This post has been a long time coming. After my parents left, I got really busy with work. Balancing baby and work is truly mind-boggling sometimes. I'm getting really good at one-handed typing and having phone conversations with Dex on my shoulder. Being held to a certain time for meetings is what's hardest. I never know when Dex is gonna eat, cry, sleep, or need his diaper changed. If he's sleeping - I can focus, otherwise I'm distracted. We were in the office 2 days last week which was kinda fun to get out of the house for an extended period and be somewhat productive. Dex is gonna know photoshop by his 3rd birthday.
Dex still has some bad days where he cries a lot and has to be held constantly. For the most part though, he's over the annoying crying baby period. I think that we just know how to take care of him better, rather than it just being over. His digestive system is maturing, so he burps like a champ rather than suffering from gas for hours on end and screaming about it. Dex is also much happier when he wakes up because I'm always there, so he's learning that he doesn't have to cry like a tea kettle to get attention.
He is a really great little baby now. When he's awake he coos and gurgles and smiles. We haven't got a whole giggle out of him, but I suspect it will be coming very soon because he does a very quiet little laugh already. People ask me all the time about how he's sleeping expecting some horrific response. They don't get that from me though - Dex is awesome at night. He "knows" it's night time and usually goes right back to sleep after waking up to eat. If he's awake, it's for less than an hour and he's quietly awake. He sleeps in 3-4 hours stretches consistently with a few longer 5 hour stretches here and there. I attribute this wonderful sleeping pattern to low lighting, quiet whispering during night time, and putting on his pajamas before he goes to sleep. It's also Dex himself - he's just a cool kid already ;)
Breastfeeding is still touch and go. I'm having fewer and fewer latch problems - meaning Dex not getting his mouth on my nipple right. It hurts like hell sometimes, especially at night when he's half asleep and so am I. When there's a latch issue it's like getting a blister on your foot from your shoe, but you still have to keep walking in that shoe. It's a constant rubbing, and the friction does not feel good at all on something that sensitive. It's not like I can just not wear the shoe. I have to walk in it every few hours for the next several months. It's truly fascinating and satisfying to watch him grow on nothing other than what he's getting from me. My body can create this little person, birth him, and give him all the food he needs even though it can't stop attacking itself. It's a bit ironic.
