Allen Shay - 7 week update

Some updates about Allen -
He's huge.  He was born 9 lb. 9 oz. and continues to gain weight like a champ.  He was over 13 lbs. at his 4 week check up!  Everyone said that big babies sleep longer stretches at night.  That's a bunch of horse sh*t. 

He has been going 2.5 - 3 hours between feedings during the day, but at night he likes to strictly stick to a schedule of waking every 2.5 hours.  Between diaper changes, feeding, and soothing back to sleep - I am sleeping in approximately 90 minute intervals.  Mommy is NOT happy.  He clearly doesn't NEED to eat this frequently, but I just don't have the energy in the middle of the night to soothe him back to bed without food at the 2.5 hours mark, only to have to feed him an hour later.  Tonight I've committed to break the cycle and I'm going to try to get him back to sleep without feeding him if he hasn't gone 3 hours or doesn't seem to be actually hungry.  Hopefully it will be a few sleepless nights and then we can actually start doing a longer nighttime stretch.

He's still a screamer.  There is no slow acceleration in his fussing - he goes from zero to all-out-rage in 2 seconds.  No in between.  The good news is that the amount of screaming has definitely decreased in the past week.  They say that 6 weeks is the peak of fussiness and I have found that to be true with both kids.  Once we hit the 6 week mark, things really started to turn around. 

His gas and reflux are improving.  He still spits up A LOT.  More than you can imagine.  And frequently.  And unpredictably (sometimes right after eating, sometimes an hour later).  I can handle the spitting up now that it seems we've gotten the pain under control with the baby Zantac. 

Lola is the BEST big sister.  She helps (in her own special way) with diaper changes, baths, and getting out the door.  I seriously couldn't not have asked for a better transition for her.  She calls him "Baby Allen" and gets pretty upset/defensive if anyone tries to comment that he is big.  She loves to give him sweet kisses and tickle his toes. 

He likes baths, eating, his swing, the bumbo seat (we just introduced that today), car rides, and being held.
He dislikes wet or dirty diapers, gas, waiting more than 6 seconds for food, and political ads. 

I'll try to be better about updating with actual data - it has really been a whirlwind around here for the past 7 weeks and I find that my spare time is spent doing massive amounts of laundry (thanks to the spit up), cleaning up toys (thanks to hanging around the house more frequently), and tending to someone elses' needs. 

More to come soon.