Mmm... Carrots!

Last night Gramsy and Poppy came over for an impromptu dinner of stromboli and carrots. Christian, now being interested in everything the big guys are doing, was very curious when we started opening the bright orange crinkly bag of teething veggies. I picked out the fattest one I could find and held it up in front of him. He promptly swiped it and took a taste. Mmm... cold, gnawable, and delicious! He was so tired from his difficult afternoon (of not being able to sleep unswaddled) that the pictures didn't turn out as cute as he actually was in the moment... but you get the idea. :)

Swaddling side note: Last night I swaddled him, nursed him, put him in his crib exhausted. He awoke an hour later as if he'd just had a nice nap and was ready to get up and play. After several attempts to persuade him to go back to sleep, I finally took the swaddle off, figuring we'd have to wait another hour or 2 for him to get tired again (it was only 9:15pm). He stretched, rolled onto his side, and immediately fell asleep. Go figure! At that point, I thought all of our problems were solved, that he'd resolved to try this freedom sleeping thing once and for all-- until about 11pm. Nursed, fell back to sleep, swaddleless. and then again at midnight. Finally I reswaddled him-- but he was up again around 1 or so... same routine. But then not again till 5. Oh brother! And just when you think you've failed as a parent... and you're going to have to pay for it the next day with miserable fussiness, he wakes up happily cooing around 7:15am. Now, it's 9am and I just lay him down unswaddled and he rolled to his side and went right out! Gotta love the mystery :)

Get a grip!

So we've been working on falling asleep unswaddled (at least during the day)-- and sometimes he goes down like an angel, sucking away on his binky, and caressing his cloudy blanket while burying his face in it (i know, i know, not supposed to let him sleep with a potential tool of suffocation... but he adores it). Other times, he puts up a fight, screaming like i'm torturing him, and looking up at me with the saddest eyes in the world. Most of the time though, he flaps his arms and kicks his legs to get all the energy out, talks to the animals on his bumper, coos at the window, fusses a little and eventually drifts off, face usually covered with Cloudy (i know, bad). When he gets quiet I go to check and make sure he's breathing... Just now when I went to check his peaceful quiet little self, thinking he was sound asleep-- this is what I found:



He'd discovered some very interesting appendages, which up until this point have been random things that pop into view once in a while. Apparently now they are a self-calming technique. . . except that every time he starts to fall asleep, the losing of his grasp on them startles him awake again... At this point he's been in bed for about 45 minutes, and is getting past the point of exhaustion. Between sobs I go in to check on him, and he's still holding his toes. Poor little guy. Back to the swaddle for you...

Don't wanna miss a thing

I'm reading (yes, me, reading!) this book that is basically a journal that this woman kept during her son's first year of life. Some entries are just a few sentences, others a few pages. It's nice to read while nursing to pass the time. It's making me want to record a lot more of this beautiful crazy experience -- what it's like to be a new mom, to experience all the firsts, to jot down the little things that make me laugh or cry or want to rip my hair out (as if I weren't losing enough already), and all the little snapshots during these precious days that just melt my heart.
Like yesterday... Christian and I were sitting in the living room together (well, he was standing on my lap, as that is the only position he is happy in lately...standing...) and I just started making silly faces and talking baby talk to him (you know, that embarrassing gutchy-gutchy-goo-goo kind of stuff). With his open-mouthed grin he suddenly let out this loud and genuine giggle. He's kinda half-chuckled before, but nothing like this... it was like a miniature belly laugh :). Then late last night he got his second wind while getting ready for bed. This time Dave got to see/hear it, and he started making Christian laugh over and over-- we looked at each other each time with so much joy and laughter ourselves, and it was like a Hallmark card... funny, beautiful, sweet and perfect. It totally made up for the fact that he's not sleeping through the night anymore!

Sooo... just because I haven't been recording every second of his almost 4 months of life doesn't mean i can't start jotting things down now. Hopefully this will become a place to keep track of it all, when i have the time and energy and the stars collide. A place to reflect and remember the preciousness of little life. I don't wanna miss a thing.

he's awake-- gotta go.........

Indian Lake 08

We had a wonderful time at our favorite place! It was my 30th summer in a row, and it never grows dull. It is so beautiful! Despite the mostly rainy and cold days (and nights), Christian and Willa managed to capture everyone's hearts and keep us laughing with delight. It was so amazing to watch them together, realizing this could become a yearly tradition of photoshoots-- it will be so fun to watch them grow, side by side.
Dave put together a little video to the "Indian Lake" song (above). It captures a little bit of the magic. (it's also on YouTube)
Christian and I decided to stay with Gramsy and Poppy for a second week-- which was great, considering they could take him for walks and entertain him while I caught up on much needed rest (he didn't sleep very well at all during the cold nights, and thus, neither did i). By the end of the second week, the sun decided to show itself, and we had some great days on the beach and in the water. As you can see from the slideshow, we took advantage of every second of sunshine.
By the end of our time it was amazing to see how much Christian had grown in just 2 weeks-- both physically and socially. He is engaging, smiling, giggling and talking up a storm. He loves to kick his feet, and has a much longer attention span (he is sooo into looking at books). . . and he's grown at least an inch and a few pounds!
It's good to be back-- and strange-- for the first time in my life I am not "going back to school" in one form or another. I love the feeling of peace that that thought brings. No "back to school" anxiety!!! I wonder how these months will unfold... if I will get lonely and bored, or grow more in love with my new job... most likely a little of both... right now i am loving it all! (even those wee hours of the morning)

summer attire

3 Months with Maddy

Christian has a lot of adoring fans-- but only one has crossed the ocean just to meet him! Maddy arrived a week ago, just in time to ring in his 3 month birthday-- with her new Nikon camera. . . with which we've had more than a few hours of photo phun! (as you can see from the slideshow)

It has been such a joy to watch these two bond. Maddy has been teaching him Dutch, and Christian is more than enamoured with her. The last time she was here was for our wedding 2 years ago-- and my, how much has happened since then!

As we reach the 3 month mark, Christian has suddenly achieved 3 monumental developmental tasks-- grabbing his toes, sucking his thumb, and sleeping through the night (woo hoo!!!) . The thumb sucking, granted, is a result of the thumb sucking lessons that i've been conducting since soon after his arrival into the world ... and am very proud to say , are finally paying off ! :) everyone says i'll regret teaching him to do so-- but i sucked my thumb till 4th grade, and don't regret one day of it! i loved my thumb, and it brought many hours of comfort to my life. i have a feeling that even now, if i were to put it in my mouth it would feel perfectly at home.
But more than anything, we are enjoying the long awaited 6 - 7 hour stretches at night-- not totally consistent yet, but just in time for our trip to Indian Lake next week!
Christian's first trip to the Lake will be so fun-- Willa will be there for the first time too, and we'll be sure to capture as many moments as possible on film.
Poppy's already got him prepped for water skiing :)