In week 7, we somehow established a semi-routine.  Finally a sense of normalcy.  As it turns out, things do get easier just a tad at this phase and that tiny bit of ease is just the right amount for you to realize that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  I managed to take a shower while home alone, cook my husband breakfast and make dinner at various times this week.  That may not seem like much but earlier in this I could have never imagined doing those things.  I still don’t know how anyone gets out of the house alone with a baby but I’m sure that will come eventually as well.

Gage seems to cry alot less now all of a sudden.  I don’t know if it is because I finally figured out which formula/bottle combination works for his little tummy or if it’s because he can see better, but whatever.  I’ll take it.  His crying bothers me alot less now too so maybe he can sense my calming down.  When he first came home, I would cry if he cried.  Now I can tell the different crys apart and know if he is actually in pain or just trying to get my attention.

This week he has started cooing.  Little “ooohs” here and there.  He also smiles on a pretty regular basis as well.  He has pretty good head control and will be holding his head up completely pretty soon, I think.  He makes this pouty lip face that is completely hilarious when something upsets him.  He has discovered his hands and he sticks them in his mouth and sucks on them all the time.  He is still extremely noisy though.  I don’t think that is going to change.  He grunts and gurgles and lets you know how he feels about every little thing.  He eats every three hours like clockwork.  He hardly ever goes more than that.  I cannot wait until he drops the middle of the night feeding.  I have a feeling it won’t be any time soon though.

We are having professional photos done today at our house so I will be posting some really good ones of him soon.

Lots of photos uploaded to flickr.

Things I Did Not Anticipate:

• Things not coming naturally to baby. Did you know that baby’s have to learn to do basic stuff? It’s not anything you can even help them learn. Gage grunts and turns really red and looks like he is in major distress sometimes. It’s called The Grunting Baby Syndrome. He has to learn how to poop.

• Noisy baby. He is the noisiest thing I have ever been around. When he’s not grunting or crying, then he’s farting. They sound like cartoon poots. How can a butt that tiny make all that noise?

• The insurmountable pile of bottles, laundry, and dirty diapers. I spend the whole day washing and sterilizing bottles or making bottles or feeding bottles. If I’m not doing that, I’m doing laundry because this little person pees and spits up on everything you put near him. He also fills a trash can a day with dirty diapers.

• Sleep deprevation. You know before you go into this having kids thing that you will never sleep again. You know it ahead of time and you are prepared for it. However, until it smacks you dead in the face you aren’t fully aware of how hard it is to deal with. I think I may have slept 10 hours total the first week I had him. I was going out of my mind. If I didn’t have my family helping me with the baby, I honestly would have had a breakdown. I cannot even remember what it felt like to go to bed and just sleep a normal night’s sleep.

• Monotany of feeding, diapers. You love your baby. You really do. Every little grunt and sigh is so adorable. However, it gets boring. I feel like everyday is a repeat of the one before. I know that he will start to do new cool stuff pretty soon and that’s what keeps me going.

• Breastfeeding/pumping being so difficult. Ugh. I could go on for days on this one and I will in the near future. You think people have been doing it for millions of years and it’s just intuitive but it isn’t. Oh, how it isn’t.

• Guilt. You feel guilty about every damn thing. Guilty if you make them cry. Guilty about breastfeeding or not breastfeeding. Guilty if they are awake and you are sleeping. I know this also gets better and I’m sure hormones play into this one but it still really surprised me.

• My husband being so good at this.  He really is a life saver for me.  I don’t worry at all if I have to go sleep and he is watching the baby.  He loves doing it too.  I didn’t change one diaper the whole first week that we had Gage.

• Losing all of my baby weight so soon.  As of probably last week or so, all the weight that I gained while pregnant (and then some) is gone.  I gained 25 pounds pregnant and I’ve lost 32.  Part of it is that you don’t have time to even think about eating and then you basically rush to finish when you do eat.  I still have alot of jiggle to work on but no extra pounds.

• My life before this little man came into it seems like years ago and it’s only been four weeks.  It’s very surreal to think of how much it has all changed so quickly.  It’s good change though.