Christmas & New Year's!

Our little boy has been through his first holiday season already - Thanksgiving at five days old, Christmas at five weeks (and one day) old, and New Year's at six weeks (and one day old). A friend of mine bought him an adorable 4-pack of bibs for baby's first holidays - baby's first Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year, respectively. I remembered when he was 5 days old to dig out the Thanksgiving one but totally forgot at Christmastime. :( I did put his New Year bib on him yesterday though. Now I will have to remember the Halloween one when he is almost a year old. Speaking of Halloween, I cannot wait to pick out his first costume! He is going to be so cute.

We spent the day of Christmas Eve with my parents, youngest sister, my oldest sister and her husband and three kids, and my brother and his wife. We were running late, which is nothing new these days with a newborn, but were able to spend about five hours with my family (and we did get there before my brother and his wife, who had to work, so we really didn't miss much) and exchange gifts with my sister and her family before heading off to my husband's aunt's house. She has the traditional "seven fishes" meal each Christmas Eve. Each year there are fewer people there, which is sad. I know my husband really looks forward to it and we spend most holidays with my family so I make sure we always get to his aunt's. Christmas Day we spent the morning and afternoon at home and then we headed to his mom's house, where we exchanged gifts with his mom and brother, and then we went to my parents'. We always go there Sunday for dinner anyway, as do my brother and his wife, and this Sunday we exchanged gifts with my parents and youngest sister.

For New Year's Eve, we made reservations at the same place as we did last year, and we had a surf 'n turf meal. Yesterday (since it was Sunday again) we went to my parents' again. Our baby was fussier than normal yesterday. My mom thinks he was gassy. I'm not sure but I hate to see him upset.

Up until two nights ago he was sleeping in an Arm's Reach co-sleeper bassinet. I bought it used back in the summer. I'm glad I didn't buy it new since I'm not sure it's a good fit for us. Our first few nights home from the hospital he cried every time I put him in there. Then I started swaddling him and rocking and/or nursing him to sleep and then I'd put him in there and he'd stay for a bit. Once we got to 3.5 weeks and he was sleeping through the night it seemed like it was working better for him. But for me it was not really. First it was taking up all the available space between my side of the bed and the wall (widthwise) and all the space between my nightstand and the door (lengthwise). I was constantly bumping into it and it was lining up right by the C-section incision. Ouch. I was repeatedly hitting it. So we got the Fisher-Price Rock 'n Play Sleeper. I am not sure he likes it yet or not.