My baby did not read your book.

Here we are four weeks in and I find myself saying things about Charlie like "It's as if someone has snatched my easy day time baby and replaced him with a pod baby. One that cries from one in the morning to three in the morning" or "I think Charlie is bi-polar". While I have gotten past my postpartum weepiness, Charlie is still having good days and nights and bad days and even worse nights. With Micha on the road for the majority of the work week, I'm on my own trying to cope with Charlie's down swings. I feel like sort of a one trick pony too. If a boob doesn't calm him down, I'm at a loss. I don't even know what to try (it's hard to be creative at 2 am). I've read this and tried that and what worked last night doesn't work tonight and what worked last week hasn't worked for three days. The one thing that we have learned for certain; Charlie didn't read any of those books.

What Charlie lacks in ability to fall and stay asleep, he makes up for in his ability to eat. Charlie had almost regained all of his birth weight by the time we went back to the doctor, four days after he was born. Also, he is incredibly punctual. I can almost set my watch by when he eats. Since I'm returning to work part-time in a few weeks, I decided that it was time to drag out the breast pump and try giving the bottle a whirl. Right off the bat I was able to pump plenty and Charlie took the bottle, no problem. He also went back to the boob with no trouble. Yay! It's some what liberating to know that I can leave Charlie home with Micha and not worry about getting back before he wakes up. I think it was also good for Micha. Let's face it, breastfeeding babies spend a great deal of time at the boob and that doesn't leave a ton of time for Dad to bond. Plus, I could now potentially get four consecutive hours of blissful sleep. Just the thought of it makes me giddy.

What, in addition to sleep, do I miss? I miss being pregnant. I really enjoyed my pregnancy and honestly wasn't quite ready to not be. (Although I have to admit, that first Boulevard Wheat did taste outstanding!) I miss being able to not wear a bra. I miss being able to put on an outfit in the morning and wear it all day. Now there are no less than 2 wardrobe changes because some or all of my clothes have been a) puked on b) peed on or c) some combination of both. Oh well, this kid's got personality. Most of the time that he is awake, he's either looking around so wide-eyed that his forehead is wrinkled or so seriously that he furrows his eyebrows. He talks to me (or to the ceiling fan, sometimes it's hard to tell which) and even when he's working up to a major meltdown, his bottom lip is enough to make me laugh in spite of myself.