My two sons are the BEST. They are amazing – and so different in so many aspects.
My older son, N, is the super sensitive, mushy type. He excels in Math, Science, Reading…just about anything. The beginning few years of his life were a bit trying with his dysphagia, not eating a solid piece of food until he was 4 (I highly recommend the Bullet if you are making your own baby food), and being a late talker (his first sound came out right after my youngest was born – it was the most beautiful sound I have ever heard). Now, he eats anything (lobster, steak, tacos, mussels, to name a few) and every morning he comes into our bedroom and we get a big “Good Morning” along with a hug and kiss – and then he runs to play with his brother (or 3DS if we leave it out overnight).
My younger son, G, is sensitive, loving and caring. He is our little tough guy – he is so loving and such a funny character – but he has an edge about him. Ever since G was a baby he needed a little more attention than N (I know I am not supposed to compare, but just saying). At about 6 weeks old, we learned that he was colic and had terrible reflux. WOW. When I would call the pediatrician (frequently) after hours and hours of crying and screaming (G and I) – always after about 4 pm., he or the nurses would tell me that it would go away after three months. They would tell me that babies aren’t truly fully “evolved” until 3 months of age. Seriously?? Not that I wanted to be pregnant for any more than the 39 weeks that I was, but that is not fair to the baby or the parents!
I can’t even tell you what the next 11 weeks of our life were like. He hated the car (N would sleep shortly after the car started). G – he would cry, and cry, and cry. I would drive about 30 minutes to drop him off at my parent’s house (I was blessed to have my mom watch both of my boys until they were 2 years old), with G crying the entire way. I would raise the volume on the radio, and it was almost like he would raise his level of screaming. WOW…on a scale of one to ten when it comes to stress levels, I would be at a 15 by the time I arrived at my mom’s. Every night at about 4 or 5, he would start to fuss and then it would escalate. We learned that if we would feed him shortly after trying to soothe him, then give him a warm bath (with Johnson & Johnson Soothing Lavender Baby Wash), swaddle him tightly, and then place him in a swing for the rest of the evening; sanity would slowly come back to us (with the help of a glass of wine). We tried different formulas with G, trying to ease the colic and reflux…I tried gripe water, acidophilus, chamomile tea (small doses of course), everything. I had to revert to medicine, which I HATED, but what was I to do? He was screaming and crying because he was in pain – it killed me. On the nights that I would wake up from him crying – which were few and in between – because the stupid swing’s batteries were dead. I learned very fast to keep a spare set of batteries and a screwdriver in my nightstand.
Fast forward to about 4 months after G’s arrival into the world – we bring him to the doctor. He tells us to take him off the the Prevacid (is he INSANE???). We did. He says to transition G to the crib. We do, without a glitch. He was a totally different child…he was fixed!! LOL.
I do think that to this day he still requires a bit more attention and care than my older boy, which could be totally mental on my part, but he has become the epitome of a 5 year old little boy. Do my husband and I look back at the months “of hell” and wonder how we did it? FO SHIZZLE. We then remember his little, sweet, gorgeous face, and all of the times during that phase of his life that we had a blast, and the “cringe” factor goes away. He is growing into a loving little man, super smart, wanting to be just like his older brother in so many way – yet keeping his own little personality.
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