Tuesday, June 13, 2006

4 Glorious Hours!


Last night I fed the little man at 9:30 p.m. (on one side) and then we gave him his bath and I finished feeding him. Afterward he was wide awake and wanted to play. I brought him into our room where Tyler and I hung out with him for a bit. We read scriptures and said our family prayer and then Tyler generously offered to put him to sleep while I slept myself. I was out like a light! This was at 10:50 p.m. I found out this morning that our little man didn't enter a deep slumber until about 12:20 a.m. I sure married a good and patient man, but I felt so bad since he has to get up and go to work!

Anyway, Tyler and I were both expecting Max to wake up around 12:30 since 3 hours is usually his max (no pun intended). You know, it is really amazing to me how right on his "inner feeding clock" is. I was awakened by a cry of hunger, as usual, and I looked at the clock. It read 2:43 a.m.! For a second I thought that I was misreading the clock because I didn't have my glasses on. Surely I was just missing the 1 in front of the 2...it couldn't be that late! But as I stared at the number and realized that it was, indeed, 2:43, panic began to set in. Had I not woken up when he cried earlier to be fed?! Tyler woke up because I leapt out of bed and in my rush to get into the other room, ran into the wall. :) I was so worried that I had starved my son.

I got him out of bed and started feeding him when I realized that there is no way he could have been crying to be fed without either Tyler or myself waking up to it. If Max is hungry, then Max will be fed. He will make sure of it. He will not stop fussing until his needs are met. Once I realized that I had not missed a feeding, but that my son had actually gone that long in between feedings, I was so happy and grateful! My pounding, worried heart slowed to a normal rhythm and a great peace and love for this little man set in. Now, I am not at all expecting a repeat in the nights to come, but I will not object if this was the beginning of a new sleep chapter in our lives. It would have been even better if Max and Tyler had both been sleeping all of that time. All in good time. For now I am grateful for the one night and the 4 continuous hours of sleep that I so enjoyed!

Also, yesterday morning and this morning have been very fun with Max! I have had some good play time with him that has included lots of smiling. :) He has also added some baby cooing and garble to his usual grunting. It is so fun to listen to his "stories"! He seems so intent on what he is saying and looks right at me to make sure that I am getting it all. That's when I've been able to get the smiles. Oh, he is so cute! I love this motherhood business. I am excited to meet all of the little spirits that will be sent to our home. And I hope that I can teach this one well since he will be the big brother of them all. What a sweet, fun, special little boy. We love him so much!

Friday, June 02, 2006

9lbs 1oz


That's right, folks! In a week and a half our son has gained more than one pound. If you'll recall, on May 22nd he was a measly 7lbs 6oz. He jumped from the 16th to the 41st percentile for weight gain. :) I was in shock, but oh so proud of my son and of myself. We are apparantly a great team! He is a happy, healthy, beautiful little man.

On the subject of happy...we have a very smiley son. Most of the smiles are when he is coming in and out of sleep. Our parents have seen a few awake smiles as well. But today I think that I got a glimpse of the first interactive smile. He had been awake for a while at his appointment and was still alert when we got home. I was talking to him and smiling as I was getting him out of his seat. He was looking at my face and when I gave him a big smile, I received one in return! I thought it may be a fluke, so I talked for a little longer and tried again...with the same result. I gave it a rest for a bit and then tried one more time and received the biggest smile in return! After that he let me know that it was time to eat, which brings out a very serious and focused side of Maxwell. :) I think that maybe it was just him trying to mimic his mom; I've read that babies at this age do that. Whatever the cause, it was so wonderful! I am excited for all of the levels of interaction that lie ahead. Now we just need Max to show his dad this new trick!

That's all for today, from this mom of a 9 pounder! He can gain all of the weight that he wants to now that he's out in the world. :)