Sleepytown

Jack had quite the day yesterday. We hired a professional photographer to come take photos of him during the newborn stage. Now, the thing about Jack, the part of his personality that seems to have announced itself clearly... he's either on or he's off and there's not much at the halfway point. When he falls asleep, nothing will wake him.

Jack had a fussy day. He didn't want a full feeding through most of the morning, so it was snack time: instead of waiting his normal 2-3 hours between feedings, he wanted to nurse every hour or two, and he wanted to be awake and interacting in between. No problem. Suddenly, right before the photographer came, he decided that it was time for a big nursing session and then he fell asleep. Fast asleep.

Having Jack be asleep during the session made things very easy. But at the end of the session, we really hoped to get some pictures of his big beautiful eyes. We tried to wake him up.

Ever hear the expression "don't wake a sleeping baby"? This expression means something different to us: you can't wake a sleeping Jack. We tried everything! Bouncing, diaper change, undressing, holding him in front of the AC unit, toe tickling, whistling, talking, bright light, and wet washcloth to the face and to the chest. Nothing, nada, zilch. He would wake briefly to announce that he heard our request (short cry) and then instantly fall back asleep. The photographer said she'd never seen such a fast sleeper.

We persevered for a good 40 minutes. Point is, this kid tired himself out good. Jack had a short nurse at 9pm and a long nurse at 11pm. He fell asleep at midnight. Greg and I next woke up to mild fussing at... get this... 5am. The kid slept for 5 solid hours. Wow. It kind of unnerved both of us, but, according to Dr. Google, newborns do sometimes sleep for that long.

The photographer captured some beautiful shots. She put a "sneak peek" on her blog:

http://erinbellphotography.com/blog/?p=780

We'll see the full set in a week!