Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat.

Eat. Sleep. Poop. Repeat.

This is pretty much life these days.

(Although the amount of sleep that this mama receives on her end is negligible, and sometimes in addition to poop there are times of "rage pee" mid-diaper change that result in a full re-dressing and even more rage. Henry is not a fan of changing clothes OR diapers.)

Impressively, sometimes Henry is able to do all three things at once.

While the three activities named above might be considered the only consistent aspects of newborn life, there is actually no consistency at all in those “givens.”

The standard ‘schedule’ of newborn eating  is every two and a half to three hours (so I’ve been told) but you live in a state of guessing whether he will actually 'make it' that long and trying to interpret whether his hand signals are 1) legitimate hunger cues, 2) his self-soothing technique--boy LOVES to touch his face, or 3) a request to simply hang out in his favorite place (namely, Mama's boobs) with no intention of eating.  

Eating results in pooping, of course, and even that lacks clear continuity. You change one diaper in three hours, and then, in the middle of the night, you are suddenly changing a diaper every 15 minutes. (Yes, you regularly question during those late night/early morning hours whether he might just be OK or if it would constitute child neglect not to take action.*)

*I do always end up taking action...

In terms of sleep, a night of amazing-for-a-newborn sleep (two hour stretches in the bassinet!) is followed by a night like this one, where Henry’s eyes refuse to close, except for brief flashes that fool you into thinking this might just be it, you both will get sleep...and then BOOM! there those adorably frustrating eyes are staring up at you again. 

Eventually you get to a point where you aren’t even sure it is worth him falling asleep because you are so close to the 'wake up and nurse' time that it would be cruel at this point for either of you to have the opportunity to close your eyes, and maybe you should just finish the third episode of Call My Agent! that you’ve managed to get through in between failed attempts at singing the peanut to sleep while grabbing a one-handed snack to consume with 75% confidence than none will land on his face.

In case you were wondering, yes, I have written this while cradling the little man in my arms, in fits and starts as I have to soothe his 'I'm so tired but I'm not going to sleep' cries and replacing his pacifier. And, yes, you guessed it, he HAS finally fallen asleep after hours of trying...and, cruel world, I am, in fact, going to have to wake him up to eat in about 10 minutes.

And so the cycle continues:

Eat. (Please) Sleep. (Please Don't) Poop (Right Now). Repeat.