You Can't Argue With This

4 Months

Fat Baby Alert!

Russell is four months today and these past months are among the happiest of my life.  He is growing so quickly; each new thing he does is met with our amazement and joy.  Last night he was in his bouncer, grabbing toes with one hand and reaching for a toy dangling above him with the other.  He looked a tad ridiculous as his giant belly kept getting in the way and he kept making silly grunting sounds in an effort to maintain his position.  I watched him do that for about 20 minutes--I was doing a crossword puzzle at the same time, but I know I spent more time looking at Russell than I did figuring out clues. He is starting to let out strange giggles--bursts of happy sounds that are on their way to becoming laughter.  

As amazing as all of these little tricks are, I admit that I get a little sad when he outgrows an outfit or a behavior.  I am eager about upcoming milestones but also a little hesitant because I'm not quite ready to let other stages go.  For instance, one of my favorite things is swaddling him and holding him while he sleeps.  I know he will soon not like that and I know I will miss that when it passes.  He already loves to stand up in our laps or be held in a sitting position, facing outward.  He is not a snuggly baby!  It is now a  matter of a few short months before he is sitting on his own and spending less time in our arms.  Perhaps being a slightly older new parent has made me relish these things a bit more--I know how quickly time passes.  Babies really aren't babies for very long.    

Of course I will continue to fawn over each new thing and text Brandon throughout the day about his newest accomplishment; each new stage will have its magic.  Shortly after Russell was born I was having a similar conversation with my mom and she told me that each of the stages that we were in were her favorite--she loved it when we were babies and she loved it when we were teenagers.  I remind myself of her words each time I feel a little twang of sadness that my little baby is growing faster than I ever realized was possible.  This parenthood thing is quite the gift because as much as I have a hard time believing it, the best is yet to come. 

Movin' on Out

We finally put Russell into his own room two nights ago. We've had the crib for awhile and it has even been set up, waiting for him, for about month now. Russell has been sleeping through the night (7-8 hr stretches) for a good month and even several weeks before that, he was sleeping 4-5 hr stretches at a time. Furthermore, his room is right across the hallway from us--we can pretty much see him from the doorway of our room. Keeping him in our room has certainly not been about convenience.

In fact, keeping him in our room has been a little inconvenient as he is the noisiest sleeper ever. I probably would have gotten much better sleep if I put him in his crib shortly after he was born. He grunted through the first month and a half of his life--grunts so loud (all while sleeping) that Brandon often took him out of the room and slept with him on the couch because I couldn't relax with all that noise. He also went through this phase where he took forever to wake up. He would toss and turn, make grunts, whimpers, and sighs--usually while rubbing his face with his hands and turning his head from side to side. It looked like his is trying to gouge out his eyes with his hands. We never really understood it but he'd do that for like 45 minutes. I got up many times to check on him, and he was always fast asleep, just loud and restless. And lately, he'll flat out cry in his sleep. Not for long, but just long enough for us to get up to get him, only to find him back to sleeping quietly.

For the past few weeks, he has also been more susceptible to our noises. He'll start to stir as Brandon gets up for work and when I'm up late, I have to tiptoe into the bedroom so as not to wake the babe.

But, despite all those issues we just couldn't part with him. Actually, it was probably me than 'we' but I know Brandon liked having him in the room too. Some nights I just laid (no idea if that is the right conjugation) in bed and happily listened to the sleep sounds of both Brandon and Russell. "This is our family!" I would think. In one of my more irrational moments, I thought, "Those Africans in their one room huts have it right--they all get to sleep in the same room all the time." After that thought leaked, I felt like an idiot on so many different levels, but the point was that I loved having Russell near us.

But finally, the time has come to put him in the crib. Mostly because he outgrew the bassinet that Sam and Sharon lent us. One morning before the big move, I head him tossing and turning and actually heard his hands batting against the sides of the bassinet. When I looked at him, his head was practically rubbing the top edge of the bassinet and there wasn't much leg room anymore. He just looked up at me and gave me the biggest smile and I thought, "Ok ok, you can give me that big smile in your crib--I don't need to cramp your style anymore." Anyways, he's been cribbin' it for 2 nights now and everyone is doing fine. (In case you were worried).

A few weeks old

A little over 3 months!