grandparents and growth spurts

Sam's parents, as known as Nana and Grandad, were out to visit from the Island and to meet wee Henry this past weekend and it was so nice to have them here! Nana especially got in lots of cuddle time with her newest grandbaby and we think Henry certainly got used to the sound of her voice by the end of their stay. Of course, it ended up being somewhat of a "working holiday" for them both again - as was their last 2 week stay in May at the beginning of our renovations! - as Mom cut and tailored the 6 drapery panels for our guest room bay window and Sam and his dad put down the insulation in the attic floor, making our upstairs actually warm for the first time since we moved in! I was simply trying to keep my sanity with Henry as he went through a few crazy and trying days while they were here ... sleeping very little, eating constantly, and fussing and outright wailing a good deal of the non sleeping and eating hours! Nights were really hard for me, and Sam, as Henry suddenly wouldn't sleep in his crib for more than 30 minutes so he constantly had to be nuzzled into us to sleep or a couple of times tucked into his car seat! The feeding marathons, to get him actually sleepy at night, are still lasting 2 hours if not longer and then he just twitches himself awake everytime I try to lay him down. Out of desperation I even brought him into bed with us in the early hours of the morning, putting him on my chest and laying down myself just so I could get some sleep. The lack of sleep for me actually felt like torture and coupled with his crying ... well, this Mum was crying quite often too! It's a good thing Nana and Grandad were smart and brought some earplugs with them! It sounds like he was going through quite a growth spurt and it seems to have settled down a bit in the past day or two ... he's slept in his crib again a few times, thank goodness, but I'm still using his car seat as a trusted back up plan. I'm only able to write up this blog right now, and have a shower, as Henry's curled up in his car seat on the floor of his room, sleeping now for over an hour. The things that make new Mums really happy ...

But don't let these pictures of the sleeping/cooing cherub fool you ... he's pulled quite the Dr Jekyll/Mr Hyde transformation this week! He just knows when the camera's being pulled out ...