The past 3 weeks have been a blur. A sleep-deprived, cry-filled, blur. Bentley is lucky he is so darn cute because he sure cries a lot. We aren't really sure if there's something bothering him or if this is normal newborn crying. We were really spoiled with Ryder - he was the easiest, most content baby ever! He almost never cried and when he did, we knew what was wrong and could fix it quickly. When he was hungry, he ate. When he was tired, he slept. When he was overstimulated, he could just close his eyes and go to sleep. Bentley is a very different baby so far! He is very gassy, so that could be the reason he cries a lot of the time - I feel awful because it does seem like he is in pain. He also has trouble going to sleep when he is tired, which leads to him being an over-tired, cranky mess. And he gets overstimulated very easily. He can't just fall asleep anywhere like a lot of babies. He needs to be in a quiet, calm room, swaddled and held just right while being walked around until he manages to doze off. This is hard to do when you have a very loud toddler in the same house. Especially since Rudy has gone back to work and I am here by myself with them. But I am managing and getting things figured out. I was really nervous about it, but it has really gone better than I expected.
Managing both kids is definitely exhausting though! Ryder has so much energy and has been getting pretty bored in the house. It's too hot to play outside for most of the day and we aren't taking Bentley out much yet (besides the fact that I think newborns should be kept at home as much as possible for awhile, he is not easy to take places with his crying fits and inability to all asleep when he is tired or overstimulated, plus he eats every 2 hours, sometimes every hour). Ryder is loud as it is, but when he gets bored he seems to get much louder. And he starts acting out and not listening. That has been the hardest part. He has been getting in trouble quite a bit and while we are trying very hard to be patient with him, we can't just not punish him when his behavior is unacceptable. But I know that he also needs extra attention right now because he is getting used to sharing us with his brother. I am so sleep deprived that it's really hard to have patience though!
Speaking of sleep deprived. Bentley sleeps a lot, but not in long stretches yet. His longest stretch is usually about 4 hours and other than that it's anywhere from 1.5-3 hours. He wakes up 2-3 times a night and after he eats, goes right back to sleep but his long stretch is typically from about 8pm-12am and we don't usually make it to bed until about 10. I haven't had more than 3 hours of sleep at a time for 3 weeks now and it's definitely taking it's toll. He sleeps a lot during the day, but it's a lot different with the second kid - can't just sleep when the baby sleeps! Of course, both kids are sleeping right now and here I am, on the computer. Actually I have been managing to get both kids napping at the same time most days but usually don't sleep. The other day I took a 2 hour nap and it was wonderful though!
So far Bentley is growing like a weed! It's funny because at one week, babies are expected to be under their birth weight, but Bentley was already up to 8 lbs, 9oz! He gained 14 oz. Then at 2 weeks, when they are expected to be back up around their birth weight, he was at 9 lbs, 3 oz. He gained 1.5 lbs in 2 weeks! And I was worried he wasn't getting enough to eat, haha. ;)
Ok, I started this post on Thursday and it is now Sunday night .... let's just get to the pictures:
0 comments:
Post a Comment