Nicky is One Week Old!

Well, I should have written this yesterday when Nicky was officially one week old, but we had a busy day yesterday. First, we had our first outing since Nicky was born as Mommy had her one week check-up at the doctor's office. Everything went well, and I have to go back in 5 weeks for my 6 week post-partum check-up. Nicky slept through the whole trip in his carseat.

Nicky has his first pediatrician visit on Monday. Nicky seems to be healthy but he has had a few normal newborn problems for the last few days. First, his eye gunk, which I have termed eye boogies, has gotten a bit out of control. This causes his poor little eyelids to get stuck together until we open them with a warm washcloth. This occurs because newborns don't have tears yet and their tear ducts can become clogged like Nicky's did. The nurse who works with his pediatrician instructed us on how to massage his tear ducts to clear them out. They seem to already be getting better and his eyes are no longer glued shut when he wakes up. Thank goodness because it was really making me feel like a bad mommy! Nicky has also been quite gassy and burpy for the last few nights which makes him very uncomfortable and fussy. Scott & I have not figured out the trick of how to best burp him or otherwise prevent this problem. We have used Mylicon gas drops today and I think it has helped. He has slept much better, but we will see how tonight goes. Since he still has his days and nights turned around, he has more trouble getting back to sleep during the early morning hours of 1am-7am. The only things that seem to help are walking and bouncing him, and even this can take awhile to calm or put him to sleep. We are thinking that his little digestive system might not be fully mature yet, and we are hoping that this is just a stage that will soon be over.

Overall, though Nicky is a pretty calm, happy baby. He does not cry unless he truly needs something, and he really doesn't cry loudly unless his needs are being ignored. He is becoming more alert and spends his awake time staring at Mom and Dad or random things around him. He melted my heart today when he held his head back and stared into my eyes with a content look on his face while I rocked him this afternoon. It was truly a bonding moment. I can't wait for more of those.

We are also eagerly anticipating visits from our family in the coming weeks. My mom, dad, and brothers will be coming on Sunday for about a week. Then, Scott's parents and brother and sister-in-law as well as my great friend Tiffanni Wax and her husband, Scott, will arrive for Nicky's baptism the week after that.

I could go on and on, but Nicky is hungry and needs to be fed.