Koren is fussy.  Not quite to the extent of being colicky, aparently, but to the extent where his grandparents are hesitant to watch him.  Which is saying something, if you know his doting grandparents.

They say a colicky baby cries (or screams) inconsolably for more than 3 hours, 3 or more times per week. 

In addition to needing to be held every moment while he’s awake, Koren cries for 2-3 hours every single day.  It seems to be gas from the way it comes and goes in waves… but the Mylicon drops aren’t helping.  And the term “inconsolable” is kind of vague.  If certain positions and movements can make him stop crying for a few minutes at a time, does that mean he’s consolable?

After several consultations with Dr. Google, we’re experimenting with the removal of dairy from his diet, which means 2 things:

1) We’re trying to get him adjusted to the taste of soy formula.

This is actually going better than expected.  He seems to be tolerating it pretty well, which surprised me because I remember what an ordeal it was to get Kaelin to transition from breast milk to formula to the point where she would swallow it rather than open her mouth and impersonate Niagara Falls all over my lap.

2) I’m cutting dairy out of my diet.

Which is just craptastic.

My goal for a dairy free deprivation diet is currently 3 days, because I’m pretty sure it would take an act of God to go longer than that.  Seriously, I would much rather cut out something like meat.  Between milk, yogurt (my favorite snack), and cheese, dairy makes up a good portion of the things I eat.

So while there’s a part of me that hopes we’ll finally find the answer to his behavior, there’s a large part of me that hopes this particular experiment doesn’t work at all.  I want the solution, just as long as it’s NOT THIS.

Ha.  I dare you to decipher that title without reading the rest of the entry.

So last night was what we would call a “bad night.”  Koren was up every hour.  At first I thought it was because I was trying to make him sleep on a flat surface (gasp!) but he continued to wake up repeatedly even after I moved him from the bassinet to the rocky swing.

He’s zonked out in his crib right now and I hope he’ll be out for a while because he needs to catch up on the sleep.

I can tell I was delirious from lack of sleep in the middle of the night because I remember thinking at some point, “I should learn how to cook,” which (to my mother’s dismay) is a statement I would put right up there with, “I should dye my hair pink” and “I should take up crocodile wrestling.”

Kaelin has been remarkably good this morning at entertaining herself on the computer.  She’s learning how to navigate the Nick Jr. site, and I keep hearing little songs and intros to the various shows.

Which brings me to the aside …

I cannot stand the Nick Jr. show Yo Gabba Gabba.  CAN. NOT. STAND. IT.  Every time it comes on I want to reach through the screen and throttle that guy that hosts it.  I wonder how some of these shows make it into production, because seriously.  Elijah Wood guest-hosted it one time and I will never be able to look at him the same again.  /End Rant.

And on a slightly different note, this:

Is the Cutest. Book. Ever.

(cough, cough) Just a second, let me clear some dust away.

That’s better. Haven’t been around here much lately, I know. I’m finding that I’m too lazy to update both blogs so I’m going out on a limb here and doing some crossover, which I swore I would never do, but times change I suppose.

If you’re interested and want to see what’s going on with me and the fam on a more daily basis, comment or email me. If I’m reasonably confident that I know who you are and that you’re not a weirdo, I’ll give you the link to my not-so-anonymous website/blog.

I’m going to keep this one going for those things that I want to say but don’t want my family, employer or real-life friends to read (i.e. venting). But for the daily stuff, it’s mostly going on the other site.

Otherwise, here’s a quick rundown:

• Koren is growing faster than his sister did. I bought all these preemie and newborn clothes expecting him to be wearing them for a while, but he’s already grown out of most of them.
• Fortunately, he’s no longer eating like a starving wolverine and has settled into more of a 3-hour schedule.
• He’s still still sleeping fairly well at night and will often go 4-5 hours during the first stretch. I just wish his 4-5 hours stretch would be the part in the middle of the night, instead of from 7pm-midnight. After that, he’s up every 3 hours.
• Dude. It’s friggin HOT here.  Some sources say it will get up to 107 tomorrow.   I believe it.
• Had the 6-week followup appointment and everything checked out well. Got the green light on sex, which makes my husband very happy. And I was pleased to find that the first time back in the saddle wasn’t nearly as painful this time around as it was after Kaelin.
• Although, public service announcement, apparently KY Warming Jelly has an expiration date – even though it’s not printed on the tube. Don’t keep that stuff too long unless you want to know what it feels like to have a chemical sunburn on your girly parts. Seriously. Not cool.
• Koren went through a phase of being darn near colicy. He wouldn’t sleep during the day and fussed incessantly. We’re not entirely sure why, but it might have had something to do with some herbal and nutritional supplements I was taking. We’ve had 3 not-so-bad days and that’s about how long I’ve been off the supplements. He still has “grumpy time” in the evening, but he is consolable. I’ll take that over an entire day of crying and bouncing any day.
• Koren likes to be held. A lot. He’s a little high-maintenance in that way and it has totally prevented me from doing any work. So next week I have a babysitter coming a couple days per week so that I can do some work without being interrupted every 15 minutes.
• Speaking of work HOLY MOTHER BUTTER PIES, it is so frustrating sometimes. See, I’m making a product catalog for my employer. Knowing I wouldn’t have much time after the baby came, I started on it a few months ago. But they’ve had me start completely over on it THREE TIMES because they keep changing the product line. And they want it done, like, last week.
• And to complicate things, I can’t seem to get the product pictures from them. It goes like this:
  • I ask.
  • They give me a disc.
  • The disc contains the PDF files of the last catalog they had made – not the individual images.
  • I tell them I can’t use that and explain the difference between a picture and a PDF document of a catalog page.
  • They tell me they’re going to get pictures made.
  • They give me a disc.
  • The disc contains the PDF files of the the last catalog they had made.
  • Wash, rinse, repeat. WHY IS THIS SO DIFFICULT???
• I haven’t had a chance to do ANY blog design.  You may have noticed that I still have my pregnancy theme on this site.
• However, I have learned Expression Engine.  I don’t know why, but I’m kind of proud of that since a year ago I thought it was impossibly difficult to comprehend.  But now that I get it, I understand why everybody is so pumped about it.  It’s extremely flexible and customizable.  I’ve built several sites with it already and am using it on my personal website (not this one. the other one).
• I HATE the fact that “Add this word to dictionary” is RIGHT UNDER the option to select a corrected word in Firefox spell check.  I keep adding misspelled words to my dictionary by accident.

Yeah, yeah, I know.  One day I’ll get over this fixation with bullet points.

But most of all…

Kaelin: God took those clouds away.
Mama: Oh?  Where did he take them?
Kaelin: To the ice cream store.

Pics, as promised…

Today is the second day in a row that Koren has been a sleeping angel.  It’s also the third day since I have stopped taking any herbal supplements.

Coincidence? 

Or did I just jinx the trend by mentioning it?

Today was a great day.  Except for the part where I took Koren to my 6-week postpartum doctor appointment and he cried through the entire thing.  He was a great sleeper throughout the rest of the day though, so that’s a tradeoff I was willing to make.  Any day where Koren sleeps more than he fusses is automatically a great day.

Need a sitter?  I discovered this site called Sitter City, where you can post a request for a sitter and people respond.  You can view their profiles, picture, experience, references, reviews from past clients, even background checks, to see if they would be a good match. 

I posted a job describing my kids and what I was looking for, and within hours had several responses from interested sitters.  Today I interviewed a girl who is going to be helping me with my kids over the next few weeks so I can get some work done.  Kaelin seemed to really like her and I think it will work out well.

This is such a great resource for me because I really hate asking friends to babysit (especially since most of y’all have your own kids to deal with), and I was especially concerned about how I was going to make any progress on a big work assignment that has a rather pressing deadline hanging over my head.  Unfortunately, my work projects aren’t easily done in 15-minute increments, so it’s difficult for me to put in the time I need when either or both of the kids need my attention all day.

This evening we spent several hours putting together a room full of furniture that arrived for Kaelin.  Since we migrated her furniture into the nursery, her room was a bit bare and I was really running out of places to put her clothes.  I should have taken pictures, it turned out really cute and I’m very pleased with the quality of the furniture (but man, is it heavy!). 

It’s a whimsical furniture set, almost Dr. Seuss-esque, and she really seems to like it.  Perhaps I’ll get some pictures taken tomorrow.  I really enjoyed transforming her room.  It looks like such a “big girl” room now.  And big props to Jens, who did most of the work, while I held Koren to keep him happy.  I do a lot of holding Koren these days…  I’ve officially learned my lesson about bragging early-on about how low-maintenance my baby is.

I’ve just discovered that I think I need an Amby.  Or rather, I think Koren needs one.  Has anyone tried one of these?

One day I’ll get back to paragraph form.  But this is not that day.

Bullet points today because I don’t have enough to say to make a “real” entry.

Okay, so I know that in general Amy does a lot of the posting around here. But sometimes, a guy has gotta chime in.

I realize on a daily basis what a wonderful wife I have. The reasons vary based on the moment, and based on the day’s activities a huge breadth of things will bring it front of mind. Today was definitely one of those times, as I once again realize I could never – and I mean NEVAH – be a stay-at-home dad. I spend a full hour (gasp!) trying to pacify, feed, entertain and play with both kids at once and I’m ready to see if anyone on Craigslist is willing to trade an old couch for a couple of hellions. How does Amy do this all day?

(Sidebar: this is the kids having a decent day, too. I can’t imagine the bad ones.)

I love my kids. I’d do anything for them. I truly enjoy spending time with them. But I am realizing more and more how little patience I have to deal with their…well…kid-hood at times.

Which brings me back to my original point. Guys, our wives are awesome. Mine most of all, of course, but I’m a bit biased. I love my wife, and I love the way she loves our kids. Sometimes, she is able to love them in ways that I feel like I cannot. But, I guess that’s why we’re different and compliment one another.

She does the patience thing, and I do the giant leaps off the staircase.