Seth 11 Weeks

Dear Seth,

You are 11 weeks old today and by now I guess you're probably getting tired of reading about nothing but naps and sleep habits. So let's talk about eating a bit. Truth be told, you'll probably never be all that interested in any of this, since you're a boy. Anyway...

You love to eat....er, correction, you love the boobie. I think if you had your way you would be nursing about 12 hours a day. Pretty much any time you are not sleeping you would prefer to be hanging out with a nipple in your mouth (and a pacifier is by no means an acceptable substitute, although you do settle for it sometimes). You are a big rooter, and I can't cradle you in my arms at all without you craning your neck looking for a boob, even if you've just finished eating. When you're not hungry, you'll still open your mouth wide, stick your tongue out and lick at it like a strawberry ice cream cone. Even though we got off to kind of a rough start, all in all you have turned into a really good eater - about 90% of the time. I've learned to appreciate the "joy" of nursing, but my neck does get sore from staring down at you the whole time. You can latch yourself on now with very little assistance as long as my nipple is at least in the vicinity of your mouth. My favorite times are your first couple meals of the day - when you first wake up, and after your morning nap. Those times I bring you into bed with me and you are still partially asleep and very serene. While you're eating your free hand roams all over the place groping and absently opening and closing on whatever it happens to come in contact with, be it my finger, my shirt, your face, your other hand, or my boob. That last one isn't all that cute because it usually means you're scratching me with your razor sharp claws. You really love to linger over your meal too, long after you're really done eating, and most of the time I have to detach you myself or else we'd be there all day (or all night). Sometimes during the day you'll even look up at me out of the corner of your eye and start "talking" with your mouth full. Someday you'll learn that isn't polite but for now it is super cute.

So, having said all that it's not too surprising how big you are getting. You're probably about 14 pounds now and my back is seriously sore from lifting you and carrying you around. I'm afraid I haven't figured out the ergonomic way to pick a baby up out of a crib, I can't exactly lift with my legs. Max weighs less than 10 pounds and when I pick him up he feels so fragile compared to you. Fragile is NOT a word I would use to describe you. You are getting super strong. You can stand up on your feet for a long time while we balance for you under your arms, and you look so proud and happy while you're doing it. We've started sitting you in the Bumbo too, and while the first few days you were pretty tippy, now you're catching on and sitting up fairly straight most of the time. Whenever I tell people how old you are they act really surprised, like "oh, is that all?"

Just in the last few days you seem to have discovered your fingers. Whereas you've been shoving your fist in your mouth since the day you were born, you now have your hand open most of the time, poking your fingers around in there and sometimes even gagging yourself.

I would be remiss if I didn't at least mention your sleep habits, for the record. You are now sleeping about 12 hours a night, waking up to eat 3 or 4 times. I try to "pacify" you if it's been less than 3 hours since you ate last... sometimes it works and sometimes not. Usually we get up in the morning around 7 or 8am and you're down for your first nap within about an hour of waking up. You take at least 4, sometimes 5 naps a day. The first two are anywhere from 45 minutes to 2.5 hours long - if the first nap is short, usually the 2nd one is longer, and vice versa. The rest are almost exactly 30 minutes each, as if you've set your little internal egg timer, so I don't count on getting much done during those. I aim for getting you down for the night between 7 - 8pm. Our bedtime routine is still evolving - bath roughly every other night, then pajamas, and then you are usually offered one last bite to eat. If I've timed things right you almost always go right to sleep with very little hassle.

Well that's about it for now. It's after 2am and I should really try to go back to sleep.

Love, Mama