Life with a newborn.

   Baby Monkey is going to be 3 weeks old this Friday. It really seems like he has been here longer. It actually feels like he has been part of our family since the beginning. That could be a sign that we are all adjusting very well to having a new little person in the house.

   As I am typing this, he is sleeping, curled up in fetal position on my chest, wrapped in a Moby Wrap. Over the years of having infants I have learned the benefits of Kangaroo Care. I will elaborate on this at later date, but the benefits are great. For 9 months a baby is in a safe, warm place where all his needs are met, where he doesn't feel pain, or hunger, or cold, where he is soothed by mother;s heartbeat and outside noises are dulled by the protection of the womb. Since human infants are one of the most immature of all mammals (they can't get up and run withing hours of being born like cows, or horses, they need to nurse for a long period of time, and they take a long time to mature) they need the same kind of care outside the womb. This is called "Exterior Gestation". This is primarily due to our large brains and narrow, bipedal pelvis. The only way for our large heads get through the mother's pelvis (which is narrower due to us being bipedal, upright walkers) is to give birth to babies who are immature and have their brains develop after birth. So although our babies are born after 9 months they really need another 9 months outside the womb to develop.

   Ever since I have embraced that notion, I have developed a way of caring for my babies that is in-tune with nature. I carry my newborn in a carrier, we co-sleep, nurse on demand, change their diaper as soon as it's soiled, and tend to them as soon as I notice them being unhappy (before the baby starts to cry). The benefit of all of this is that the infant learns that there is no need for crying since mother tends to their needs promptly and in turn that makes for calmer babies. Even my most "fussy" babies were calmer than most babies by 3 months, because they developed trust in their parents.

   Having said that, Baby Monkey seems to be the calmest of all my babies. Thankfully, he doesn't have bad reflux like Little Monkey did, and he sleeps better than Girly Monkey did, and I am more experienced with him than I was with Funky Monkey, so I tend to his needs without worrying about "spoiling" my baby. By the way, you can't spoil a baby. Spoiling is something that happens to things left behind on a shelf and not touched and not to things that are cared for. It was my big worry when I had Funky Monkey. What would people think when I picked up my baby as soon as he started to cry? I have since learned that I don't really care for what people think. I am raising our kids the way it works for us and not the way to please other people.

   Funky Monkey and Girly Monkey have really taken to Baby Monkey. They talk to him, and play with him, and Funky Monkey helps me by holding Baby Monkey while I change or wash up. I was a little worried about little Monkey's attitude towards Baby Monkey, but he surprised me. He often comes up to me when I am holding Baby Monkey and talks to him, or gives him a hug, or a kiss. It really is very sweet. I try to encourage positive interactions as much as possible since I want them all to become a team. I want all the Monkeys to think of each other not as competitors for Daddy's and mine attention, but as part of a team of siblings that love and care for each other.

   We are still working out all our routines, but so far Baby Monkey goes to sleep around 2 am and sleeps until 4 or 5 when I feed him and he goes back to sleep until 8ish. At this point he is usually up for about 1.5 hours and then goes back to sleep until 11:30. It's pretty doable. I hope that eventually he will start going to sleep a little earlier, but for now it's fine.

   The only thing that I have to complain is the amount of laundry that I now have. We have switched Baby Monkey to cloth diapers for the most part now so that's additional load every day. Plus his clothes and receiving blankets add to my loads too. Overall, I went from doing 2 loads a day to 4. That can be expected for a family of 6! Wow, there be 6 of us Monkeys now!!!!!

The Beautiful flowers I received from
my family for being "the best mom"!!!