4 Days old and he's already beating us.

Captain's Log: Stardate 0003.
We've entered into a new and forboding relationship with an unknown superpower that rivals all conventional tactics and strategy.

So Tobias is 4 days old today, and he pretty much single handedly kicked our butts last night and all day today.

Christina and I have every book known to man on the essence of taking care of a newborn skills, and what we've figured is that next to the guy selling ocean front property in Montana, the "baby experts" are right up there with the old traveling medicine salesmen. They conveniently finish all chapters with the catch phrase, "this is just our experience, your actual child may or may not fit into this profile." Oh what fun! So we have the super anomoly child. Or maybe he's the exact norm, and the "child" that the authors all write about is actually a doll.

We've spent the past 2 mornings in the Kaiser Permanente: Newborn Club learning that the slight yellow tinge is actually Tobias' bilirubin count (read: Jaundice) that is steadily climbing higher. We were advised, among other things (breastfeeding tactics of the questionably sane), to have little T in the sun to absorb natural light and help his Vit D breakdown the bilirubin. We were also advised to "forcefeed" formula (thank you Kaiser and Enfamil newborn marketing pack: with matching diaper bag) to him to up his vitamin D.

Tobias has a little newborn narcolepsy problem though. He's happy and awake and rockin!, and then he starts feeding and the lights go out. And they go out like he's been drugged, or hit by a few too many roundhouses in the 9th round. Notice his wet hair here in the picture, this was one of the questionable tactics advised by the RN, of running his head under the faucet with cold water to wake him up. Nurse's Advice: 0 - Tobais P.: 1. We also pinched him, prodded him, jiggled him, rocked him, undressed him, dressed him, held him in front of a fan, took him outside and held him in direct sunlight. We also sang to him, picked him up, set him down. I include all of these here only for the sheer delight of the memories of last night, where each and every one of these activities meant that he instantly woke up crying and needed Christina or I to hold him in order to fall back asleep. But upon setting him down, hit rewind and repeat the cycle.

So here we are, at our own living room OK Corral, Tobias (a.k.a. the neonatal Wyatt Earp) on one side, Christina and I (Clanton and McLaury) on the other. This is the exact picture from the start and end of our ordeal. He's still sleeping, and Christina and I have spent 1.5 hours trying to get part of 1 0z. of liquid formula into his mouth. He's a tough little guy, and when he's sleeping, all bets are off.