A post with words

The last 6 weeks have been quite a whirlwind! It seems like as soon as we adjust to a "new normal" everything is up in the air and changing again!

Sleep is returning slowly but surely. Zach is getting very consistent with his daytime naps, sleeping 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 45 minutes between each feeding (which are now about 3 hours apart) which gives me plenty of time to get stuff done around the house or catch up on a little sleep myself. At night he's been sleeping for longer and longer stretches to where now he's only getting up once in the dead of night. Last night he slept for 6 hours straight! That makes for a very happy me =) (Isn't this a cute picture of him sleeping? I swaddle him nice and tight before bed, but one night we heard a bunch of grunts coming from the crib and he had worked the swaddle loose to get a hand on his glow worm!)

We were getting out of the house quite frequently, almost everyday, to run errands, visit people or just get a change of scenery and some fresh air. He did a great job sleeping in his car seat. But as his naps at home have gotten more consistent his naps in the car have waned into nothingness. It could be that he is now more aware of how hot my car is (the a/c in my trusty '98 Cavalier is a little slow getting to the backseat) and if that's the case, hopefully as the weather cools we'll be able to get out again without major meltdowns. For now though I'm seeing the simple joys in being at home more.

Zach was a big fan of his pacifier from early on, so were Greg and I! It's been great to have such a portable trick up our sleeve for nearly any fussy situation! We both decided early on that we wanted to use music and white noise sparingly as calming techniques before bed so as not to put ourselves in a position where we need to pack a suitcase for Zach just to go over to someone's house to hang out. Obviously those are wonderful tools and we're learning to "never say never", but for us right now Zach being easily portable and adaptable is important. That being said, this past week Zach has begun to ditch his pacifier in favor of his fist. He goes at that thing with a vengeance. Unfortunately, he hasn't quite mastered it yet and gets a little frustrated that his hand won't stay still or completely fit in his mouth. Or that he can't have both his hand and his pacifier in his mouth at the same time (that's the best).

Greg and I have also been enjoying our evenings more and more over the past few weeks. I'd imagine it is in large part due to the fact that we're getting more sleep at night and I'm getting a short nap in the afternoon and not falling asleep at 8. Yes, I bet that's it. We weren't really spontaneous people before, but now that we're often tied to the house when we put him down (we still get out to meetings and over to friends and family's houses a few evenings a week) we realize how often we'd finish up dinner and go run an errand together. So we were spontaneous, just boring spontaneous. =) But, like everything else, we're learning to adjust and it's been great. We've been working a puzzle for the last 2 nights, playing games, and snuggling up on the couch to watch movies (and not falling asleep!!). I know that life won't be like this forever and I'm so enjoying these nights together. Someday, hopefully, our evenings will be full of attending sporting events, homework, chores, delayed bedtimes, etc and we'll love that, too; but we'll look back on these more quiet times and remember them with fondness.

Plus, if you think you love your husband now, wait until you see him hold your baby in his arms . . . nothing melts my heart more!