3 Weeks

Today Nora and Milo are 3 weeks old. I thought I'd be writing more about them, but it turns out it's hard to find time when some days I have to make a decision between getting a glass of water and going to the bathroom, because I don't have time to do both.

The babies have grown and changed so much in 3 weeks. We have been released from the every-three-hours schedule, because Nora is a whopping 5 lbs 11 oz already, and is plenty big enough to wake herself up and demand to be fed. Vigorously. Every hour, if necessary. Last night they decided that sleep wasn't so much fun after all, and there were only 18 minutes when both of them were asleep at the same time. All night long. 18 minutes. That was a good 18 minutes. I slept through it myself. I have found out that it is worth it to grab 10 minutes of sleep, but it is not worth it to grab 2 minutes of sleep. At 4 in the morning, there can be a big difference between 10 minutes and 2 minutes. The problem is that when you begin sleeping, you don't know if it'll be for 2 minutes, or for 10 minutes, or for 18 minutes, or for (heaven) 2 hours.

Milo has grown a lot too, and he has learned a real baby cry. None of this wimpy "eh, eh" newborn stuff, he's graduated into the full-out scream when he's really upset. But so far, that doesn't happen too often. Sometimes we subject him to horrible indignities (eye ointment, or nasal spray) and we get to hear the full-on scream version of his cry. Other times, he tolerates those things remarkably well. Milo is comforted by close cuddling and he produces a worried look less often than he used to a couple of weeks ago. He used to wrinkle up his forehead all the time like he had big problems to solve. That's happening less now, but maybe it's just because his face is getting fatter.

Both of the babies seem to be rejecting their bassinet in our bedroom, or at least they were last night. They fall asleep soundly in their crib and then when I transfer them to our bedroom, it's like they're being placed in the bassinet of fire and pain.

Nora has become a hungry little girl. When she's ready to eat she'll shake her head back and forth like a crazed chihuahua and kind of grunt as she latches on. She likes to talk a lot, all the time. She talks when she's eating, when she's being burped, and when she's in a light sleep. The only time I've really seen her scream so far is when she's ready to eat and the food is not produced pronto. Well, that and bath time.

Okay. It's hard to write about babies without it being boring. I am amazed by how different Nora and Milo are, and how their personalities are already making themselves known. At the same time, feeding, burping, and soothing babies is, frankly, kind of boring. It's not rocket science. Okay, sometimes the soothing part is pretty tricky. But it's not like we're solving intellectual puzzles here in babyland.

Things are better at 3 weeks than they were at 3 days, so that's something. I wonder what things will be like in another 3 weeks.

Above, Nora being calm and contemplative, and Milo's crazy-eyed look of worry.