Four Weeks and a Day

...

Yesterday marked four weeks of life for little Jacob. He has been staying awake just about ALL DAY LONG unless he's held continuously. He only falls asleep right now if someone's holding him, so we used to hold him until he fell asleep and then put him in his bassinet. But yesterday and Monday, he woke up within five to fifteen minutes each time after laying him down! He was up all day long except for maybe an hour-and-a-half or two of combined naps! It wouldn't be so bad if he actually slept more at night. Today, I put him in his sling/carrier, and he's been sleeping on my lap for hours. :P It's nice in that I can finally have some time on the computer, but I really can't do anything else with him in there (aside from things that involve being seated) because I worry about his neck being too scrunched up if I don't support it somehow. Bah. Oh well. Dave was up with him early this morning, so he's taking a nap himself. Once he wakes up, then I guess I can have some time to do other stuff.

Jakey developed baby acne a few days after his third week, and it's still sticking around. I guess it's typical and should go away soon. For now, I've been washing his face daily and resisting the urge to help the pimples along. :P Poor little guy.

He seemed to be constipated last week, so I called the pediatrician and the nurse recommended giving a small amount of dark Karo syrup along with his formula several times each day. It seems to be working so far. I was worried that it might not be good to keep that up for too long and called the office again to ask. The nurse said to keep it up for a few weeks, though, so I suppose it should be alright.

He's such a cutie. I love watching his movements, watching him sleep, hearing his little noises, discovering his likes and dislikes, and introducing him to new things. Money's getting tight, though, and I have to go back to work soon. I can't imagine leaving him for seven to eight hours every day. I want to be the one to stay home and take care of him. Dave's fully capable of making sure he's fed and changed... but I just want to be the one to be there. I can already sense my jealousy and resentment building up of having to be the one to bring in the paycheck instead of being home so that my baby can have his mommy. Hopefully Dave'll step it up with eBay and bring in enough money to start saving towards getting us out of here.

............................................................................................

Unrelated to Jacob... we finally gave in to reality and took our oldest dog, Buddha, in to be put to sleep last night. His health had been deteriorating for several months. He'd lost so much weight and was practically nothing but skin and bones covered with fur. He was starting to lose his eyesight and had already been deaf for a while. He couldn't stand up on his own 75% of the time and would fall down in the yard just about every other time he went outside. There's not enough room in the car for the baby seat and a dog, too, so Dave took him in by himself while I stayed home with Jacob. They made a clay impression of his paw, so we have that to keep next to the one I made for Karma two years ago. We should be getting his ashes back in two to three weeks and will put those next to Karma's and Cleo's. Hopefully we can get some nice little pet urns or something once we get some more money. I hate just leaving the ashes inside the cardboard boxes the vet gives you. It's so hard "playing God" with those you love, but I'm glad we're able to help release our animals from their pain and suffering. If only it was as easy to help our human family in situations like this.