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Did I just type FOUR Months? Yikes! The last time I posted an update you were 6 weeks old. That actually stabs a little at my heart when I think of all that time gone by. I’ve been busy. Busy with you and your sister and our family and my business. Life is busy, and good. And you, my dear, are a big reason why. As I sit down to type this, I have a few little sheets of mini-notebook paper from a pad I keep in the kitchen. Whenever things happen that I want to remember, I write them down on that little pad until I get a chance to get on my laptop and include them in your scrapbooks. Adela’s pages are full… full of all the cute stuff she is saying and doing. She’s grown up by leaps and bounds in the past several months and she is always surprising me and making me laugh by the novelty of the little girl she is becoming. She is the girl who made me a Mom and she is so incredibly special. You? Every time I go to write something down I feel like I’m distracted by my overwhelming sense of affection for you. I have things written down like “smiley,” “sunshine,” “giggles.” General feelings and simple statements. I literally smile EVERY time I think of you. You know why? Because you are the sweetest baby on the planet, and when I see you in my mind’s eye you are always grinning at me… because in real life you are always grinning at me.
Having a second baby is different. Things aren’t as novel. I’ve experienced all the milestones, up until 3 years, with your sister. So I feel like I’m not as driven to record all those sorts of things with you, the things like your sleep schedule and what kind of binky you like and how many diapers I have to change in a day. All those things become givens, not quite as forefront, with a second baby. Your sister is wonderful because she did and is breaking me in. With every new age comes a new revelation of all the things I don’t know. It’s exciting and wonderful and unique to our experience with her as the firstborn in this family. But with you… I’m freed up a bit. I am a more experienced parent (as well as your Daddy), and a lot of my attention when it comes to you isn’t spent on figuring you out. I know more about what’s okay and what works and what to expect. More of my energy is spent on enjoying you. It’s wonderful and unique to you as my second born. Seriously, God is so full of blessings when it comes to children. I’m so grateful every day for both of you and the unique little people you are, the special ways you change our family, and individual places you have and you make in our hearts and home. You THINK a second baby can’t be as special as the first, but then you arrive and everything changes, new things become possible, capacities grow, life metamorphasizes into something you never expected and suddenly can’t imagine living without.
And you, my son, you are a joy. A ray of sunshine in my life. I am in love with you. In LOVE. I truly can’t imagine a sweeter baby (although I know I thought the same thing about your sweet big sister.) And I have to say, the feeling is mutual. I think part of what makes you such a joy is that you are good for my ego. You adore me. It’s well-known at this point that you are a Momma’s boy, and I am *totally* okay with that. You are a real baby of course. You do get cranky, especially in the evenings or if you’ve had your nap delayed for some reason. Every now and then you’ll fight going down for a nap when I know you’re tired, and I’m okay with letting you cry for short periods if I know that you’re sleepy. You give in to it relatively easily most of the time. But for the most part your crankiness is minimal and minor, at least when I’m around (Daddy wouldn’t totally agree with these statements. You tend to give him a bit of a rougher time.)
You’re still a lot of work. But on the scale of difficult babies, you have to be a 1. I am able to soothe you easily. You love being held, especially by me. There has still NEVER been a time when me holding you and rocking you hasn’t been enough to calm you. The longest it’s ever taken me to get you to stop crying is probably 3 or 4 minutes. If I’m holding you – soothing you with my voice, singing, rocking, cuddling – it’s almost always instantaneous calm. If that doesn’t work, feeding you does. You allow me to get things done. I am able to put you down in your baby gym (as long as you’re fed and not ready for a nap) so that I can start a load of laundry, or do the dishes or pay the bills. You stay content for short periods of time without me doing anything. So nice. When you see me (and other people you love and even people you don’t know), you almost always smile. And I don’t mean most of the time. I mean nearly ALL of the time. You are a happy, happy baby. You are low-maintenance. You are calm. You are sweet. You are so, so cute. You are cuddly. You are flexible. You are predictable. You are part baby and part angel.
Right now you’re starting to grab onto toys and starting to put things in your mouth, usually your hands or your bib. You’re pushing up really well on your tummy and roll over onto your back all the time. You coo in your little boy voice and are “talking” more and more. In the past 2 weeks you are about 80% of the way to a real, all out laugh. It’s close, definitely a laugh, but you haven’t let loose yet. I think you’re close.
You’re a little on the small side of average. I had you weighed an extra time last month to make sure you were growing and you had gained a pound, so that’s good. You’re going to the doctor again on Friday for your 4 month check up, so we’ll see if you’re on track with your growth curve. Adela was small too. I’m not too worried about it. You’re putting on weight. You’re a good eater and you are always satisfied after feedings. You have the right number of poops and pees every day.
You will sit in the Bumbo for long periods of time, but let us know in crankiness when you get tired of exercising all those baby muscles. Just a couple more months and you’ll be eating food. I can’t believe it. So much of parenthood is wondering where the time goes. It just flies. Faster and faster every year.
You have the BEST hair! From the time you were born you have a sort of natural part that makes you always look groomed. And you have a cowlick in the front that makes your “baby bangs” (as Adela calls them) stand up just in the front with just a little smoothing. It’s totally hip. If I leave it alone, fresh out of the bath, it all stands straight up, just like your sister’s did. You’re going to have awesome hair I think. And your little legs are always busy these days, kicking and cycling and bouncing up and down.
You are a wonderful sleeper. You wake me up once (occasionally twice depending on when your last feeding ends up being and when I go to bed) to eat and then you go right back to sleep, every time. You are pretty much on a predictable schedule (with some exceptions) of waking up at 7am, napping around 9am for an hour or two, napping again around noon, napping again around 4pm, and going down for the night by 6pmish. Being predictable is a super bonus. Thank you, son. I’m following all the same guidelines with you as I did with your sister (watching your sleep signs, putting you down before you’re over-tired, keeping to a loose schedule, making sure you get motionless sleep (not in the swing), soothing you predictably, and putting you down before you’re fully asleep so that you learn to fall asleep on your own) but you respond to everything much more easily than Adela ever did. The end result (even if it was more work with her) both times has been that you are both great sleepers, at least so far. And for that I am so, so thankful.
If everybody who had a baby had one like you, no one would every stop having babies I think. You are spoiling me. Both of my babies have been joys. But you are *easier* than Adela was for sure. It’s so fun to see how your personalities are already so different. I can’t wait to see the sweet mystery of who you are get peeled back more and more as you grow up. I’m so privileged I get to watch. I love you, Bud. So, so much!
Oh, one last thing. You got to visit Great Grandma McIntire for the second time since your birth. So cool that you have a Great Grandma, isn’t it? I’m glad you’re getting to spend a little time with her in the house where so many of my happy childhood memories were formed.