Comparing...

Ben is almost a month old! He is doing great latching now, and nursing has become a whole lot easier really fast. Tomorrow we are going to see a lactation consultant. I wish everyone could see the cute face he makes when I get ready to feed him. He typically screams at Scott through his diaper change and then when Scott makes the hand-off, and he hears my voice, he immediately quiets down, like he was never upset, and his little hands start curling and uncurling under his chin. He makes this shape with his mouth- I call it the "bird mouth"- he's kind of making that face in the top left photo I am posting here. And he starts breathing fast and making these small little noises- he's clearly excited. His eyes get big and he's looking around frantically, his little dimples dissappearing and reappearing. Its plain adorable. However, right before I'm going to latch him on, somehow one or both of those excited little fists ends up in his mouth and he sucks vigorously on his fingers. He then gets upset that they don't give him any milk, opens his mouth to scream a few times, and BAM, we have a latch.

He won't burp for me during the day. He will stop feeding, to gasp for air when he has been gulping too fast, and its been ten minutes or so, and I try to burp him for just a minute so he doesn't get too many bubbles stuck down there. He gets prematurely full and/or cranky. Well, forget it. He will scream and squirm and root around for a nipple on my shoulder until I finally put him back on, even if toward the end he is so full he has to spit out the extra milk.He just can't perch at my shoulder knowing there is milk just inches away. But if Dad is around? He will burp like a champ and drift off to sleep like an angel. The look of contentment when he is sleeping on Dad is unparalleled. What am I going to do when he goes back to work?

He sleeps really well. He eats about every two hours during the day, and at the most- midnight, 3am and 6am during the night. Last night he slept through the midnight feeding, for about a 4 hour stretch, and woke up around 2, a little early. Its great, he already seems to have a little routine, and he always goes back down easily. (So far, so far!)

So as promised, here are some comparitive photos to have fun with:

Baby Mary

Baby Ben

Baby Scott