Noll Family Blog: 8 weeks old!

I guess it took me tattling on Lukas to all of the blogosphere and Facebook for him to see the error of his ways and start shaping up. I'm not saying he's an easy baby yet (though I have faith), but the last 3-4 days have been markedly better. I would estimate he's only been doing about half the daytime crying he used to do, and there's even a good chunk of smiling in between the frowny times! AND he's recently decided he likes having his diaper changed!!

Well, he doesn't HATE having his diaper changed. He usually smiles at me when I take the dirty one off and likes hearing the diaper changing song. You'll never hear it unless I'm changing your diaper. So what I'm saying is...you'll never hear it.

I spoke with my brother on Skype today and he mentioned that I looked healthier and happier. I think Lukas' crying phase had really taken a toll the last time I had spoken with Eric. After just 3 days of having a baby who doesn't shriek in my general direction 8 hours out of every day, I already have a better perspective. I know there will be other fussy times. The first time he brings home a cold from daycare, when he starts teething, frustration over learning new skills...those will all suck...but at least those times I'll know there's a reason. The worst part about Lukie's fussy stage (knock on wood that it's winding down now) was not knowing if and when it would end. It was really starting to affect me mentally and emotionally. Now, I get more of the day with this guy:

And maybe a little less with this guy:

In other news this week, I've set my return-to-work date for a little less than two weeks from now. I've spoken with the library manager and I'm going to cut my maternity leave short by a couple of weeks, though I haven't spoken with my supervisor yet so I don't know exactly what day I'll go back. I'm ready to go back to work, and in a lot of ways, I'm ready for life to start looking normal again. I know it won't be the kind of normal we were used to before Lukas was born, but I think we all need to figure out how we're going to live life as a family, and a big part of that is learning to navigate Pete and my work schedules with a baby. I'm ready to start living our life the way we will until Lukie goes to real school, and me being at home is NOT anything like what life will be like for the next 5 years.

In preparation for Lukie going to daycare, we've started practicing with the bottle more. This has been a bit of an unexpected challenge. Lukie has been bottle trained since week 3 or so, when I was having so much trouble nursing and needed a break from his chomping. I'd pump and we'd give him the breastmilk in a bottle. He was always a little bit too happy to play with it for a few minutes, but ultimately, he'd straighten out and take the bottle, no problem. He was on a bottle for an entire afternoon when I had to leave him with Pete once. He took 3 bottles in six hours without a fight.

We've also decided that we'd like him to at least be USED to formula, just for emergencies, though we've also tossed the idea around of having him on formula about 40% of the time. That way I wouldn't have to be on such a rigorous schedule of pumping while at work, and we'd have a fall back if for some reason I couldn't be with him and we didn't have a way to get breastmilk to him.

Yeah. We thought that would work. Except...Lukas HATES the formula. He was on the pre-made formula when he was a newborn and we had the dehydration scare, but since then, he's been exclusively on breastmilk. He'll take breastmilk in a bottle as long as it's warmed up, but try him with powdered formula and you will get shrieks of frustration like you've never heard a human being make. We've tried Gerber Good Start and Enfamil powdered so far. We've read that Similac pre-made is sweeter, so we'll probably buy a can of that and try it out. I don't need him to love the stuff, since I'm willing to pump 3-4 times per day at work to try to give him as much breastmilk as he needs, but I need him to be willing to take formula in an emergency. The pre-made stuff is way expensive, but as long as it's not the primary way we're feeding him, the cost won't be too prohibitive.

Sigh. Lukie, you are a stubborn child. I think you come by that naturally. Blame it on Mommy.