Deja Vu All Over Again

It's weird how foggy your memory gets of those early days. For us, it's been just shy of 4 years since we experienced having a newborn around, so Ben's crying and fussiness seemed frequent. But looking back at the early posts with Rachel, we definitely had those "why-oh-why-is-she-still-crying-and-what-in-the-name-of-all-that-is-holy-can-we-do-to-make-her-stop" types of posts. Ben actually hasn't been too bad yet, for the most part, although there have been a couple of rough nights.

It just had seemed like he's harder to keep happy because he doesn't want to spend much time in the bouncer or swing or laying in his co-sleeper or playyard, so most of the time when he's not eating, he's either being held or is in the Baby Bjorn on either me or James. But I do remember the first 7 or 8 weeks with Rachel were pretty brutal, with lots of nights of very poor sleep. Although we're not getting tons of sleep, most nights we're getting some, enough (for me at least) to feel functional. I'm definitely not getting the kind or amount of sleep that I need to actually do well and have the patience that would be so beneficial right now, but I'm getting by.

I wish that we felt the same sense of wonder at every little thing that Ben does. I'm guessing it's pretty normal to feel that more with your first child, but we documented a lot of that on the blog, so we're more aware of it than we otherwise would be. To be sure, Ben is a great little guy and we're happy he's part of our lives now. We just need to be more specific about that here.

As you can see from the picture, he's a happy little guy when he's fed and clean and not having gas pains or tired. Those are a lot of conditions to meet, but when they're met, I can lay him on a blanket and look down at him, and he'll want to have a conversation. He gurgles and coos and tries to make all kinds of sounds already, and moves his tongue around. If you mirror his actions, you can see excitement on his face and in his eyes, and he'll wiggle and do more.

He's been smiling in his sleep since he was just a few days old, really, and he laughed in his sleep at just 8 days old! (What on earth does an 8-day-old baby find that funny, anyway?) A few weeks ago, he started to smile while awake, as in exhibit A above. He's becoming more interactive and will study faces like he's looking for answers to a great mystery in them. He seems like he's going to be a very thoughtful, contemplative person, so it will be interesting to see if that holds true.

Now if he could just learn to take naps and go to sleep at night when he's not attached to someone.