Wow. Time flies, huh? We’re officially on a downward slide to Jack’s first birthday and things are looking up. It’s funny with babies. The first two weeks he was here I thought he was the easiest baby ever. “I’ve got this,” I thought. “Parenting is easy,” I thought. Then at two weeks it was like somebody flipped a switch and he suddenly had a lot of needs. Like to be held almost constantly. He fought naps and cried anytime I put him down, even just to brush my teeth or put on some real clothes. But I counted my blessings because he continued to sleep pretty well at night. Then from two months to four months something changed and he was pretty easy again. I congratulated myself on getting through the fussy weeks so gracefully. Then, OMG, he turned four months old and the next two months nearly killed me. The kid would not nap unless he was being held the entire time–it’s not much of a break for mom if she doesn’t actually get a break! And even then I was lucky to get thirty minutes out of him before he woke up still cranky. To make matters worse, nighttime was deteriorating as well. He went from sleeping a 6-9 hour stretch followed by another couple hours until morning to waking every 2-3 hours all night long. I was sleep deprived and dangerous to be around.

So when he turned six months old a couple of things happened. He started solids, we moved him out of our room, and we started putting him down awake and waiting a few minutes before going in if he cried. Life changer. Bedtime is a breeze and he’s back to waking to nurse only once or twice a night, which I’m fine with. Naps continued to be a problem for a few weeks and I don’t even try to put him down awake or wait before coming in at naptime because it’s a complete disaster, but over the past week or so naps seem to be falling into place on their own and at this very moment I sit typing away on my laptop while he snoozes happily in the next room. You do not know how insanely luxurious this feels unless you have had a baby who insisted on napping in your arms.

Another thing that happened this month is that Jack got sick for the very first time. He had a lot of congestion and both ears were infected. A round of antibiotics had him good as new in no time, and now that he’s well again he is actually going to have a minor procedure next week to have his frenulums clipped. His tongue and lip are both really restricted, and since the lip in particular can cause some pretty significant speech and orthodontic problems when he’s older (as well as pain and discomfort he’s unable to tell us about) we’re having them revised by an ENT. It should be a quick and relatively painless event, so fingers crossed!

The funniest thing to happen recently is that Jack has become much more aware of our pets. Juliet likes to hang out under his high chair while he’s eating (for obvious reasons. She’s not the sharpest tool in the shed but she knows he’s a goldmine for dropped food) and he loves to lean over the side and look at her. And when he’s on the floor if she’s within grabbing distance he tries to reach out and pet her, but usually it’s more like him poking her in the eye/pulling her ear/grabbing and twisting her fur. Fortunately she’s a good sport about it. And when Sheila or Pistachio walks past or jumps onto a piece of furniture he watches and laughs. It’s hilarious.

Even when he’s fussy and demanding, I can’t help but love the little guy. He’s just so sweet and funny and cute. Consider us smitten.

It’s a good thing he’s been napping like such a champ lately because I am going to be cleaning my house like a crazy lady today getting ready for my sister’s bridal shower tomorrow! This is the first time we’ve had more than a handful of people over since Jack was born and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed. I guess the good thing is that I can always blame a messy house on being busy with the baby, haha, even though he’s not mobile yet so it’s not like I can try to pretend like he’s directly responsible. He mostly just lays there and demands my attention.

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