I'm learning that 'routine' these days merely rhymes with 'poutine'. To a wailing child, remembering that yesterday, we ate and went to sleep around 11:30p, wasn't even a faint memory.
A few people have told me that the first 6 weeks are hell and then it settles down. Others still establish that 18 year mark as the next time I can expect peace. I hope reality (not the one Brian Mulroney seems to be living in) is somewhere in between. The first week at home, Julie would go to sleep around 8pm and I'd mind the little smidget until midnight when she'd get up to do the next feeding. We've tried to re-inforce that with my return to work last week. This turned out to be his absolute fussiest time of the day and no amount of consoling would work for any length of time. Swinging him in his car seat was the only thing that would buy me a few minutes of peace. This is hard on the arm. We then discovered, through his weigh-in's, that he likely wasn't getting enough food so we started supplementing him with formula. Then a switch happened... I'd take over for the evening, and he'd peacefully slumber the whole time.
But as I've discovered, just when you think a routine is in place... the crafty little devil will change it up. For the past couple of nights, he's been wide-awake the whole evening again. Two days ago, I got the "your baby is crying, when are you coming home?" phone call on my cell. As soon as I got home, he was in his bouncy chair and slumbering peacefully. He stirred, started to cry, I picked him up, he fell asleep on my chest. Wife goes grumbling off to bed.
Yesterday, we took him to a doctor for 'the man procedure'. Believe me, I think it hurt me more than it hurt him. Seems better for hygiene anyway... I could comment on 'it looks cleaner' or something, but that just seems weird. I'm just glad we did this while he can't talk or won't remember.
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