It's the end of a very long day, and Samantha is finally asleep. I say finally because it's been a real struggle this evening. It was a struggle last night too -- she was very cranky, crying incessantly until she finally could cry no more and went to sleep. Nothing we did seemed to help -- holding her, rocking her, bouncing her on an exercise ball -- all in vain. It was after midnight before she slept, and even then she woke up at 1 am (hungry), at 2 am (unhappy and crying, Amy says until 4), at 5 am, and at 7:30 am. So neither Amy nor I got much sleep last night
Today started out just fine. Sam was awake and alert but quiet for part of the morning, and slept peacefully in her cradle for another part of the morning. I took her into the den for a while too, and she showed yet another new behavior. She was fussing and fidgeting in my arms, and it seemed to me that she was looking over at Amy. To test the theory I moved Sam into several different positions, but she always turned her head toward her mom. I took this as an "I want my mommy" moment and handed her over, at which point she settled right down. I think this is the first time I've seen her show any sort of preference about who was holding her, but maybe I just imagined the whole thing.
On the other hand, she did the same thing again tonight, except this time it was I who got her to calm down.
Another cute Samantha moment: I was watching her sleep this morning, and she started suckling in her sleep. Her little jaw was moving up and down and her eyebrows were flexing in rhythm with her sucks. I wonder, do newborns have the capacity to dream, or was this just some kind of autonomic reflex because she was hungry? I'll have to do some research on infants and dreaming, or maybe just ask her pediatrician.
Unfortunately, I think we made a mistake today by taking her out to do errands with us, and getting her overstimulated. We went to pick up a new pump at the medical supply store, drop off some documents at work, buy cat food and dog treats, have a late lunch / early dinner, and then go looking for end tables and curtains and a rug to put under the rocking chair in the bedroom. (We found the rug, and a few baby items, but that was all -- the mission was, overall, a failure.) All in all we were out for more than 5 hours and visited quite a number of different places, bringing Samantha with us everywhere.
For the first part of the trip she was okay -- she slept while we ate, and only fidgeted a little the rest of the time -- but by the end she was hyperstimulated, cranky, and crying without letup for around two hours. At that point Amy and I were pretty much at the ends of our respective ropes, but what is there to do except persevere and be patient? So we tried to be patient, and we rocked Sam and fed Sam and changed Sam, and she eventually quieted down.
One of our baby purchases for Samantha today was an open-top Graco swing, the top of the line model with 6 speeds and music and 4 recline positions and all the bells and whistles. What can I say? We were in Target and it was relatively cheap, and we hoped desperately that she'd be one of those babies who just love rocking slowly in a swing while listening to music, or at least who love it more than they love crying.
So I spend an hour and a half assembling the thing based on instructions that are mostly confusing diagrams with very few words of explanation, while Samantha cries like the world is ending and Amy tries to calm her down. At last success, the swing is ready. Samantha, meanwhile, has calmed down at least a little. She's fussing and waving her arms and legs, but not actively crying. Into the swing we place her and turn it on for a low gentle rocking motion. And she's okay for all of 10 minutes or so before she starts to cry. Evidently she's one of those babies for whom swings do very little, at least based on this one data point. Bouncy chairs also appear to do nothing for her, but maybe eventually she'll grow to like one or the other. That or we're going to have the biggest collection of useless baby gear in the Town of Arlington. Oh well, there's always eBay. Or we could give them to friends who are having babies of their own, I suppose.
On a more random note, I made a very interesting discovery tonight. Home Depot is the only store in the world where no one cares if you're carrying a baby. Really, we were there for 30 to 40 minutes and passed by scores of people (both employees and customers), and not one single person remarked that I was carrying a newborn around on my chest (in a Bjorn baby carrier, of course). This is the only store I can think of where this has been true. Everyplace else I've gone at least a couple of people have remarked on how cute she is, or asked how old she is, or otherwise taken at least some notice of her. Weird. I guess Home Depot is a universe unto itself.
I just found out that I accidentally left the garage door open while taking out the trash, and the door from the basement to the garage was ajar. Both cats -- black cats, no less -- have escaped and are outside at midnight. Damn it. Now I have to go look for them. (Yes, I know you can't find black cats at night, but I have to go look for them anyway.)
Today started out just fine. Sam was awake and alert but quiet for part of the morning, and slept peacefully in her cradle for another part of the morning. I took her into the den for a while too, and she showed yet another new behavior. She was fussing and fidgeting in my arms, and it seemed to me that she was looking over at Amy. To test the theory I moved Sam into several different positions, but she always turned her head toward her mom. I took this as an "I want my mommy" moment and handed her over, at which point she settled right down. I think this is the first time I've seen her show any sort of preference about who was holding her, but maybe I just imagined the whole thing.
On the other hand, she did the same thing again tonight, except this time it was I who got her to calm down.
Another cute Samantha moment: I was watching her sleep this morning, and she started suckling in her sleep. Her little jaw was moving up and down and her eyebrows were flexing in rhythm with her sucks. I wonder, do newborns have the capacity to dream, or was this just some kind of autonomic reflex because she was hungry? I'll have to do some research on infants and dreaming, or maybe just ask her pediatrician.
Unfortunately, I think we made a mistake today by taking her out to do errands with us, and getting her overstimulated. We went to pick up a new pump at the medical supply store, drop off some documents at work, buy cat food and dog treats, have a late lunch / early dinner, and then go looking for end tables and curtains and a rug to put under the rocking chair in the bedroom. (We found the rug, and a few baby items, but that was all -- the mission was, overall, a failure.) All in all we were out for more than 5 hours and visited quite a number of different places, bringing Samantha with us everywhere.
For the first part of the trip she was okay -- she slept while we ate, and only fidgeted a little the rest of the time -- but by the end she was hyperstimulated, cranky, and crying without letup for around two hours. At that point Amy and I were pretty much at the ends of our respective ropes, but what is there to do except persevere and be patient? So we tried to be patient, and we rocked Sam and fed Sam and changed Sam, and she eventually quieted down.
One of our baby purchases for Samantha today was an open-top Graco swing, the top of the line model with 6 speeds and music and 4 recline positions and all the bells and whistles. What can I say? We were in Target and it was relatively cheap, and we hoped desperately that she'd be one of those babies who just love rocking slowly in a swing while listening to music, or at least who love it more than they love crying.
So I spend an hour and a half assembling the thing based on instructions that are mostly confusing diagrams with very few words of explanation, while Samantha cries like the world is ending and Amy tries to calm her down. At last success, the swing is ready. Samantha, meanwhile, has calmed down at least a little. She's fussing and waving her arms and legs, but not actively crying. Into the swing we place her and turn it on for a low gentle rocking motion. And she's okay for all of 10 minutes or so before she starts to cry. Evidently she's one of those babies for whom swings do very little, at least based on this one data point. Bouncy chairs also appear to do nothing for her, but maybe eventually she'll grow to like one or the other. That or we're going to have the biggest collection of useless baby gear in the Town of Arlington. Oh well, there's always eBay. Or we could give them to friends who are having babies of their own, I suppose.
On a more random note, I made a very interesting discovery tonight. Home Depot is the only store in the world where no one cares if you're carrying a baby. Really, we were there for 30 to 40 minutes and passed by scores of people (both employees and customers), and not one single person remarked that I was carrying a newborn around on my chest (in a Bjorn baby carrier, of course). This is the only store I can think of where this has been true. Everyplace else I've gone at least a couple of people have remarked on how cute she is, or asked how old she is, or otherwise taken at least some notice of her. Weird. I guess Home Depot is a universe unto itself.
I just found out that I accidentally left the garage door open while taking out the trash, and the door from the basement to the garage was ajar. Both cats -- black cats, no less -- have escaped and are outside at midnight. Damn it. Now I have to go look for them. (Yes, I know you can't find black cats at night, but I have to go look for them anyway.)
posted by Matt | 12:13 AM
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