We didn't take any pictures this week until today. And... most of the pics... not share worthy. We really want to capture her beautiful smile, but... we have been foiled in every attempt.
A colleague last night said that his daughter reached the peak of her crying between six and eight weeks. It backed off after that. That would be nice. She had an angry week, more red faced, tears streaming, exhausting all breath moments than ever before.
But I also said last night that if I ever imagined my baby crying so intensely I would have been terrified, but... in real life... I just love her so fiercely, it is not so bad. We wish she were at peace more of the time, but however she is, she is our beloved child. And we will love her right through it. And as we talked about this with friends tonight Kevin commented that it is easier to handle the intense screamy times because she is not like that all the time; this is absolutely not all of who she is. So we take it in stride because it is part of who she is, and we love all of who she is.
The sweetest, funniest part of her serious crying times are when I put her on the breast in the hopes it will calm her down (it almost always does). She often latches on right away, but grunts a bit, angrily for the first 10 seconds or so as if to say "I'm still angry. I just want you to know that." And then she becomes totally absorbed in eating and all we hear is gulping and sometimes squeaking. She used to squeak all the time when she ate. Now just sometimes, but often in these times.
Funny story from Caroline's seventh week, last night was a pretty long night. She gets into these moods sometimes where she won't stay latched on for very long when eating, BUT she wants to be latched on. She'll suck for a bit and then will pull off (often dramatically) and then will fuss until I help her get reattached. This gets OLD in the middle of the night (it gets old during the day, but it gets really old in the middle of the night). She was in one of those moods last night and after what felt like an endless session of it I called to Kevin.
"Kevin."
Snore.
"Kevin."
"Uh.. yeah?" sounding remarkably awake.
"Caroline has been pulling off a lot. I think she needs to be burped and changed."
"O.K." Silence. Moments later- snore.
"Kevin."
"Yes," again sounding remarkably awake.
"Will you please burp and change Caroline?"
"Yeah." And then I hear rhythmic tapping.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm burping Caroline."
"I HAVE Caroline."
"Oh, I thought I did."
And then he got up and burped and changed Caroline, who then returned to her on again/off again nursing for what felt like for.ev.er.
12 comments:
Did we pass on the dryer trick that Laurie used with Erin? Not sure what you have to put Caroline in, she used an infant seat and would set it on top of the dryer, turn it on to just air, no heat, and let it go. The vibration from the dryer and the white noise it makes would calm her right down until it stopped. Then they had to set it over again. Of course, for Laurie Bompa would take us out in the car and we would drive for a couple of hours. She was fine as long as we didn't stop for red lights. The changes in Carolines looks are amazing. I see both of you in her. Hang in there, they eventually get over the fussiness. Love, GAS
sooooooo funny!
great story! is that red hair yet...? :)
still not sure about the hair color, heidi. crazy, but true. i think it is a reddish blonde, strawberry blonde, like her daddy was, but, it might be a brownish blonde like her mommy was. we'll see.
I'm chuckling out loud here. Such a great story. And definitely one with which we can resonate.
Both of our boys were particularly fussy in these weeks before things subsided (at least with Jesse). I think it's a big developmental brain and/or gut growth period (or something like that).
She's beautiful. I'd love to compare her now with pictures of baby Sarah and baby Kevin. Who is she ressembling these days?
kev's mom sent along a picture of kev at 3 weeks, right around the time of his baptism (same as caroline!) and... um... they look identical. haven't seen a seven week pic of either of us lately. think she prob still looks more like him than me. if it means she gets strawberry blonde hair, then... WOOHOO!
Sarah... I've not read any of the other comments on your other posts about angry Caroline, but has anyone mentioned the possibility of lactose intolerance? My daughter did this exact same thing when she was her age and after I left milk and cheese out of my diet, it was SOOOOOO much better. Same with my sister and both nieces. Leaving milk and cheese out really sucked, but it was a huge help to the little one.
She is a beautiful, beautiful little girl. I love those little chubby cheeks!
LOL...Thanks for sharing these funny stories-makes me feel like I am not so far away!
april, i totally cut dairy out for a week, and noticed no appreciable change. my midwife said a few days ago that i'd need to give it six weeks before i'd know. so... maybe i should try again. i don't know.
Just a thought but what if you swiched to Soy products?
I love that first photo! We will be sending you a box soon :)
AND STILL smiling at the Kevin story :)
Oh, goodness, she is so beautiful. (Not that I've ever met Kevin, but I keep thinking she looks like him in their photos - sounds like I'm not the only one!) Can you believe it's been seven weeks? Amazing.
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