Sleeping Success!

So there is some debate about what it means for a baby to "sleep through the night." Many child-rearing books will tell you that any 5-6 hour stretch is considered sleeping through the night, regardless of what time it starts, etc. I have a stricter definition. In my opinion, a baby sleeps through the night when Mommy is able to get a full-ish nights sleep as well.

Based on my definition, I am going to declare that last night SAM SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT!. As always, I fed him at 10pm and put him in his crib at about 10:25. I heard no peep from baby boy until 5:45. He has been pushing his long sleep stretch further and further over the past week, and hardly eats at all overnight. So, when he wasn't giving his "hungry cry," I decided to try to push him. I gave him a paci once...twice...three times...and baby boy is back to sleep. He stayed asleep until 7:00, the normal time of his first morning feeding.

Obviously, it would be ideal for him to sleep straight to that 7:00am feeding, but I am confident that is not far away. Plus, my alarm for work used to go off at 5:58 (don't ask why it wasn't 6:00), so its really back to the old days. So mommy got over 7 continuous hours of sleep, plus another hour after the paci-fest. Good job Sam!

Two Years

Yesterday, Chris and I celebrated our second wedding anniversary. Sam had his first babysitter (thanks Betty!) so that we could go out for our first date since he was born. I still feel a bit like I'm abandoning my child when I leave the house without him (yes, even when I leave him with his daddy), but I'm told that will get better with time. He got a good behavior report from Betty, and it certainly helped me to know that I left him in such loving and caring hands.

If you'd had asked my on our wedding day, I never would have guessed that I'd be holding our child in the picture from our second anniversary. Crazy! As much fun as it is to be married to Chris, its that much better now that we have Sam. Its like we've transitioned from two people living their lives together into a real family. I can't wait to see what the next two years - and all those years after - will bring our way.

Mr. Sunshine

I have been holding off on this post for a few days now because I wanted to make sure I wasn't jumping the gun. But, I have been observing the phenomenon for enough consecutive days to declare that Sam does indeed have his first favorite toy. I know, how can a baby who can't grab anything have a favorite? I would have thought the same thing up until a week ago. But it seems that my little man has a particular preference for a certain one of the colorful, rattling items that hangs from the cross bars on his play mat. Whenever we lay him down, he swings his arms in an attempt to hit the smiling sun with a rattle attached to the bottom (a.k.a. Mr. Sunshine). Sometimes he is able to wrap his arm around it and pull it to his chest. Once or twice he's managed to get a bit of the fabric between his fingers and actually hold it. Every once in awhile he'll go for the dangling bird, and he is intrigued by the crunchy butterfly if you hold it right in front of him, but nothing seems to top Mr. Sunshine. He talks to Mr. Sunshine too - more than he talks to me. Should I be offended by that?

On the Move

Sam performed this early version of rolling over for the first time when he was 12 days old. The very first time I put him on his stomach, he pushed up and "rolled" over - twice. A week later he did it again. Then I had to wait another two weeks. Finally, on June 4 he rolled over about 5 times in a row, which allowed me time to grab the video camera to document proof. Until this video, I was still the only one who had seen him do it. Since then, Chris has seen him do it once.

My Favorite Times

Having reached the one-month mark, we've done enough things enough times for me to develop affinities towards a few of them. Some of my favorites moments with Sam are:

1. Bath Time. He's gotten over his fear of being cold and has learned to truly relax in his nice warm bath (sometime he relaxes a bit too much and we end up cleaning up a mess). Chris and I give him a bath together, and we have a good time playing with and talking to him while he tries to wiggle out of his little hammock. He's just always so content during his bath, how could you not enjoy it!

2. Right After He Finishes Nursing. Most of the time he has fallen half way asleep, but he makes the cutest faces and stretches his arms up waaaay above his head, then he sighs and totally relaxes. So cute! If its not 3am I love to hold him while he is still in his milk comma and he's just all warm and snugly.

3. Saturday Mornings. Chris doesn't have to get up and go to work, and he brings Sam to me in bed for his first feeding of the day. When he's done nursing we hang out with Sam in our bed for a little bit, or move to his playmat on the floor and play for a little while. Its a nice way to start the weekend.

4. Playmat Time. This one is really new in the past few days, because Sam is just starting to really see the things on the playmat. He smiles and coos a little at the different toys, and looks a lot at that face in the mirror. He really enjoys it, and I really enjoy playing with him!