An Ode to My Baby

It has to be nearly impossible to blog about your life without beginning to psychoanalyze yourself. So recently, it's come to my attention that I'm fairly superstitious, which is strange since I'm generally such a non-believer.

I tend to avoid talking about the good things that are happening in my life for fear that the simple act of uttering these truths will cause a one-hundred-and-eighty degree change in circumstances.

But no more! Simply mentioning how little my baby cries will not cause him to become colicky. And rejoicing in the fact that my boy slept through the night for a whole week will not result in him beginning to wake up every two hours like a newborn.

So I'm doing it! Everett is an awesome baby! He's a little sweetheart. He's easy. He's beautiful. He's a good eater, a good sleeper. He's just amazing.

Don't get me wrong, taking care of him is not easy for me. He still nurses every two to three hours. He needs changing almost that often. He rarely sleeps through the night--waking once or twice to eat. And he needs near constant attention. But that's just what babies do.

I want to brag a little, and I know some of you might read this and say, "big woop, all babies do that." But I try to avoid the baby books. I'm not being neglectful. I have the Dr. Sears and some others, but I only consult them when I have a question like: can avocado be his first food? Answer: maybe. I learned a lesson from my pregnancy, and I don't want his development to be full of anticipation. "Ooo! He rolled over like he's supposed to at 2 months!" "Oh no, here come the four month crankies . . ." No thanks! I want to be amazed by him when he does something new for him and deal with trouble as it arises.

So here are some things that amaze me.

He's, almost from the beginning, seemed to know that nighttime is when we sleep for longer periods. When he was super little, he'd nurse every 1 to 2 hours in the day, but sleep for 3 or 4 hours at-a-time at night. And it didn't take long till he could sleep 6 hours at-a-time. Which sounds like it'd be great for me, but really wasn't because he'd go to sleep at 9 and I wouldn't get to bed till 11. I still have problems with that.

He doesn't pee when he sleeps!! Is this weird or totally normal? He can be asleep for 6 hours, I'll think, "he must be soaked, and I don't want him sleeping longer in a soaked diaper." I'll open his diaper, and he's dry! This also goes for naps at home or in the car seat. Of course, if you let him whine for a little bit in the morning, or if I bring him into bed with me to nurse in the morning, he'll soak through the diaper before too long--having obviously held it all night and needing to release.

He's not a big cryer. He usually only cries when he's hungry or tired. Hardly any of that "you're crying but I don't know why!?!" kind of crying. And even when he's hungry or tired, he can usually be distracted, which is kind of bad because we'll go out shopping or to visit with people, and he'll be completely content, then you realize he hasn't eaten in four hours and his whole schedule is messed up.

I'm not sure he ever cried at night as a newborn. He slept in the co-sleeper next to me so he'd whine, Brian or I would change him, I would nurse him, then back to sleep. He's more likely to get a little cry goin' now that he's in his own room. But even now, I don't let him fuss too long before he's eating.

Since the beginning, his normal facial expression is this eyebrows furrowed deep-in-thought look. But give him a smile, and he'll get the sweetest smile on his face. Sometimes he does that smile then bury-his-face-in-a-shoulder shy thing. Sweetie.

He's always been quite dexterous. I'd almost call his hands delicate in their movements. When he was little, it was just a flourish here and there. Now he's able to use them much more. He likes to scratch everything to learn about the texture and feeling. Unfortunately, lately he's been using his hands to pull out the hair on the right side of his head. He scratches his head when he's tired, and that new baby hair just sloughs right off. It shouldn't be a problem in the future, but I kind of miss him having hair.

Speaking of hands, He has the biggest hands and feet!! He's like a puppy that needs to grow into its paws.

But he's a big boy anyway. On July 19th, at his 2 month doctor visit, he weighed 13 pounds 8 ounces and was 25 inches long. I'm excited to find out what his stats are now. He's fitting very comfortably in 6 to 9 month clothes, I know that.

He has my ears! It's so weird to see one of your body parts replicated in miniature. So far I think he looks like me when I was a baby. But that might be because Brian was such a skinny baby. We'll see who he looks like when he gets older.

Well, I'll stop blathering about my little sweetie. He's really amazing, and I know we're going to have the most fun watching him grow.