Hard Days' Night

And the sleep deprivation begins to set in...
Orion apparently has his days and nights mixed up, which I've heard is fairly typical for new babies. He sleeps like an angel most of the day, and then gets into a feeding-changing-burping cycle at night that seems endless. We've been trying to keep him awake some during the day, especially in the evenings, so that his internal schedule will shift. This has worked a few times, but sometimes he's just so out that he doesn't wake up and stay awake despite our best efforts.
Since Russell is working, I have tried to bear the brunt of the night work. I don't want him going to work over-tired, because the potential for him to get hurt is just too high and I worry about him. So late nights have had Orion and I on the couch, watching stuff on Netflix and nursing or diaper changing or burping or just hanging out making baby noises. I tend to do ok with it, but sometimes it's infuriating. Take last night, for instance, when on three separate occasions he fell asleep, I got him upstairs and into bed, laid myself down, and had him wake up ten minutes later fussing. So up we go and back to the couch! Finally we went to bed around 3am, and managed to do the side-by-side 'sleep and feed' through the morning till about noon, when Russell came home.
Russell said some of his coworkers were impressed that he's not a sleep-deprived zombie, and gave me props for trying to handle the night nursing frenzy on my own. Apparently their wives kept them up all night, too, work or no! I ask for help when I need it (sometimes Daddy is just the only one who can get that burp out!) but I don't feel like it's fair to keep Russell up all night when he's got to work - especially since he comes home and does a lot to take care of me then, too. It's a team effort, but to me that doesn't necessarily mean doing everything together.
Today it was nice for him to come home and just take the baby for a while as I took a nice, long, hot shower on my own. Ahhhh.
Though I've been tired, today I managed to do a few things around the house and wrote some thank-you notes. A small sense of accomplishment does a lot for my sense of well-being!
Our cousins Hill and Melissa had their twins yesterday (and for that matter, our other cousins Ross and Rachel also have twins)! I just can't imagine trying to do this with two babies at once. I have to send a lot of love and good energy their way; I know they'll get through it and be great parents - but I also can't imagine how overwhelming it would be to have another baby as well as Orion. Goodness.
Orion is getting bigger and more active every day. He's been eating a lot, and pooping and peeing a lot, so we think he's in his two-week growth spurt (which also has the added benefit of insuring my milk production, yay). We can really see the development in his face, especially. His eyes are also starting to turn color. They were a really dark blue to begin with, but I think they're changing over to brown. It's interesting to watch the transition; I couldn't really say what color they are right now. It's fun having him awake more often (well, excepting those late-night cranky burping sessions) as he is starting to see better, notice things, and interact some. He loves looking at faces and brightly colored things. He caught sight of the string of Grateful Dead bears that I have hanging in my room and gazed at them with a look of complete wonder on his face. That was pretty cool!
Well, it's not all fun and games in babyland, but looking at his sweet face or little toes sure makes the rest of it worthwhile.