Getting to Know My Son

Tristan is already 12 days old. I can't believe it! Most of my days (and nights) have been spent getting to know my son. Getting to know what ticks him off and what makes him happy. What position it likes to be held in, what makes him fall asleep, his signs for when he's hungry and for when he's full and what his noises mean. It's amazing to see his little personality emerge. He is a very, very mellow baby. Laid back like Daddy, which is good, because Ella's "high maintenance" personality (which she clearly got from Mommy) began to show right away. God knew I needed a mellow son, and Tristan is just that. :)

He cries when we put him in the car seat (only sometimes), but the tears quickly pass once he's in the car and we start driving. He quickly calms down once the car begins rolling. He's a good little boy in the car. And, I cannot tell you enough how much Ella loves having somebody sitting in the backseat with her. I'll always remember the first time she rode in the back with him. "Tristan gets to sit in the back with ME???" Pure happiness.

The only other time he really cries (and, again, it's only sometimes) is when we change his diaper or clothes. If he's awake and not hungry, changing him is easy pie, but when I change his diaper in the middle of the night or as a means to wake him up to feed him, he isn't having it. I'm honestly very surprised (and very pleased!) that Ella sleeps through her brother's screaming. She has a noise machine in her room, so I really think that's the magic tool. The possibility of Tristan waking Ella up was a concern of ours, but it's not even an issue.

Tristan doesn't cry when he's hungry or wanting to be held. He just does this cute grunt thing. It's so sweet. He just grunts, over and over again. So, needless to say, because my husband is the deepest sleeper in the world, he doesn't get woken up by Tristan during the night. Luckily, I am a very light sleeper (well, not lucky for me!), so I hear Tristan in the middle of the night just fine.

Right now, Tristan is sleeping decently at night. We wake him up around 10:00 to feed him before we go to bed. He's usually asleep by 11:00. He then wakes up between 3:00 and 4:00 with a big ol' slammer (as we like to call it), and is up for a good hour to 1-1/2 hours. He nurses so slowly in the middle of the night. He eats for about 45 minutes. I've tried to cut it shorter, but then it's nearly impossible to rock him to sleep. His stomach needs to be fully content.

He then sleeps until 7:00 / 8:00, which is when Ella wakes up, so it's working out pretty nicely. He wakes up very hungry, so again, I nurse for awhile. Right now, Aaron is home with me, so he is a huge help in the morning with Ella. I can't imagine what it'll be like once he's working. Yikes!

However, when Aaron and I decide to go to bed earlier, Tristan wakes up twice in the middle of the night, and getting him back to sleep the second time serves to be very difficult. He's pretty much up for the day, but I just cannot get myself to start my day at 5:00 in the morning, so I nurse him and pray he goes back to sleep. It can go either way.

Tristan is most alert in the morning. He's fully awake, looking around, and very content. He sleeps through most of the afternoon and then is alert again during the evening.

Tristan loves his swing (which was Ella's swing), so whenever I need a free moment from holding him, I know the swing will give me that moment. He can't stay in there too long, though. He does start to grunt, which eventually turns into a cry if ignored for too long.

Tristan dropped down to 7 pounds, 2 ounces at four days after his birth, but is now back up to 7 pounds, 14 ounces (so he's gained an ounce since birth). He looks longer, though, and his hair looks to be getting thicker. No question about it...he has Daddy and Ella's hair color. Who would've thought my dark hair wouldn't be dominant for both kids? My brown eyes are, though, and I think he's going to have beautiful brown eyes like big sister. Right now they are dark gray, which is how Ella's eyes started out before they turned brown.

Everybody keeps commenting on how strong Tristan is. His grip is amazingly tight and pulling his arms away from where he wants them is really hard. In fact, he is already really good at holding his head up. His doctors and all the nurses commented on his strength, along with how much he looks like Daddy. Tristan's arms are seriously bigger than his legs. I have a feeling he's going to have a strong build like Daddy. He's gonna be a beast, as Aaron likes to think. After all, Aaron did give him the nickname Tank. :)

And last but not least, this baby boy loves, loves, loves to be held. He sleeps so soundly in our arms and then wakes up when put down, even in the most plush, warm spot. As you can imagine, this is somewhat frustrating during his nighttime feedings. I think he's sound asleep, but he has me fooled.

I love getting to know my son. He's such an amazing little man. He is just perfect. :)