A few weeks ago D, Squeak and myself were lying in bed and I was staring at Squeak in amazement that he was even here. I asked D "Did you think it would be like this?" His response was "No, I thought it would be awful and this is so much better than I thought it would be." I had to laugh at this because D wanted to have a child as much as I did and he never once let on that he thought it would be awful.
D is an amazing dad - though I am sure I am a bit biased. He's up to speed on how to clean all my pumping crap, feeding Squeak, cloth diapering, swaddling, bathing, etc. He does get a bit amazed or overwhelmed when he is confronted with a massive poop, but he's tackled it by "hosing" the wee one off as in his words "this is more than a 2 wipe job". He gets up with Squeak even when he's working. Ultimately I'm very lucky and I know this - I know it even more so on the days when D is at work. I'm a firm believer in parenting 50/50 and D is as well. Right now I do end up with more of the workload, but D does his fair share on the days he is off which makes my life simpler and a bit less stressful all around.
One of my close friends had a baby girl about 4 weeks after Squeak was born. Her little girl was born weighing in at 9 lbs 3 oz - so not a petite little peanut. When talking with her she has described her child in terms that are less than flattering. Colic has been mentioned. Crying, gassy, fussy, etc etc. I feel awful when she asks how Squeak is doing and I say "great, he's a mellow fellow." She laughs and asks what my secret is. Truthfully I have been fortunate to not have to employ a whole lot of tricks. It could also be we are used to getting up at least every 3 hours due to the puppies who for some odd reason started getting up every 3 hours at the beginning of June if we are home. D and I were given a DVD of the Happiest Baby on the Block and we finally watched it. I promptly put the DVD in the mail to my friend as I figured she really could use the help. She called me two days after receiving the DVD in the mail and said "I love you - She slept for 10 hours straight it was wonderful." I think she would have said the same thing to D if he had answered the phone. We do swaddle Squeak on occasion but for the most part he's left foot loose and fancy free. D when he heard how our friend's little girl was acting said "that's what I thought it would be like."
In other news - I have a new recipe called "pudding shots" that my mil made... yes booze is involved. Let me know if you want me to post it. Since I know most of us enjoy a nice alcoholic beverage and I'm pretty sure most of us enjoy dessert - this is a great combo of the two.
7 comments:
Glad to hear you guys are doing so well!
Ahem... why am I not allowed to drink alcohol because I am breastfeeding? Are we labouring under ignorance up here in Canada? I'm all for pudding shots but my Dr. would say no and unfortunately my husband is under her influence.
DinoD
I'm glad that Squeak has been such an easy going baby for you. Hopefully he continues that streak and it's smooth sailing until he's out of the house. ;) After all you had to endure to get him here, it's nice that he's so well tempered (not that anyone deserves a fussy baby).
Katie was like that when she was little too -- other than our stretch when she'd only catnap for 30-45 minutes at a time. I was so thankful. It stunk though when she started teething and got cranky. Now she's just a pill most of the time and I'm not quite sure how to handle it. Maybe it would be easier if I had dealt with it from the beginning.
I guess I'm rambling. What I'm trying to say is that I HOPE that Squeak doesn't do this to you. And if he does I hope that you and D handle it better than I have. Which I'm sure you will. ;)
Yeah for a happy baby! And pudding shot recipe please. I'm working under the don't ask/don't tell (within reason) theory of drinking while breastfeeding.
Just wanted to let you know, I will be away from my usual commenting for 2 weeks. I'll be cruising the Panama Canal and I hope to be able to Blog from there. (But you never know!) Check out www.dackelprincess.com starting Tuesday for two weeks and you never know what you might find!
See you when I get back.
Just finally had a minute to read through this entire post. We had similar experiences when V was small - people complaining that their kids did nothing but cry all the time, and when they expected me to be in the same boat, I think they were disappointed when I would say V was happy 90% of the time. Made me feel guilty and thankful at the same time. One good thing is that when something is wrong, it's pretty evident...but I do think I may be less tolerant of fussy days as I never had to get accustomed to them for long periods of time!
We loved the Happiest Baby book, and kept V swaddled till she grew out of them - close to 4 months, I think!
ooohhh post the recipe. Pudding and booz, my two favorites! Plus AF is around the corner and I need something to look forward to when she gets here.
I just found your blog. Your baby is gorgeous!
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