Day 21

Brayden is 3 weeks old today!  Seems like he was born yesterday.  He's still tiny but we can definitely tell the differences in his features from when he was born.  His face is a little fuller and he's less wrinkly all over.  He's got "pimples" all over that go away after a day.  His skin is dry in areas.  He eats like a champ and barely sleeps.  All he wants to do during the day is eat.  The good thing is that he's wide awake during the day.  Though Sherry doesn't think this is a good thing since she's stuck on the couch feeding him all day.  Though they do go out at least once a day to bring Alvin some breakfast (like today) or go to the beach.  Alvin had to work last night and early this morning and forgot that he had a meeting early in the morning.  Sherry is starting to have a little cabin fever from being stuck in the house all day.  Her main concerns are that she's unable to clean up around the house during the day because Brayden is always hungry and barely sleeps.  Brayden does have trouble going to sleep when Alvin is taking care of him at night so Alvin started singing to him.  The songs he sings are "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars, "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz, "Hey Soul Sister" by Train, "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star", and "Row Row Row Your Boat".  By the end of "Row Row Your Boat", Brayden is usually asleep.  He tried to mix in a little Backstreet Boys in there but Brayden started wailing so either Brayden doesn't like BSB or Alvin was out of tune.

Sherry is really exhausted and is more so as each day goes by.  Alvin is hanging in there and does the things Sherry is unable to do during the day.  For tonight instead of taking shifts, Alvin decided that Sherry needed a break and asked her to get a full night's rest.  Alvin will have to make do w/ pumped milk and formula to supplement.

We bought the Boppy Noggin per Linh's recommendation.  It seems like a very useful sleeping aid for Brayden and does seem like it will prevent the flat head syndrome.  We tried placing it in the bassinet but Brayden for some reason doesn't like sleeping in it.  He'd rather sleep in the play pen's bassinet.  Tomorrow we're going to try using the crib to see if Brayden is more comfortable there.  Alvin and Sherry have been taking turns sleeping on the couch when taking care of Brayden during the night in order to let the other person get some undisturbed sleep in the bedroom.  Both their backs are starting to hurt so it probably means it's time for a new couch.

Alvin tried using the Baby Bjorn on Brayden today.  Brayden was hungry at the time so we don't think he acclimated to it well and was too focused on getting something to eat.

We've been so focused on our daily tasks of working, cleaning, and taking care of Brayden that it's been pretty hard to keep track of what day of the week it is.  I'm sure we'll start to get into a rhythm soon as we learn more and more about Brayden's habits and tendencies, even though everyday is a new adventure, it's definitely worth it.