The Kraus Family: Life With A Little

Brody has been a part of our lives for three weeks and I think it's safe to say that we're in love. In the words of his Nana, "he is the best newborn I've ever seen.". He is an extremely good and very chill baby. I am trying not to take this for granted because I know it could change at a moments notice. But so far Brody really only cries (which is hardly ever) when he's hungry or over tired. Take care of the problem and he's a happy camper. You can bath him, change his diaper and clothes and he might make a few grunts, but no cries. Speaking of grunts, Brody is a very noisy little man. I've compared his many different noises to sea creatures such as dolphins and sea lions. He's also barked like a dog (also totally shakes his leg like a dog), mewed like a lamb and has even sounded like a pterodactyl. His faces are also pretty awesome (especially when he is trying to wake up. Several people think he is a serious baby. I don't know if I fully agree with this. I mean are there babies out there cracking jokes? I just think he likes to save his smiles for his mommy in the middle of the night. We've been trying to do baby wise and get little man on a schedule so we wake him up to feed him every two and a half to three hours during the day and stretch his night time feeding out about four and a half hours. He had not gotten the breast feeding thing down, so I'd been pumping and bottle feeding. I had a lactation consultant come out and she helped little man learn how to do it (thankfully because I was close to my breaking point). I've had a lot of friends warn me about the challenges of breast feeding and so far those warnings have been warranted. Let's just say, we're very grateful that we're making progress! We've had no bottles for a few days now, so I think we're in the clear. Either way, he is getting what he needs because at his two week appointment he weighed 9 lbs. 3 oz. and had grown 1/2 an inch. One thing that is breaking my heart is little man has clogged tear ducts which basically means that his eyes get very goopy. It started in one eye on Sunday morning and is now in both eyes. Right now the only thing to do is massage the (very) small space between the corner of his eye and his nose to try to clear the duct and then wipe his eyes often. I'm pretty sure this bothers me way more than it does him. I'm hoping it clears up quickly because it makes me so sad to look at his sad little eyes. My days are passing so quickly and I try to take in as much baby love as possible. I love my little man so much and it already makes me sad that he won't be little forever. Here are some pics from his first several weeks of life.