what we have learned about manning

i am (very) slowly getting caught up. and i need to update on manning. he still sleeps most of the time but is starting to show signs of an eat, wake, sleep pattern which is exciting to me. also exciting is that he is giving at least one 5-6 hour stretch at night; generally from 10/11 - 3/4.

the screeching (which has earned him the nickname "teradactyl" from daddy) seems to have decreased. he is still the loudest newborn of the four, but generally he only yells when his diaper is changed. i think that the screeching was caused by a little scrape in his penis that looks like it happened when curling up during a diaper change and touching the drying umbilical cord. i am sure that burned in a dirty diaper! the scrape is healed and the yelling has stopped - for the most part. we are thankful that we never had to deal with the screeching in public or someone might have asked what we were doing to him. and scratches shouldn't be a problem any more because his umbilical cord fell off today.

i think he is having his two week growth spurt because he wants to nurse a lot more all of the sudden with a few cluster feeds a day the past two days.

his brothers and sister love holding him and ask several times a day. most surprising is how gentle maddux is with him and concerned for his well being. when i change manning's diaper mason and (mostly) maddux come to comfort him and watch. maddux will also 'ask' me to take care of manning when he cries, even if he and i are in the middle of reading a book.

manning is starting to have periods of quiet wakefulness. here is a little video.

so far he has been the easiest to nurse which has been really nice because it helps me get more sleep. i have also done the best at getting to 'normal' nursing - very little engorgement, little let-down pain and very little leaking. i guess the fourth time was the charm.

i have only taken all four out by myself once and it went very well - we went to target. we are very blessed to not have any 'runners' and to have good listeners.

manning has dark blonde hair and lighter eyes (not sure if green, blue or hazel but seem lighter than maddux'). he seems to have a build similar to maddux though instead of 'solid' like mason - long and lean. maddux is the odd man out with all of the june birthdays having light coloring while he is dark, curly- haired and born in november.