Realizations

You know you're a mom when you spritz on perfume not so much as to smell nice and feel pretty, but rather to cover the smell of baby puke.

Yes, I'm on outfit #2 today.

Thank you!

Thank you SO MUCH to everyone who helped keep me sane and calm this weekend for Gavin's baptism!!!! Special thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou's to Gavin's grandparents: Nana & Papa and Grandpa D & Grandma Zuzu. ;)

So anyway, if you couldn't tell by now, Gavin was baptized yesterday. Having been brought up Baptist I'm very new to infant baptism so I wasn't really sure what to expect from this event. I had been warned though that we'd probably have quite a few family come for the occasion and to have a celebration prepared. Even though I acknowledge that this is a big deal (I was a Baptist; come on, of course baptism is a huge deal!) I guess I don't really think of infant baptism in the same way as an adult getting baptized. I have a feeling that I will be more excited about Gavin's confirmation and wanting to make a bigger deal out of that because then he will be old enough to understand. Understanding is key for me.

Anyhoo, I was prepped for the family, I wasn't prepared for just how many wonderful friends would come support and celebrate with us. At the risk of sounding mushy, I love you guys!!! The lunch was really good even though the pork tenderloin didn't grill as quickly as we would have liked, we ran out of lemonade and I spent much of the time upstairs trying to calm a fussy little boy. It was wonderful to see family and friends again that we hadn't seen in a while (some not since the baby shower in June!).

I learned a few things from this weekend though. 1) I feel I'm better prepared for his next religious celebration (confirmation) so hopefully that will go a bit smoother. 2) Even though he may be the man of the hour, I need to better enforce nap time. Gavin was so incredibly exhausted last night and I felt awful for it. He loved seeing his grandparents and getting all this attention but by Sunday afternoon he was wiped. I hope with future events or gatherings at our place that I'll be able to enforce nap time better so he won't be quite so worn out. We were lucky last night... Gavin went down by 8:00 p.m. and slept until 4:50 a.m. :D

p.s. Anyone who took pictures during the baptism I'll gladly take copies!! :)

3 Months

My son is three months old today.

And to celebrate he decided at about 3:00 a.m. that sleep was overrated. So ends his streak of nights he slept through.

*Sigh*

On a positive note though he's healthy, he's happy and growing like a weed. Yesterday just about every time he focused in on my face he smiled. That makes me feel good. He's also becoming quite the giggler. It's cute to watch. So far he enjoys (other than nursing because that's a given) bouncing on our bed, being talked to in English, French, German or baby talk, chewing on his fist and looking outside. He's getting to be quite the cutie.

As soon as I can find very recent pictures I'll post them. :)

The Verdict

It wasn't a fluke... but it wasn't exactly for real either.

After that night, Gavin did wake up at least once a night for the next few days. However last night was his THIRD NIGHT IN A ROW that he slept through. I'm seriously afraid to hope that he's finally figuring this out. The funny thing is though, my body had grown so used to such little sleep that I'm pretty tired after getting a full night's sleep. Now, I do wake up a few times because I'm either paranoid he's going to wake me up crying anyway or I'm just so used to being woken up I'm doing it for him. But since he's not fussing I go right back to sleep. If he is still doing this by the weekend I'm going to be doing some SERIOUS rejoicing!

It would be nice if he slept this weekend because he's getting baptized on Sunday and my parents are staying at our house. Please baby? Pleeeeeeaaaaaaaaaase???

Fluke or For Real?

Gavin slept through the night last. In his own room.

I think I heard angels singing this morning (you think I'm kidding). ;)

Seriously though, it was absolutely incredible that he slept for so long. He didn't sleep much over the weekend and so, consequently, at DC yesterday he took extra long naps. He was so alert when we picked him up that I was really nervous that he wouldn't sleep much at all overnight. We took extra special care to play with him hoping he'd get worn out. Gavin got a triple B last night (bath, bottle and boob) to make sure his tummy was extra full and contented. By 10:00 he was tucked into his crib (with Mommy passed out next door) and he didn't cry until 5:30 this morning.

Now, I ask you, is this a fluke or is it for real? Has he finally gotten his days and nights figured out?

Given Gavin's past sleep activity, I'm inclined to believe this was a fluke. And I hate that I have to believe that. His sleep patterns can just be so random though that I fully expect that tonight he'll wake up at least once if not twice. Of course it would be fantastic if he really did sleep through the night again and for the majority of nights hereafter but I just don't think that will happen yet. Who knows?

It would be nice though if he would just sleep through then I might have a prayer of cutting back on my coffee intake (which has tripled since he was born).

"I can smell the milk but why isn't it coming out?"

More pics

The Men in my Life

You talkin' to me??

Gavin is starting to smile now and it just makes me melt. It's now my belief that you have not truly lived until you've heard a person try to laugh when they don't quite know how to yet. Gavin does the silent laugh a lot. He also babbles and can self-sooth a little if he's not desperate yet.

I'll have to do another look-a-like thing because I think he's starting to resemble Mr. S' baby pics a bit more.

Yet again, I stole this

My SIL finds the COOLEST things!!! And since everyone asks us who we think Gavin looks more like, I could not resist:

Day Care

So my li'l baby boy started day care yesterday. And as much as I was trying to focus on the positive, I couldn't help but struggle against tears when we dropped him off. It was almost like I was starting back at work all over again and it sucked. There's just no other way to say it. I was especially paranoid that our provider, Chris, would be prepared to deal with Gavin. In some ways we gave information that she didn't necessarily need and in others we didn't provide enough info.

Apparently Gavin has colic and we had no clue. Because his nap schedule has been pretty random, and generally in the afternoons, we didn't realize that come 2:30-3:00 his crying fits were colic. I especially didn't know because I thought that nothing, absolutely nothing soothes a colicky baby but I was always able to calm him down with nursing (one reason why I don't know what his particular cries mean; when in doubt, give him the boob! That'll solve it!). ;) So I think Chris was a little upset with us, thinking we withheld vital sanity-soothing information but we genuinely didn't know. We also underestimated a little bit how much Gavin would eat. We thought it was about 2 oz every 2 hours but he chows down more like 3-3 1/2 oz. Chris made it through the day with 2 oz to spare.

When we went to pick him up, Gavin seemed like a pretty contented baby, although clearly ready to go home and be fed again. I'm a little nervous what today will bring. Yesterday Gavin napped in the morning and screamed all afternoon. Consequently Gavin slept about 7 hours last night (WOO HOO!!!!) and seemed pretty alert this morning. I'm guessing he probably didn't go down this a.m. But really it would be better for the provider if he did sleep in the afternoon. Not only is p.m. when the other kids sleep but then he'd sleep away some of his colicky time, therefore being less of a pain on Chris and the other children. But that would mean Gavin would have to cooperate and we all know babies do NOT cooperate. ;)

Anyhoo... I leave you with this cute one today:

Gavin sleeps in his bouncy chair