It’s pretty rare for Layla to cry, but it happens occasionally. Normally if she is hurt, hungry or kara or I left the room. When she does we will get plenty of warning. Her lovely little face will scrunch up and her mouth will open as wide as it’s allowed and it will look heart breaking…. But there will be no sound. I swear sometimes it takes as long 30 seconds until we her any noise from her. So it looks like she is screaming in pain and tears are rolling down her face, but silent! Bless her.
Silent cry August 29, 2011
The Magic Sponge January 2, 2011
For those of you from England you will understand the Magic Sponge. It used to be used in footy when players got injured. Apply the magic sponge and everything would be better (of course it was just warm or cold water).
Hayden has something similar – “kiss it”. He’ll bang himself, or bump himself and he’ll run up to us all pityfull and ask us to kiss it. As soon as we kiss the 
affected area everything is fine again. To be honest this is a lot better than dramatic crocodile tears that so many other kids do as long as the bump isn’t on his bum!!!
To be fair to Hayden he also gives out kisses. I stubbed my toe the other day and was gently cursing, and he game running up and kissed my foot!!
Three is Harder than Two December 6, 2010
Everyone knows the expression “Terrible Twos,” but I can’t figure out why there is not an expression about three year olds. My friend Marianne would call her daughter a “threenager” when she was three, which is a great way to put it! As so many people who had been there before us warned us: three is harder than two.
I had Hayden’s parent-teacher conference with his preschool teacher last week. She was going on and on about how he is the best boy in her class, he is so sweet, quiet, and smart. Her only complaint was that he was too quiet – she worried that he was not getting his fair share of attention or worse that he was setting himself up to be picked on when he’s in a bigger class because he is so gentle. She asked me if he was like this at home. I couldn’t think of enough different words for “No” to answer her question adequately.
Hayden has always been a sweet, gentle boy, but in this developmental cycle we call “being three years old” he is definitely exerting his independence, trying to see what he can get away with, finding things he can control, and figuring out how to deal with things that frustrate him they don’t go how he wants. And the outlet to most of his frustration is me. Daddy gets his fair share, too. And, bless her, one of our dogs Lucy probably gets the brunt of it. Lucy has been known to occasionally eat things she shouldn’t, from tissues to his toys, and lately he has it stuck in his mind that if she is around him she is going to do something bad, so he’s constantly trying to shove her out of the room he’s in, get her on the opposite side of a gate to him, get her outside, etc. And if he can’t do that he’ll throw a fit. Lucy has a lot of things coming to her, but these outbursts are usually unwarranted, so that is something we need to get through.
It’s not just Lucy who can get under his skin, though. The list of what can upset him is quite lengthy. Many times if I try to do something for him and Daddy is home then that will set him off because he doesn’t want me to do it, he wants Daddy to. (Luckily when Daddy is not around we don’t have this trouble, otherwise we’d never get anywhere!) “No not you do it, just Daddy do it.” I do have to try not to laugh sometimes because it is SO “three,” but John and I both have had several talks with him about how that is not nice and that hurts Mommy’s feelings, but empathy seems to be a tall order at this age.
I could give examples until I’m blue in the… fingers… but the bottom line is the boy wants what he wants when he wants it – at home anyway. You get him with someone who is not me, John, or Lucy and he is a little angel. I guess that is the right way around – I don’t want him acting that way to other people, and I think it also just shows how comfortable he is with us that he can be that way around us when he is so reserved around others. And he’s not testy all the time, just more than he used to be. He still has moments in the day when he’ll smile at me, give me a hug, and say “Moooommmmmy” in his special way, or come up and give me a kiss out of the blue. The key to managing his behavior seems to be to prepare him for what we are doing or what is expected of him; he behaves much better if he’s been told in advance that we won’t be doing X (say, going out to eat) unless he promises not to do Y (not get upset if some of his food falls on the floor) – this is usually very successful. Of course, many things that come up are unexpected, such is life, and we all just do the best we can (including him)!
Squeaker! June 5, 2010
Layla is a really beautiful little girl. She smiles a lot (often in her sleep so hopefully she’s having happy dreams about milk and princesses), sleeps a lot, eats a lot. She hardly ever seems to cry, but when she does it’s more a little squeak. It is really cute, so I’ve taken to calling her squeaker as my nickname for her. My squeaker is so precious – if you’re local and haven’t popped in to say hello yet make sure you do so soon!! If you’re a bit further afield then web cams where created for a reason!!
I appreciate as her lungs develop some strength this will probably all change!! So I better make the most of it!!
Layla’s First Week (or so) May 31, 2010
It’s been about a week and a half now since Layla was born. She has been a little doll. She eats really well and really only cries when she is hungry or if her belly hurts (in which case the cry ends after a burp or other such relief). I wonder if she has been having a little growth spurt the last couple of days as particularly in the evenings she seems to eat for hours on end with little breaks here and there. She sleeps all the time. She has more wakeful periods every day, but I think she is only awake a total of about two hours per day.
So far we have been really lucky with her at night, as she is sleeping well and gets up every 2 – 3 hours to eat (that’s from the start of one feeding to the start of the next). Her feedings last 45 min to 1 hour at night, including changing her diaper which inevitably wakes her up enough to want to eat some more. There has only been one night when she decided to wake up right before we were going to bed, and then was awake for a couple of hours (which meant I was awake for a couple of hours). But the vast majority of the time so far she is going straight down after feeding and allows me to get a couple of hours of sleep before the next one (except for last night where she was up every 2 hours, so I was only getting one hour of sleep between feedings).
Speaking of feeding, a little off-topic but something I didn’t want to forget was how long Layla fed right after she was born! With breastfed babies there’s always the big question of how well they will latch on in the beginning. I didn’t get to feed her until about an hour after she was born. First they did their tests and all the different things they do to babies right after they are born (and in the meantime they were taking care of me and all the things they do to mommies right after the baby is born). So once I finally got her back I was able to get her to latch on pretty quickly. The nurse came over a few minutes after she was already eating, intending to help me and not realizing she’d been latched on for a while (she was impressed – well done, Layla!). Those first few feedings were so sweet because I almost felt sorry for Layla as she used her instincts to try to get to her food but wasn’t always quite able to get there – either not opening wide enough, not going in the right direction, getting her hands in the way, etc. So sweet. Anyway, I hadn’t eaten anything since about 8:00 the previous evening, and by about 5 am, deep into labor, I was starving. They wouldn’t let me have anything to eat, and there was a good half hour to an hour where I would have given anything for one little cereal bar. So I imagine Layla was famished by the time she finally got to eat, and she breastfed for over an hour in that first session! I had to switch sides three times as she just kept going! If that first session and the following week and a half are anything to go by, we are going to have another good eater on our hands.
In the hospital they gave us 2 swaddle sleep sacks. We had used these with Hayden and he had responded really well to them, but we must have gotten them when he was a bit older as the ones we have are too big for Layla. The ones they gave us at the hospital are newborn size, so I washed them once we got home and as soon as we started using those at night she has just slept so well. At the hospital she would not sleep well in her basinett, even if she was swaddled in a receiving blanket. I would lay her down so we could both sleep at night and she would cry after about 5 minutes. When I picked her up she was fine and didn’t necessarily need to eat. The postpartum ward was not very busy while we were there, and both nights the nurse had come in during the middle of the night and had seen me sitting up in the dark trying to sleep, holding a sleeping Layla on the Boppy pillow. This was the only way I could get her to sleep in the hospital, and both nights the nurses asked if they could take her to the nursery and rock her until she was hungry so I could get some proper sleep. I decided to go that route because I wondered if I would ever get any sleep again once we came home and I didn’t have a nurse to rock her while I slept, but she has done a great job since we got home and I think it’s thanks to the swaddle sleep sacks.
The last thing of note is that her umbilical cord fell off this morning. I seem to remember Hayden had his for a couple of weeks or more; hers definitely seems to have come off faster. Whenever Hayden sees me changing her diaper and comes to see what’s going on he would ask what was on her belly, so I think he will be glad that it’s gone!
Grandpaman’s initiation October 11, 2007
Last night John and I went to a Paolo Nutini concert with my stepmom Gretchen and her friend, and my dad – Grandpaman – volunteered to babysit. Hayden had not slept well in the afternoon, so he was fussy when they got here but I was hoping he might crash out into the land of nod before long. When we got back from the concert we learned that he cried for about two hours before he fell asleep!! Poor Grandpaman! When I couldn’t get Hayden to stay asleep all afternoon I kept pleading with him to pleeease be a good boy for Grandpaman, especially if he was bound and determined to be tired when we left. I had written out a little ‘Hayden guide’ for Dad with lots of ideas on how to get him to stop crying. He went through most of the ideas on the list and they didn’t seem to help much. Unfortunately, the weather turned dramatically yesterday and we went from nearly 80 degrees as a high on Tuesday to mid- to high-50s as the high on Wednesday. So some of my ideas like bouncing him while walking on the back deck and taking him for a walk in his stroller around the neighborhood weren’t very practical last night when it was freezing outside.
Yesterday was the third day this week I have had trouble getting him to stay asleep during his afternoon nap. If any of you moms out there have any tips on how to remedy this please don’t be shy about offering suggestions! I have tried letting him cry it out for 5 or 10 minutes but that seems to do nothing and I feel like he is too young to cry it out too much yet.
We really enjoyed the concert. Paolo Nutini is pretty new on the scene so doesn’t have loads of material out yet, so we thought the show would be over by 10:30 or so. He had 2 opening acts and didn’t even come onto the stage until about 10:20! We were all a little annoyed at being made to wait until so late on a weeknight (yes, yes — we are old). So when we got home it was after midnight. Grandpaman was still awake, bless him. I forgot to tell him it was ok to sleep if Hayden was asleep. Hayden was just snoozing away in his swing, happy as a clam. There was no evidence of all this supposed ‘crying’ that went on for ‘two hours.’ My son?! My perfect little Hayden?! Oh dear, I have just turned into John’s mum!! 🙂 haha ha haha haha! Anyway, Grandpaman must have finally found a way to appease him. I just hope he helped himself to the snickerdoodles I had left out for him!
It’s Been A While September 23, 2007
It’s been busy with my mum and Aunt D in town so I haven’t had chance to write here recently. Lots has been happening. He is starting to kick his legs out, hopefully the start of his successful football career. Everton could currently do with his help to take penalties!!
He’s been a little fussy recently, in fact we left the troublesome duo with Hayden while me and Kara went out for Dinner and he screamed his little lungs out for 30 minutes! Wouldn’t take a bottle, wouldn’t take his dummy, not interested in his swing or his mobiles. In fact if he doesn’t want food and he’s fussy I have no idea what to do with him! That’s my only trick!! Eventually they managed to calm him somehow without having to call on supermum Kara to rescue.
I must admit I’m not too sure about babies. I really like it when he’s sleeping and I get to watch football with him lying on me. I like it when he’s smiling at me. But the rest of the time when he’s crying and just not doing anything I think I fit into that normal guy bracket – I can’t wait for him to get older and start talking, and running around, and causing trouble!! 🙂 I bet I regret that comment in about 12 months!!
She drives! August 27, 2007
I’m pleased to say that I have finally taken up driving again! Last Thursday I finally got the nerve to stomp my foot hard on the ground as the nurse suggested would indicate I could handle a hard stop. So Hayden and I went to Target to celebrate. He was pretty excited about the adventure, even though he slept most of the time until he decided he wanted to fuss enough for me to get him out of his car seat. Not easy steering a cart and holding a newborn, I must admit! It was nice to get out during the day, though. Then Friday we went to Babies R Us, and he was good as gold the whole time we were in there. Then he cried and cried on the way home. I have found that he is not yet to the point where car rides put him to sleep, as so far he has cried his way through them more then he has slept through them. But I guess that’s usually on the way home, and we’re usually on our way home because he’s hungry. Case in point, today we went to Kinko’s. I took too long, he got hungry, he started crying, I tried to console him enough to stop crying so I could finish up, he said, “No way, we’re out of here Mommy,” I finally surrendered and we left, and he cried until we got home and he was eating. I still can’t complain though, because most of his crying is due to hunger which means we can stop it. I know that might not last, but I am grateful for it while it does!
Hayden is a comedian August 7, 2007
I realized that Hayden has been blessed with quite the sense of humor on Saturday. I was finally ‘unplugged’ and free to actually get out of bed — they had removed my IV, catheter, and leg braces that inflated and deflated to keep my circulation going and prevented blood clots. John had gone home for a couple of hours to clean up, see the pets, and upload the latest photos. My mom was staying with me while John was away, but she had just left and I was on my own for about a 20 minute gap between Mom leaving and John coming back. I was feeding Hayden and he started to fall asleep. I put my hand up his sleep sack to tickle his back so he might start feeding again, and I felt something… wet… on his back. I pulled out my hand and it was poop! He had busted up his diaper so badly that it had come out the top of the back! Oh Hayden! Since I was pretty sore and trying not to move about too much, I decided to change him at the foot of the bed instead of in his bassinet so I wouldn’t have to stand up. I laid him down at the bottom of the bed, undid his diaper to assess the damage, and tried to figure out the best way to get his sleep sack off without getting poop up his back and in his hair. By the way, Hayden does not like being naked and cries whenever his diaper is being changed, so add to this scenario some very unhappy crying coming from his little pouty face. Also, newborn baby poop is comparable to tar until their systems get cleared out, and that type of poop (meconium) is black, very sticky, and just plain messy when it’s in a diaper, much less on the loose! Anyway, the next thing I know, a stream of pee is arching its way over Hayden’s belly and onto his arm and the bedcovers! It was hilarious! I’m already trying to navigate poopy clothes, a very dirty diaper situation, an unhappy baby, and then unforecasted showers begin. And I am not terribly mobile for dealing with the situation. We got it all cleaned up in the end, though, and it’s good to know just how funny our son is!
He is actually quite the little leaker! Last night I think we changed his outfit about half a dozen times because he had peed on them — sometimes his diaper leaked and sometimes he would pee while we were changing his diaper and in turn soak one side of whatever he was wearing. Actually, as I type this I am feeding him while he lays on his Boppy, and I just noticed my shirt is wet. He had leaked through again and this time got my shirt in the process! I don’t know how he leaks so much, since we are quite careful when we put his diaper on about getting it tight (but it can’t be too tight because he’ll get diaper rash) and making sure it’s on properly. Anyway, I just got up to change him and he did another sneaky pee where I finished diapering him and then saw there was a puddle by his side. Oh Hayden!
Apart from (and including, actually!) all that, we are still just completely in love with Hayden and having a ball with him. He’s such a little sweetie. John spends most of his time taking pictures of him, and of course that is to be expected since this is John we’re talking about. 🙂 If you thought he took way too many pictures of Lucy, just imagine what it will be like when it comes to his son!
Thank you everyone for all of the congratulatory and good wishes emails. I am way behind on email and it might take a while for me to reply, but both John and I have really enjoyed reading through everyone’s messages and we look forward to replying soon! 🙂
Hayden and Layla's Place 