When people used to ask me if I was loving having a newborn, I was pretty meh about it. Of course I loved Little Boy in that mama bear I’ll do anything for you protection hug. But man, those newborn days were tough! I was lucky to get even 3 straight hours of sleep, and let’s not even open the can of worms that were our feeding issues for the better part of two months. So I answered that I was loving being a mom or that he’s a great baby but that was as far as I was willing to go.
After several months I couldn’t help but marvel at how lucky I was. Little Boy became such a happy, easy going baby. He charmed strangers and once his sleep got better we could really enjoy him. It was then that I was warned, with an ominous tone, “you’ll see, all babies are different”.
Apparently I was too lucky with my firstborn so surely I had a nightmare ahead of me. Then I became pregnant again (despite all the warnings) and started thinking ahead. Of course all I could imagine was having the same experience again: not sleeping, lots of pumping, and a mix of love and exhaustion from being an all inclusive on call caretaker.
Baby Brother is different. Different in that he is the most chill-relaxed little dude you will ever meet. The only fussing I ever hear is when he’s having trouble falling asleep, which cues me to just bounce him a little more, or walk around, or nurse him to sleep.
In the day to day we don’t really hear crying, except when he’s been “abandoned” in the car seat. He is that poster child for the cuddly newborn; just hold him and he’s a happy baby. I get why people love newborns! Holding him tells me: have more kids! This is fun!
Baby Brother melted into my arms at first sight. He was quite literally born knowing how to nurse. His sleep from about 6 weeks has been mostly really good (first wake-up around 4 a.m.) with just the occasional nightmarish night.
He’s a big baby that’s heavy to carry around but that’s really my only complaint. While I have a feeling he will be more of a handful as he gets older*, for the time being I am enjoying his babyhood. And reminding myself of how much I dislike being pregnant.
*And yes by the time I’ve gotten around to publishing this post we’ve hit the four month sleep regression and our first bout of teething- indeed more of a handful.
