You know how some babies are easy going all the time and barelycomplain about anything? Well, Henry isn’t one of them. He’sdisturbingly like his older brother was when Georgie was a baby ~ fussy all the time and cries if you put him down for three minutes together. Kind of makes me worried, not for his general health or anything but that he’s going to be another high maintenance kid. Argh! That would make how many now? One, two, three, four…. Argh!

I was under the impression that when God blesses you with another baby that you weren’t planning to have, some unwritten code exists whereby He gives you a really sweet, mellow child so you can spend lots of time bragging to all your friends about how now you couldn’t imagine life without the charming new wee one and God really did know what He was doing. Silly me! I’m sure God really does know what He’s doing; however, I think the memo detailing the plan to me got lost in transit somehow. The Angel Delivery Service (ADS, sort of like the
heavenly UPS) is apparently slacking off on the job. Hmph! Maybe Henry will cure cancer or something. Yes, in lieu of further communication, I’m just going to assume that’s what the plan is.

The midwife was over yesterday, and I mentioned this to her (of course, he was charming and perfect while she was here as he normally is with company). Now I get to delete milk, chocolate (*sob*, my truffles, *sob*), and coffee from my diet for a few days and see if that helps. You know, all the things that make taste buds worth having. Blurg! I’m hoping this helps. Anika cried all the time when she was a new baby. She wouldn’t go down well for naps during the day and then was miserable when she was awake because she was over-tired.

When Anika was six weeks old, I came down with a terrible case of mastitis the night before we were supposed to leave for the beach with George’s family. The next morning we zipped up to the doctor, got some anti-biotics, and headed for the coast. At least there I would be able
to lie around and there would be more people to help with the kids. Unfortunately, the antibiotics made me throw up everything I ate so I was thoroughly miserable for the next 24 hours until I gave up the drugs. By that time they had worked well enough that my body was able to kill off the rest of the mastitis by itself.

During the afternoon that first day, my MIL went to put Anika down for a nap. She walked in, ten seconds later she walked back out, no crying came from the bedroom, and Anika was sound asleep. George and I both looked at her. Ani had been flipping out completely when we put her down and wouldn’t stay asleep for anything. Apparently Mom had swaddled Anika (yes, we too had done this), turned on the fan and off the light (yes, good), laid her on the bed and then left. Being the thoughtful parents that we were way back then, we had been trying
to….. comfort her and walk her around and cuddle her.mWhat dumb ideas! That was the problem alright. We immediately adopted this new streamlined bedtime routine and were promptly rewarded with a happy baby.

I keep getting the feeling that there’s some simple little key like this that we’re missing with Henry. He does almost exactly the same thing ~ crummy nap habits and super cranky which I think is related to being over-tired, all of which I think may be related to being gassy (hence the dietary modifications for Mommy). I hope it gets sorted out soon because I’m really getting tired of listening to him cry (and so is everyone else). Plus, when he’s happy, he is sooooo cute! I prefer the cute. I know most people like wailing babies better, but oh no, not me. I like the cuteness. Okay, well he just woke up from the little snooze he was doing next to me and is now fussing, of course, so I’m off to go do baby stuff. Ciao!

Rachel

Poor baby Henry and poor mommy. So I have one question after reading this post. WHEN did YOU start drinking coffee? Oh and I’m hoping you don’t have to stay off all those yummy things for the rest of Henry’s nursing career. That would stink!

Must have peppermint java chip frappucino. Frappe is really the only coffee I drink and I only drink it two or three times a week, but it’s sooooo yummy! Yes, I know it’s wimpy coffee, and I don’t care so there. I started drinking it right after Faith was born but cut it out completely when I was pregnant with Henry because it suddenly sounded gross. And now I’m off it again for awhile…. Oh well. Maybe his system will have matured enough by Family Camp next month that I can drink it while I’m there. I hope, I hope.