By Lindsay:
1/19/09
The third times the charm! I am referring to the third Sunday we have taken Baby Daniel to church. We began visiting a new church just a couple of weeks before Baby Daniel was born. We really enjoyed the new venue but had to take several weeks off once he was born. The doctor said that one downside of having a baby in the fall and winter is being stuck at home so as not to expose the baby to too many people in the midst of cold and flu season. As I alluded to earlier, we have taken the baby to church for three weeks now. The first week we planned ahead to see how to manage Baby Daniel’s schedule to optimize our experience. We worked his schedule so that he would be napping during the church service. Yeah right! One of the things I enjoy most about this particular church is the praise and worship music. It rocks…literally. Baby Daniel loved it too and did not want to miss a minute. By sermon time he was pretty much spent so I took him out for the rest of the service. Daniel informed me that we missed an excellent message. The next week we worked his schedule so that he would be awake at the beginning and possibly fall asleep towards the end. This worked a little better as he made it through at least half of the sermon. This was the fussy breaking point and Daniel took him out for the rest of the service. It truly was an excellent message this week also and I filled Daniel in on it in the car. Now we come to the third attempt, the charm. Unfortunately, I am not exactly sure how we did it. Maybe he has matured just enough over the last few weeks or perhaps we have just learned how to deal with him more productively. Coincidentally, this was the week we feel his colicky episodes have come to an end. Maybe he feels like a new man and is just able to enjoy life more fully. Whatever the reason we timed it right for the third church attempt truly worked like a charm.

By Lindsay: Last night was the first night that Baby Daniel slept in his room. We eased the transition by putting him down for most of his naps in his crib the weeks prior. We decided to give it a try this weekend to see how he would like sleeping in there for the night. He slept between 6 and 7 hours before waking the first time, which is pretty good for a 10 week old. However, he had gotten up to 8 to 9 hours previously in the bassinet. Today was one of the best days we have had with him. He was in a fabulous mood. We did not experience the cranky time that usually creeps in the late evening. He had some really good naps throughout the day. Any one of the three previously mentioned items would constitute a pretty good day, but today we had it all. It seems like everyday with him is better and more enjoyable. We get the biggest pleasure from the simplest things such as hearing him laugh when he is playing by himself on his jungle mat, making him smile and being able to reproduce the effect with similar actions, etc.

Today we did not leave the house. For one, it was probably the coldest day of the year and Baby Daniel’s first snow at home. His first snow ever was actually a wintery mix on his first trip to Arkansas. It was hard to enjoy the snow when you are driving around an unfamiliar city with layers of ice on the road. Secondly, why leave the house when we have such a wonderful evening spending quality family time together. We have discovered that in small spurts Baby Daniel likes to sit and watch Daddy play video games. As I sit here in the guest room upstairs next to the nursery I feel very blessed to have such a wonderful son and I enjoy watching him grow and reach new milestones on a daily basis. I also have a wonderful husband who understands enough to not question the fact that I need to sleep upstairs away from the comfort of our bed so that I can hear what’s going on in my son’s room.

That Baby

You know that time your friend introduced you to their 9 week old baby. He/she smiled, gooed, gaaed,looked at you, yawned, then went back to sleep. Afterwards you asked yourself, "Why don't we have one (or have another)". Your friend tells you how they are amazed at what a natural sleeper their baby is and that it may be due to the fact that he/she is so even tempered.

This is not that baby. Daniel is a fiesty ball of energy who often goes on sleep strikes to prove his point. If only we knew what he wanted we would gladly give it to him. I'm hoping this is a phase, but we are going into 10 weeks and he shows no signs of letting up.

He is strong. With only grasping two of my fingers he can stand on his own for several minutes. It's fun to keep him occupied by keeping him off balance just enough to make him struggle to stand. Oftentimes this will cause him to forget he was crying and force him to focus all his attention on remaining upright. His muscular coordination has advanced such that when I move in for a kiss I have to watch for his left cross.

Thank God for Lindsay. She is calm and sings to him without losing a beat even as he draws in one of those 10 second breaths that hint at the inevitable scream that you know is about to pierce your ears. Perhaps Lindsay is so natural at this type of thing because she has spent the last 7 years doing it for me. I guess we know where he gets it.