Yesterday was a rough afternoon. Baby boy cried for one hour straight. Even though I thought he’d just eaten, turns out it had been two hours, so when he was unceremoniously awoken from his nap, he wanted to eat. Only, I didn’t realize that until we were drug through the trenches of his screams. I was so wrung out, I summoned his daddy home from work (he was due home any minute, I just didn’t want him dallying). Dumb mommy. When this boy cries HE WANTS FOOD. Can’t I just get that through my thick skull already? I put him on the boob and things calmed down. Husband got home and gave him a bottle. All was well. However, I was so confusticated (a word we use around here to mean out of sorts), that after dinner I took myself to the bookstore to pick up this book, Beyond Belief, (that I’m pretending I’ll have time to read), to Baskin Robbins to get an ice cream cone, and then on to the grocery.
He is six weeks today and 12#. I looked up the weight of my first son from around the same time. At four weeks he was 9#13oz but by eight weeks he was 13#6oz! And no one said boo to me. I really have no idea why baby boy #2′s weight has been, well, weighing on me, but I am OVER IT. He is healthy and thriving and I am letting it go.
I had such a profound moment with baby boy today, just now. DirecTV has Pandora which I finally accessed yesterday. I still don’t really know how to set it up in terms of my preferences, but I can get music I like to play. Baby boy seems to like having music on as he gets ready for nap, so after I swaddled him, I powered up Pandora.
Aerosmith’s Dream On came on. I began to sing it to him, not really paying attention to the words, until I did:
Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away
There I was, holding my baby boy, the one I loved before I even knew he’d be joining our family, dancing around my bedroom, looking into his deep blue eyes looking back at me, singing this song to him and crying. I am SO, SO, SO thankful to have him. My heart beats with gratitude.
Dream On
~Aerosmith
Every time when I look in the mirror
All these lines on my face getting clearer
The past is gone
It went by, like dusk to dawn
Isn’t that the way
Everybody’s got the dues in life to pay
I know nobody knows
Where it comes and where it goes
I know it’s everybody sin
You got to lose to know how to win
Half my life
Is books written pages
Live and learn from fools and
From sages
You know it’s true, oh
All these things you do come back to you
Sing with me, sing for the years
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tears
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good lord will take you away
Yeah, sing with me, sing for the year
Sing for the laughter, sing for the tear
Sing with me, just for today
Maybe tomorrow, the good Lord will take you away
<3 love this!
so sweet! glad you took that me time and had such a precious moment with him to stop and smell the roses!
I once heard someone say about breastfeeding “When in doubt, whip it out”, which still makes me laugh.
I still also feel kind of dumb when my kid wants something and I *finally* figure it out. Nonverbal children! So hard to guess!
Hen was a demanding eating machine as a baby, too. And he grew like it, too. I think these kids whose bodies are set to grow BIG & FAST as babies are literally hungry all the time. And that’s got to be just about the worst feeling for them. So the screams. Ah, the screams!
I agree with Dr. Scientist above: ‘When in doubt, whip it out’ was totally my motto with Hen. It rarely–if ever–failed me!
So glad to read that you are taking time for you!! Baby boy is doing well, growing well and communicating his needs loudly!! Sounds great to me. But do take the music and bookstore and ice cream breaks! You deserve them.
Love this song.
I too agree with dr. Scientist – whip it out, lady. It’s either boob or sleep at this stage and you can never go wrong with a boob, eh? Even at seven months, a boob is quite miraculous. I love this feeling too, more than the song.