3 Weeks Old

After being in the world three weeks, Fisher and the Brantley family are starting to return to life as normal. Well, normal from now on, at least. I do hope being up in the middle of the night won't be normal forever, but I do recognize that it is a part of our life for now. So, we are getting used to it. I remember with Harrison once I approached the three week mark, I found myself severely burned-out of the up at night gig. Thankfully, my mom arrived somewhere in week three and graciously took the middle of the night feedings for the two weeks she was there. I remember it being uber-helpful then, and I'm certainly realizing again how great that was. It was amazing for her to do exactly what we asked her to do with Harrison and for me to trust that she would do that so I could lay my head on my pillow and get a great night's sleep. And since Harrison was sleeping through the night somewhere in the sixth week, it really was a great situation. But now, as I approach week 4, I'm not feeling the burn-out that I did with Harrison. I think I hit that two weeks ago! But I've rebounded for now, praise the Lord. Here are some thoughts/facts/tidbits that have been on my mind for the past three weeks:
1. Umbilical cord stump: this still grosses me out more than ever. It literally makes me gag. Harrison lost his around day 10, I think. Fisher apparently wants to go to college with his...it is still very much attached. Thankfully, Joan (Nana) showed me a way to clean it that may help it dry out more quickly and fall off...I just have to get past my gag reflex while trying to clean it. Fall off already!
2. Infant Gas: holy moly! I do not remember harrison having such bad gas issues. It is plaguing nap time and bed time and I'm ready for that to be over too. Mylicon is not doing the trick. I still give it to him like candy, in case it helps a bit, but Lord help me...I just want him to push that gas out. We laugh about tooting in this house; we don't cry about it.
3. Homeboy is a wiggle worm: Harrison used to just sit...so mild, so sweet. Nothing ever bothered him. Fisher, on the other hand, is all over the place. It was evident when he was in my womb that he would be a mover, but it is a little crazy to already see the difference in personalities.
4. I don't know who he looks like. Everyone keeps asking me and I have no idea. Truly, one moment, he looks like Adam, and the next he looks like me, I suppose. Mostly, he looks like Benjamin Button.
5. Skivvies: I'm ready to wear some nicer undergarments.
6. Keeping a Journal: so I thought my detailed blog would be sufficient, but there is some crucial information that I wished I would have kept record of with H. Things that I wish I wrote down so I know how to compare to where Fisher is: how much he was taking at each feeding; when we switched from three hour to four hour schedule; if he had bad gas; how many times I got up at night with him at each stage; I'm not going to do it now as this will be the last one and we won't have a newborn living at our house again. But, for those of you first time moms or soon-to-be moms out there, I highly recommend keeping a log of this information. It may seem silly now, but it will be super helpful when numero dos comes along. I find myself saying, "I don't remember it being like this with Harrison," but chances are it was, but I just blocked it out.