baby rants

First Target outing  (alone)
Well the post baby, return to the world of the shopping, interacting and general living has begun.  Last weekend I successfully went to a friends baby shower, and this past Saturday I made an errand run to Target (sans baby).  Sarah's baby shower was great, it felt so nice to get out of the house and visit with friends, I didn't forget how to drive a stick shift Subaru, and Nolan did just fine without me.  Target on the other hand was almost a complete failure.  I wandered around aimlessly, despite the explicit list in my pocket.  The clothing section, which was my main goal (nursing friendly clothes are needed) was entirely overwhelming, and I could not focus on anything, it didn't seem to matter, trying on clothes at a store felt trivial and silly when I can do online shopping with baby in arms.  The one thing I really enjoyed about the Target run was the decaf fancy Starbucks drink I treated myself to as soon as I walked in the door.  It was enough just to walk around with a coffee in hand, it made me feel like I'd returned to pleasant society, at least for a little while.

Nap and Nurse
My dear friend Kristina introduced me to the term "nap and nurse" the other day when her family was visiting, and it is such an accurate description of what Nolan and I do all day at home.  He is a boy comforted most quickly by the boob, (like many others I suppose:), and when we are home without Nick, that is where he wants to be.  If he could sleep all day while nursing, he would.  I am the one who breaks his reverie to do people things like go to the bathroom and heat up something for lunch.  We are thrilled that he is thriving, and that he is such a big fan of eating, but we sincerely need to work on the other parts of life like napping alone and sleeping at night.  Speaking of sleeping at night, my swaddling love was premature.  For Nolan, the trick is swaddling him when he's already in a deep sleep: he fights it so vigorously when he's even mildly awake, and then gets so revved up that sleep, though it's what he needs most, is the last thing on his little adrenaline filled mind.  And then it works until he frees his arms, which cause him to wake up right away, and can be anywhere from 10 minutes to 3 hours (our record).  It's just so unpredictable, if he's really out (limp limb signs and slack face) he can sleep in the bed with us and be ok for about 2 hours, but if we put him in the co-sleeper, even when he's deeply sleeping, he always wakes within a few minutes.  What worked for one night seems to be impossible the next, and the only constants are marathon nursing before finally falling asleep for a little while, and my sleep deprivation that I have acclimated to, to a degree... suggestions welcome!

Here's a pic of Kristina and Paul's baby Gus, and Nolan meeting for the first time! Instant BFF. (thanks for the picture Paul!)

Baby clothes story
Before Nolan was born, it's fair to say that I was a complete novice and had no idea what we really needed in terms of baby clothes.  Nick is a member of the camp of "we don't need anything, he can wear the same thing all the time, and don't buy any clothes," which for newborn stuff was a fairly good approach because of all the hand me downs we got from friends and the shower and otherwise gifts we received.  I did buy 1 pack of newborn onesies because I thought it was a good idea to have extra.  He has worn the onesies (the crotch snapping, long sleeve shirt kind) all of one time.  And now they're too small.  So Nick has prevailed in this arena so far.  The clothes we've used the most of are the sleeper outfits, with or without feet, he goes through about 3 of them a day with spit up and explosive pooping and peeing, and getting in and out of onesies is so time consuming and frustrating for him.  We stick to comfy outfits that he can wear during the day and at night.   But the whole reason for this paragraph is that now, we are at a point where we will be retiring his newborn outfits.  He has grown too long! He can't straighten his legs in some of them, my boy is growing!  This must mean that he is getting some good nourishment, which makes me feel not so bad about letting him nurse all the time.  Anyhow, over the course of the last month, I have discovered a favorite for baby clothes.  We have 2 Kicky Pants outfits (thank you Kim and Jim and Kristina and Paul!) and they are our favorites.  They are made from bamboo, are soft, and wick moisture away (which is great when you have a heater of a boy).  And this morning, I made my first, post birth, baby clothes purchase on Amazon.  I got more Kicky Pants for Nolan!  I can't wait for them to come in the mail.

Of course, the baby is on my lap doing the napping part of nap and nurse, so I'll get some pictures up here a little later today!  (pics added!)

This would be a new dance move: left arm up, legs folded: sporting the Kicky Pants outfit.

I caught the beginnings of a smile on camera!  His eyes look happy to me. 

And here is the best laundry basket inhabitant ever.  He didn't think it was too funny, but he let me take a picture before reminding me he wasn't amused.