Snip Snip or Tale of the Tape
It has been a great week. Nana Jane has really been bonding with Lux (Nicholas too, but it is harder to tell if her efforts are successful there) and it has been really helpful to have an extra pair of hands around, especially since Paul has been back in the office. Lux took Paul's return to work pretty hard - after having him at her disposal for 10 days straight she seemed to forget that she used to smile and wave when he left each morning. So for the past week, while he is at the office, Lux periodically asks Dada? and we remind her that he is at work. If Susan runs an errand or leaves the room, Lux asks Mama? and gets her explanation. Now she has added Nana? to her repetoire, so she can find out where Nana is. We think it is really sweet, but it does get complicated since NyahNyah means cat.We took advantage of Nana's presence here to do something we have been putting off for weeks - get Lux's first real salon haircut. Susan had cut Lux's hair several months ago, just trimming off the back so that she no longer had a mullet, but it had grown a lot since then, and we didn't feel confident that Lux would sit still at home for a more extensive cut. We decided on a kid's salon, at least to start out with, and found Cartoon Cuts. There was one at a nearby mall, so off Nana, Susan, Lux and Nick went.
First step at Cartoon Cuts is a trip to the giant TV, under which is a collection of video tapes. We chose an old favorite - Teletubbies. Each cutting station has its own smaller TV, right beneath a mirror. Lux sat on my lap, watched her show and tried to pretend that a lady with a strange bouffant wasn't spraying water on her, putting clips in her hair and doing snip, snip, snip with her scissors. There were no tears or even any signs of fear until the stylist pulled out a hairdryer. Hairdryers and Jack in the Boxes are the only things that Lux seems to be scared of, so we decided she didn't need the blow out.
I have to credit Lux's favorite TV show - Oobi - with the calm way she handled her first real haircut. In one episode, Oobi (who, in case you haven't seen it, is a man's hand with eyeballs glued on top of it - sort of a handpuppet without the puppet part) wakes up with a full head of hair on his normally bald head. He then gets it all cut off at the barber shop. And then there is a fun hair dance. Lux has seen the haircut episode lots and lots of times, so we could tell her she was getting a haircut like on Oobi, and she understood.
Another great thing was that with Susan's new camera cell phone she could take pictures of the haircut in progress and send them to Paul at work so that he didn't feel like he was missing out.
Nick slept through the entire haircut. He sleeps a lot now. Paul and Susan often find themselves wondering why people think newborns are a lot of work. Other than the fact that we can't sleep for 8 hours in a row at night, everything about Nick is pretty easy when compared with a toddler. With Nana Jane able to watch Lux, we have been able to run errands with him, and even ate lunch at an upscale restaurant. He is very easy.
Or, at least he is very easy during the day. Nights have been more of a challenge. Nick was waking up every hour or two for a while there, and it didn't help that Lux has been having some trouble sleeping as well. Paul has been assigned to Lux patrol, and Susan takes Nick, but Paul also helps with Nick when he is just fussy and won't sleep. Last night, however, was a milestone, as both Nick and Lux slept well. And Lux actually spent the entire night in her own bed. She had been waking up in the middle of the night and needed a lot of attention and hand holding to get her back to sleep. We had decided that we were not doing her any favors by teaching her that she couldn't put herself back to sleep if she awoke in the night, so right around Nick's birth we stopped sitting with her while she fell back to sleep. Now we help her back to bed and tuck her in and tell her we love her, then leave and close the gate behind us. She rushes to the gate and cries, but we put a big floor pillow there and in the past few days she has cried for less than a minute before falling asleep on the pillow. Last night she didn't wake up at all!
Nick's problem is a bit more complicated. We noticed that he slept fine during the day, but at night had so much more trouble. And it wasn't that he simply wanted to be awake and play, or even that he was hungry. He would be very sleepy, but crying lightly, almost as if he was in pain. Then we thought, maybe he is in pain. After talking to his doctor, we decided he might be having a little acid reflux and decided to put his bassinet mattress on an angle. A towel underneath the mattress did the trick, and Nick slept as peacefully as he ever has and for long blocks of time. Hurrah!
And speaking of doctors, Nick had his two week check up yesterday. Thankfully, we made certain we wouldn't be seen by Dr. Bizarro, and the woman we did see was able to answer all our questions about what Dr. Bizarro had diagnosed. The heart murmur, while there, was very, very faint and a non-issue. The tear-duct problem may well have resolved itself already as we haven't noticed any tears from Nick since he was two days old. His soft airway is still a bit of an issue - Nick struggles to breathe a little when he gets overwrought and when he eats, but he seems to be eating just fine. We were referred to a pulmonologist, just to ease our minds. And it seems likely that his soft airway contributes to the acid reflux, and thus his sleeping difficulties. Otherwise, however, Nick is just fine, and his soft airway will likely resolve itself as he gets older.
Nick also got a Hepatitis B vaccine and his new measurements. Like his sister, he is off the charts tall, and he's a heavy fellow too. Paul and Susan are hoping for a Rugby scholarship to Cal.
Weight 10 pounds, 3 ounces (95th percentile)
Length 23 inches (off the charts - higher than 97th percentile)
Head circumfrence 14 3/4 inchews (75th percentile)
Lux and Nick are getting along fine. Lux is an excellent sister. She still asks to hold him and gives him his blanket and his pacifier. She thinks it is interesting that he breast feeds, but hasn't grown jealous about it. We are very happy with our little family.
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