Life with baby

Well, we are settling down into a routine. Maybe. We wake up at around 7 A.M. We may or may not have slept for more than 3 hours at a stretch, but I guess I'm getting sort of used to it. Chris usually gets up first to change him, which gives me a few more minutes of sleep. Then Lou is back with me, kicking and happy to be starting the day. How can I not wake up when I have such a cheerful guy waiting for me? He's happy until about 8:30-9:00. Then he needs to be put down for a nap. He can sleep for 1-3 hours in the morning. I have no idea how long his morning nap will be. The environment is usually the same: crib, swaddled, darkened room, fan going for white noise. I guess on some days he just needs more sleep than on the others. Who knows. But when he wakes up, we leave the apartment to either run some errands or meet for a playdate or just go for a walk to the park. Sometimes he sleeps in the carrier while we're out, but those naps are now very brief. I try to get home in the late afternoon so that I can put him down for a real nap in his crib. Lately, he's been sleeping for a couple hours in the afternoon too. Bedtime is between 7-8. And then, he may or may not wake every hour until we go to bed too, or he may be out until 2 A.M. This past week he's been sick (caught a cold at the pediatrician's office) so he's been up a lot. But anyway this is what my days look like now. I don't think he's necessarily "easier" than before. I think I just feel more comfortable.

We realize more and more every day just how lucky we are to have such a healthy, resilient baby. We went to a wedding this past weekend (his first!), and he was such a cool cucumber despite not napping nearly enough (probably only slept 1 hour total all day long) and having a runny nose and cough. The bride didn't get his usual 1000-watt smile, but at least he wasn't screaming his head off, which is what I had expected considering the circumstances.

And today we rode the subway down to Union Square (that's the farthest downtown in the city we've gone) and he made everyone in the car smile at him. It's such a pleasure to see him engage with the world around him. Everything just seems to make him so happy!