Here he is, all one month of him with his lamby from grandma. Still drowning in his newborn outfit...
It's been a happy and frustrating month (filled with undying screams from him). I thought I'd just kind of list a few things about Atticus' first month of life and show off his handsome little face. Because, as he is my son, he only does things so he can take pictures of them.
The kid hates to be swaddled since about day 4, swaddling was out the window. We still try to swaddle him for bed and my brother and sister-in-law gave us this great swaddle blanket that velcroes closed but the kid kicks that open. Even when he was on the bili-bed for all his jaundice, he managed to squirm his arms out
Yep, he had to be on a bili-bed for jaundice for about a week. He is still pretty jaundiced. The whites of his eyes are not white and I get comments all the time on his "beautiful olive skin" (Of course most people look olive-skinned when pasty-white-me is with them) which is mostly due to jaundice.
He is a squeaker. I don't know how other moms don't freak out and go check if their baby is breathing all the time. This kid is always making little squeaky/squealy/snorty noises. All I have to do is wait for a few seconds until his next squeak to reassure myself that he is still breathing. His best squeak is this little chuckle he's started in the last week and a half.
Of course the squeaks only come at quiet times. Most of the time the kid is screaming bloody murder. Starting at barely two weeks old, he decided to start screaming and has hardly stopped since. I was already off dairy and chocolate as the doctor thought that might help him with his gassiness. (Everything has dairy in it. Everything.) And I'm still off just to be sure although the doctor has admitted that probably isn't what's causing it. He is now on his third try for medicine to help stop the screaming and pain. The first doctor (the regular doctor was out of town) hardly heard what I had to say and just called it colic and gave us a pro-biotic and a "sucks to be you!". Regular doctor listened to me and my thoughts on reflux. We tried one medicine for a week and a half which took the edge off. We are now on day 4 of a stronger reflux medicine and I think (Hopefully not just wishful thinking) that it is starting to kick in. For example, he is lying flat on his back right now and is perfectly content. That never happens.
He loves just lying in the tub, not being scrubbed down, just sitting in the water and having it poured over him. He also LOVES being outside. I don't know how he can tell he's even out there but as a method of calming the screaming, we'll walk around with him in his carrier and if we're outside he's calm and literally if we go inside he starts screaming again. Even on cold rainy days, I can step outside with him for a second and he'll immediately calm down. Of course it has to be a perfect combination of things too. He'll calm down if he's in his carrier, we're outside, I am walking, and he has his binky in his mouth (not even necessarily firmly in his mouth. Sometimes it's hanging out the side like a cigar.)
Another thing Dan has discovered helps him be calmer is holding things, like most babies of course, but Dan has taken to just handing him a highlighter marker and he'll cling to that. The other day I fell asleep with him on my chest (as that's the only way he'll sleep soundly with all his gas and reflux issues) after Dan had handed him the highlighter. I woke up about three hours later and the kid still had a firm hold on it.
Let's see, what else...
-He hates being changed-probably a lot to do with having to lay on his back which is bad for his reflux
-He has a constant need to suck which leads to problems because he still has a hard time keeping his binky in and if we don't stick it back in his mouth right away then it's too late and he'll start screaming too much to even notice the binky is back.
-He takes 45+ minutes to eat. It's a little annoying. And he is THE messiest eater! Milk gets everywhere!
-He has met all of his cousins except the oldest one, Tyson
-His once black eyes are really starting to lighten, they're a gray color now and I think they'll continue to change to blue. I was hoping he'd get my green eyes.
-His crazy head of hair is also lightening-I'm still nervous that he'll develop the infamous Williams Straw-Hair. It sure was acting that way when I took his one month picture.
-Due to him coming so early, he was able to attend two of his own baby showers. He also still does not have a proper nursery as that was not ready before he came and all of his belonging are currently overflowing his crib and all over the floor as he doesn't even have a dresser yet and his mom had not tried to organize the closet.
-He gets so angry in all his screaming that he can roll all the way over to his tummy.
-He drools. Which I swear isn't supposed to start until teething...
-His scrawny chicken legs are starting to fill in. Sort of.
-He's always good when daddy's home. In fact Dan hadn't even heard/had to deal with his most outraged, undying screaming until about a week ago.
-He finally met his best friend Henry who was supposed to come two weeks before him but instead came nearly 3 weeks after him.
-He was the most perfect baby for his first photo session, which being my kid, and the first of my kids, he better get used to.
-He generally sleeps with his left eye slightly open. Even when I push it closed, he opens it back up again.
-He generally sleeps with his left eye slightly open. Even when I push it closed, he opens it back up again.
-He looks more like his daddy every day
For your comparison pleasure, here he is with his lamby at 1, 2, and 3 weeks old.
Meeting some cousins
Messy Eater
Good for daddy.
