a shower, by blogging, etc... Banner is up and active in full force wanting my attention. And, the complaints I've heard from so many other parents have come true for me too - the moment Sam and I get in bed, Banner whimpers for something. It's like he has this radar that tells him, "Mommy and Daddy want to relax; time for me to need some attention!" He could have been fast asleep for quite a while, and the second Sam and I try to enjoy a bite of dinner together, we hear Banner stirring. And, then, one of us ends up holding him, trying not to spill our dinner on Banner's head and boucing incessantly throughout the meal. "This too shall pass," we tell each other, and we hope one day we can enjoy a meal with Banner, without bouncing up and down!
  


• Lastly, he continues to reassure me just when I need it most. Just when I worry at night that he's not breathing, I'll hear him move or breathe loudly. Just when I worry he's constipated, he'll poop. Just when I ask him for a little burp, up comes that bubble. I worried his cry was weak at birth, and he's proven me wrong over and over again on a very regular (hourly?) basis. This doesn't mean I'm not constantly worried about him or worried about every little thing still, but so far he tries his best to console me.

Lots of pretty typical things for an almost one-month old baby, but I like to keep track of what's going on for Banner. My impressions of him at this point are that he's an inquisitive, deep thinker. He seems to be curious and quiet (minus the crying!) when he's most alert. I feel like I know him pretty well at this point, but I know there is so much more growing to be done, so much more to get to know about each other - and I can't wait!