Just keep swimming, just keep swimming . . .

This week, let's just start with the pictures.  Mmm-kay?

My Mom's a good Mom.

Happy Days Are Here Again

This can lead nowhere good . . .

He loves baths!

Jake is still very vocal, and can wear on nerves (few things give me headaches, but he's given me a couple now), but with help from Nana Mimi (Laurie's Mom) and additional reading, the last few days have felt a little like progress.  Most "solutions" only last a couple days, and I'm not sure we're past that, but we think part of the problem is that he's underslept.  Solving that isn't necessarily strait forward.  Let him sleep, right?  Uh, yeah, but we're getting better at it.

Really, we've had pretty good success the last few days with getting him to sleep, with a greatly expanded repertoire of techniques.  Among them:  more ways to hold him, and many variations on those;  talking, singing, music, sh-shhing (though he's not particularly fond of that), and/or white noise; walking, rocking, telemarking (he loves that);  patting, rubbing, gently joggling; pacifiers, warm and cold.  And we're getting better attuned to his signals, to include how his eyes, arms, and head are moving.  That helps us get our timing right.

So, as it turns out, he may not have an attitude problem.  He may just need better parents, which we're working hard on.  And in case Mom was worried, here's this weeks' video (using Corel VideoStudio - 1/2 off on Friday!):

Is there a light at the end?

Actually, there's a light each day.  Little smiles, eyes following you (or the jingly piggy) around, and the occasional coo or gaa.  But we're still trying all sorts of things to get/keep him calm, or occasionally asleep.  More schedule.  More feeding.  More effective feeding.  Better burping.  Cold pacifiers.  Gas medicine.  Acid reflux medicine.  Ritalin.  Talking super nice (in lieu of the usual shhhh'shing).  Just kidding about Ritalin. 

Laurie is tireless.  Necessary since the kid is tireless, but she never loses her patience or cool.  In fact, she's getting more patient and loving.  Mom instincts are pretty amazing.

So, nothing new, except he's a little fatter (and I forgot to post this blog on the 20th).

1 month

Today, Jake is 4 weeks. 9 lbs, 10 oz. Cuter, still (smiling sometimes - not just gas). And healthy. But crying most of the time when he's awake. And some days he's awake a lot. I don't think he actually qualifies as collicky, but he sure does have a loud streak. This morning, the neighbor asked me if the screaming hurt him. A great amount of our time is spent trying to keep him calm (primary reason for the late blog entry). But he's doing great, still loves walks, loves visitors, and tolerates photo ops.

His Grandpa and Grandma Tibboel made it out to meet him, and to help us out as I went back to work. I think they enjoyed the QT - you can judge from the photos. Papa Lyle and Nana Mimi also made it out to see him again, though on one of his fussy days. Still, he had some good moments, and Nana Mimi is a good calmer. As is Jen (Laurie's older sister), who with Hubby Scott gave a valued helping hand this weekend. Local visitors generally put him in good spirits, too, at least for awhile.

Grandma

Papa Lyle

Being very safety concious, we invested
in the heavy duty stroller. The GRACO
car seat snaps right in. Super easy.

Our Mastif Pumpkin got carried away - forgot he was supposed to be protecting the family.  And we were worried about the cat.  Sheesh.

For those that haven't heard, we'll be moving to Montgomery, AL next summer - the AF is sending me to school - it's an AF-run school for Majors. Sad to be leaving Boston, but 10 months later we'll be off again; don't know where, yet. In the meantime, he'll be spending the start of his formative language period in the south. We'll see how that works out (I adore his Great Aunt Beth's accent, but I imagine him with something more like Larry the Cable Guy).

Jen and Scott

Final note to enhance your blog experience: Greg taught me the way of RSS. Instead of having to check the site for updates and being disappointed, you can set up an RSS feed that will let you know when I've made an update. For cool-kid Mozilla users, you should have an RSS symbol (orange with "radio waves") on the right side of the address bar. For Internet Explorer, the icon should be next to the "home" icon. I'll give part B of the tutorial once I have a clue.


 Oh, and a little video for Mom:

 

Serenity now. Serenity now. Serenity now . . .