Thursday, November 29, 2007

Snakes and snails...

And puppy dog tails. THAT is what little boys are made of.

Throughout my pregnancy and newborn-hood with J, I've been noticing the differences between boys and girls. Everyone says the second child is different from your first, so I wasn't sure if that was the case, or if truly, these are gender differences.

Here are things I've discovered so far...

Baby boys kick while in utero. Alot. Constantly. Not sweet little flutters or soft rolls across my belly; but swift, hard, make mommy bend over at the waist and gasp kicks. And they prefer to have their feet up under the ribs or even stuck in between them.

My son is a much calmer, less dramatic baby than my daughter. Enough said.

Baby boys cannot be clean, even for the two minutes following a bath. No matter how long it has been since he's eaten, J spits up as soon as I get him bathed, lotioned up and smelling good.
Furthermore, try as I might, with careful planning, feedings timed just right throughout the day, etc. I cannot make it out of the front door in a timely fashion due to baby boy. Even if it is just to run across the street to pick up big sis from Mrs. K's house, baby boy MUST spit up, pee, or "the other" enough to ruin an outfit and make him reek of unpleasant things. Making me stop, change him again, and get out the door later than I had planned. (Only to notice before we return home he has done it again....)

Baby boys can somehow circumvent their diaper and manage to pee and soak the entire backside of their outfit, without having left pee in the diaper. A trick that impresses me to tell you the truth.

Another difference is that J is constantly moving his arms/legs, etc., which causes him to wake himself up easily. Despite the tightest, best swaddling, he can get himself out of it in a Houdini-esque way in less than a minute. I may sign him up for the circus.

4 comments:

Christina Schmidt said...

OHHHH, I so agree with on most of this post. Of course, I have nothing to compare but this was Matthew to a T (except maybe being a calm baby - or what it that I was not a calm 1st time mommy? Hmm, there's a thought. I MADE my child neurotic?! Ekk!)

I had a good chuckle about feet kicking the ribs or stuck between the ribs because I was quite certain during my whole pregnancy that Matthew kept his foot comfortablely stuck between my ribs in just the right place to play kick ball with my lungs causing me to regularly GASP for breath!

Finally, OMG, Matthew did that with the swaddle. We just gave up. It was amazing how tight I would swaddle him only to hear him crying 3 minutes later which made me hike back up the stair to find him cold and unswaddled (HOW? I would ask... He cannot even control his FINGERS YET?!?!?)

Good post!

Kelly said...

Welcome to the wonderful world of boys! I love it! ;)

Anonymous said...

C definitely did a number on me whilr in the womb. I swore there was an alien in there!

You need a Miracle Blanket (www.miracleblanket.com). No baby could kick out of that swaddle!

AndreAnna said...

Boy or girl, I just need this next baby to be calmer than Charlotte. I love her to death but she was a very very needy high-maintenance infant.

And for swaddling, have you tried the Miracle Blanket? I swore by it. It forms little pockets so they can't get their arms out.