Warm. Dry. Full.

When we had Preston, my dear 83 year-old grandmother Joan gave me a simple, but great piece of advice- "Keep him warm, dry, and full." It's the same advice that her mother gave to her when she had my mom. It's also a great check-list if Preston is crying, and unfortunately, I've had to ask myself these questions far too many times this past week. Warm? check. (Sometimes also leads to, "too warm?") Dry? check. (Same applies to "clean?" for this little poop-machine.) And last but not least, "Full?" (Also reminds me to think,"burp?") But Grams, what if we've covered all of the above and more, yet he's still crying?????

I think what's most difficult for new parents is that you love this little one so much and you never want them to feel any discomfort, but at the same time, the sound of your baby's scream is beyond nerve wracking. Whether or not it's actual colic, who knows? It's general afternoon unhappiness, which leads to fussing and crying, then a full out scream by that evening that is very difficult to calm. (Even the trusty vacuum cleaner trick has failed us!) We've read several times that for babies who have some slight colic, it usually hits it's peak between 4-8 weeks and dies down by 12 weeks. Here's hoping!!!! Considering Preston is now 6 weeks, we are halfway there and that is serious reason to celebrate, as we aren't particularly fond of this face:



I have to add too, that while our little man has had a rough go of it lately, he's also becoming more alert. As I mentioned before, the times where he's awake and happy are some of our very favorites! Last Wednesday night, after a long day, he gave us a couple of hours of open-eyed non-cry time on the couch. Followed by a warm bath with no tears and 4 hour stretch of sleep that night...it was a wonderful day for the Erb Family. In my excitment, of course, I took about 70 pictures. Here are some of our faves:
Hanging out with Dad on the couch:



Chillin' in the tub:



Maybe all this fussiness is due to a growth spurt. As you can see, he's obviously getting bigger, and the past several days, he's been eating like a horse. At his last appt, he weighed in at 9lbs, and I'm anxious to see how much he's gained at his appt. this coming Thursday. Until then, keep your fingers crossed this passes soon and I'll keep checking that he's warm, dry, and full.