Life has definitely changed

... I was thinking to myself as Brian and I were heading off to bed at 8:30pm on Friday night. Our nightly routine now consists of taking turns wolfing down a meal as the other does everything possible to keep Hayley from fussing. She will catnap from the 5 to 10pm timeframe, but is very easily awakened and insists on being held during this time OR ELSE! So after we get done trying to eat dinner, we again take turns holding Hayley while the other gets ready for bed. This is usually around 7:30pm since we want to be ready for Hayley's "big dive" after the sun goes down. As the house darkens, we both start to get that nervous feeling... will she or won't she go down easy tonight. You can just sense the tension as she finally nods off into a deep enough sleep that we summon up the courage to set her down in her bed. SUCCESS! We jump into bed, afraid to even breathe in fear that "the princess" will awaken. (You'd think there was a pea underneath her mattress!)

We've been reading the book "Your Fussy Baby" by Dr. Marc Weissbluth. This book summarizes Hayley's "issues" to a tee. According to this book, it would seem that Hayley does have colic but because of all the effort we expend trying to soothe and keep her from crying we manage to avoid the 3 hour or more long fits of screaming each night. That isn't to say that this isn't exhausting. However, it gives me some comfort to know that her fussing is beyond what is "normal." So now the question becomes one of whether this behavior is going to continue until Hayley is 3 or 4 months or whether she will give us an early repreive. I've heard that a lot of babies seem to do better around weeks 6 to 8. As we approach the 6 week mark, I'm hopeful for an improvement. I know God won't put more on me then I can handle, but this is one of those times that I'm starting to feel like he has me confused with somebody else. I keep telling myself that this never ending fatigue and frustration with being so housebound will pass, but I can't help but feel like in the meantime I'm wishing Hayley's newborn stage away when I should be enjoying it.

And for those of you that are keeping track... Hayley's soothing favorites this week are Mommy's bouncing arms and (the ever reigning champ) the Bissell. Up and coming soothing favorites (we hope) are the pacifier (thank you Nana) and the swing!!! We are hoping that these quieter and less strenuous up and comers will QUICKLY be unseating this week's champions.