Dear Archer,
Not a day goes by that my mind is boggled that you are here and I can call you by your name. For 40 long weeks and 5 days, you were an abstract concept that was present and felt but couldn’t be touched, and now that you are here I still find myself waiting to wake up from this dream. However you are real and are not a spector and had anyone told me how my life would be changed forever I don’t think I could or would have believed them. This month has been a steep learning curve for both of us. Oy, I don’t even know where to begin.
Nursing has been both easy and hard from hour one. You latch like a champ when you are not screaming at 5 am when my boobs are so full of milk and all I want you to do is please latch and make them deflate a little. You like your boobs a little squishy and mine are not that at 5 am. Nipple confusion has also not been a problem as I went back to work a week ago to preserve my sanity and you can bounce between bottle and boob like a seasoned pro although you vastly prefer the boob. You also have a love of the green binki as your oral fixation is still going strong as it was in the womb. Breastfeeding is hard and challenging but worth every time we sit down on the couch topless with the Boppy and watch TV and play Words With Friends on the iPhone, it makes me feel close to you.
This month was a lot of firsts as well as you had your Bris at your Aunt Crystal’s house. It was close family and friends with the Mohl and Cantor from Congregation Albert. Even before you were born I fretted many nights thinking how much pain you were going to be in when you go circumcised and how I wondered if we were doing the right thing. However, you handled the entire thing way better than your father and I did barely shedding a tear while it was happening on the coffee table. Even Dr. Robinson remarked how well you took it although your Grandma Rosalie feed you enough wine to get you drunk at 7 days old and leave your trouty lips purple for a few days after. I cried the entire ceremony and your father was a lighter shade of pale, but it was beautiful to welcome you into the Jewish faith and share the words that Jews across the world hear with those who weren’t familiar with this tradition.
This month I also learned that you cannot tolerate any kind of dairy in my milk without projectile vomiting all day over everyone who holds you. So out are the cheese, milk, butter, chocolate, yogurt and any other thing with dairy in it. Do you know how hard it is to eat a baked potato without butter and sour cream? It’s hard but I guess this just starts one of many sacrifices I am going to make for you, plus I feel good off of the diary so it’s win-win all around.
Last week you started smiling and it melts everyone’s heart when you do it. You can also hold your little bottles with your hands when the timing is just right which makes everyone, including your mother, think that you are a genius. This month you really fit into your cloth diapers, which make your little butt look so cute. Your umbilical cord also fell off around 2 weeks old and onto the floor. We couldn’t find the small shriveled thing, but when we did we choose not to save it as it grossed everyone out, I hope you don’t mind.
Can we talk about how you pee on everyone and everything? Oy! You have gotten Noni, your dad, Molly and myself a good number of times not to mention the walls! You are a peeing machine to say the least. It is a good thing you love taking baths because between the peeing and smelling like milk farts, you get a bath at night or else people would think you are a well dressed smelly baby and nobody wants that.
This month also marked the first time you were watched by Grandma Rosalie at her house. She loved every minute of it and when I went to pick you up she wouldn’t let me touch you! Your cousins Anthony and Aaron were there and fell even more in love with you than they already were. When I took you home you did smell like a bad Indian restaurant like an off curry of some sort so a good bad was definitely in order when you got home. Although I cried in my car when your dad loaded you up and drove off, I know she loves you and is happy to have you even when it is hard for me to let you go.
Likes: The birds on your baby swing, being swaddled, the white sound app on my phone being held by everyone, football/spider monkey hold and farting/sharting
Dislikes: The carseat, napping, wet diapers and being hot a sweaty.
Goals for next month: better napping habits and holding your head up
Baby Archer you have brought a light into our lives that we never knew was missing, we are thankful you are here everyday even when you are screaming your blonde little head off like you are doing right now.
Love,
Me your Mom
