Baby Laundry

The funny thing about having a baby is that I always have clean clothes. Quinn creates enough laundry that I have no choice but to do my own. I really don't mind the extra laundry that having a baby creates. Folding it is no problem. The problem is that it takes so much longer to get started and to make the change from washer to dryer. Why? Stains, that's why. I have to pre-treat the poop and puke stains and then check the effected pieces before putting them in the dryer to make sure they came out. The ones that didn't get treated again and saved for another batch. It takes so much longer to be thorough!

Six weeks old

My boy turned six weeks old yesterday! I remember that during the first week I thought six weeks would never come, yet here we are. Obviously he is quite different than he was six weeks ago. Highlights include:

• he's a white baby now instead of a tan one (icky jaundice)
• he doesn't require near as much wrestling at feeding time
• we don't have to keep mitts on his hands to prevent scratches, lip pulling and eye gouging
• he occasionally enjoys his baths
• no more lumps on his head!
• his cry is a little more manly
• every now and then a real smile will eek out
• if he wants to, he can keep his head pretty steady when sitting up
• he survived his first cold
• he's a chunk -- at his monthly check up (two weeks ago) he was over 11 pounds

There are a lot more, but I won't bore you with the details. Here are a few more of my favorite pics.

Can you tell he just ate?

We get this and similar looks a lot, but I posted this to show off his budding leg rolls.

It's hard to get a non-blurry picture because his hands move so fast.

I just have to get this out . . .

I've spent the last week feebly trying to get my house ready for all the company that will be here for Quinn's blessing next week. You really can't tell that I've done anything. One of the big projects was getting the girl things put away so you could see the floor in Quinn's room.

Let me start by saying that I love my son and wouldn't trade him for anything. Yet as I was putting all the girl clothes away, I was kind of sad. I don't know how to explain it. Going through the clothes and remembering how I felt when I was pregnant with "her," I started missing her. It's not that I wish I had a daughter rather than a son, but I think that because I thought my baby was a girl for five months, I became attached to that idea. That is who my baby was.

When Quinn was born and we had a boy, I wasn't bothered at all. I love little boys and didn't really think about my girl again until this week. Now my little girl's existence fits in a 45"x35"x7" vacuum sealed bag and it's a little hard to take. It's not that I'm really mourning over her, but in a small way maybe I am.

Strangely enough I feel like I had two babies. I have a hard time associating my pregnancy with Quinn. When I think of the ultrasound pictures I don't think of Quinn, I think of my girl. It's really weird because that girl never existed, but packing up those clothes and writing about it now, I'm kind of sad--maybe the best way to say it is that I wish I had both my babies. This probably sounds super strange and I don't think anyone will really understand me unless you've been there, done that, but I wanted to record how I felt. This is my official goodbye to my girl.

Prego Pics

I finally broke down and bought a new media card, so here are the late belly pics. I think I was 41 inches around the week before delivery.

Calling all seasoned moms . . .

All right, I am asking for mom advice, so please share away and be as preachy as you like.

I have a dilemma. I am trying to figure out how to handle Quinn's sleeping habits. He is a very good sleeper and if he's ready, will fall away pretty quickly if we put him on our shoulder and pat his back. Then he sleeps well (a few hours at night and varying lengths for naps) before waking up to eat. He will occasionally fall asleep on his own, but is certainly happier with our help. However, I don't really want him to need us to put him to sleep forever. He is a very calm baby, but I want him to be able to soothe himself for our sanity as well as for future babysitters. Do I let him cry it out until he falls asleep? Today I left him in there for 20 minutes. For 13 of those minutes he was just fussy, then it turned into full blown crying and I finally picked him up, gave him a pacifier, held him for two and a half minutes and he was out. A pacifier will also put him to sleep, but that is another habit I don't want to start. What do I do? Get tough or spoil him? Or is he too young to worry about this? When should I start caring? So many questions!!!

An exciting first

In the last week Quinn has started smiling -- not often, but they are real smiles. The bummer for me is that he only smiles for Troy. That is not an exaggeration. I may get an occasional content smirk, but Troy gets gummy grins. What is the deal?!?!??!

My handsome boy

My sister Rachel spent the week with us so we took advantage of her far superior camera and had a photo shot. I'll post more later, but these are the ones I've been playing with for a birth announcement.