Normally, on a person’s birthday, it is customary for us to give them a little something. However, darling James was apparently in a generous mood on the night of his six-week birthday and decided to give Mommy a present. No, silly, not a “Mommy present,” as Chris so hilariously (or not, if you happen to be Mommy) refers to the offerings of our babies’ bowels. This present, for once, was pleasant and entirely odorless. Our wee boy slept for a record-breaking six and a half hours.
Of course this insanely long stretch of sleep was preceded by a four-hour cluster-feeding frenzy, but I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth. When James squeaked this morning and I arose to discover it was not 2 or 3 a.m. but a quarter to 6, I nearly died from the sheer delight of having had more than three hours of sleep in a row (his previous record). James has been on a growth spurt of late, and theoretically his tummy is getting bigger as well, but you wouldn’t have known it until last night as he’s been eating steadily around the clock.
Our little premie’s eating has paid off, as he now weighs in at 9 lb 12 oz and measures just a hair shy of 21 inches long. It’s not much for a six-weeker, but it’s certainly not shabby for a little boy of 9 days, which is James’ gestational age.
James is reaching lots of milestones now that he’s supposed to be born. He’s holding his head up for short periods while being burped or enjoying tummy time, he says things like “ahhh” and “ah-gaa” on occasion, and if Daddy’s holding him, he’ll watch me as I walk from one side of the room to another. He has now officially destroyed many outfits with multiple brands of bodily fluids (not just pee). He can roll from his back to his side if he’s mad enough — of course we don’t let that happen very often. And I swear he has even been spotted on a few occasions (only by me, as usual!) using balled fists in a crude attempt to shove his pacifier back in his mouth.
Today, we purchased James’ first sling. (We would have put him in Maddi’s sling, but our chiropractor told me to stop using it. If the back problems weren’t enough, it swallowed his sister for the first four months of her life and she was about twice his size when she was his age!) We tried it out at the mall, and just as I suspected, our snugglebug felt right at home cuddled up next to Mommy. As soon as his suckie got properly adjusted in his little mouth, James promptly fell asleep. Maddi wouldn’t tolerate more than a few minutes in the sling, but then she is an adventurous and squirmy little soul. James, who has been laid-back since his fetal days, apparently likes nothing better than to be cradled next to my heart and will lie contentedly in his sling for hours on end. We walked around the mall and when we left, it wasn’t because Maddi was misbehaving or James was screaming; it was because Chris had reached his shopping threshold.
Of course, all the sleeping he does in the sling may very well backfire and destroy his new and improved nighttime sleeping, but that remains to be seen.
Here’s what James’ blog is really about — the cute baby pictures: