Waiting for a toddler

After having Era, I realized pretty quickly that when I imagined having kids, my timeline started at toddlerhood, not infancy. I love toddlers and older babies, but infants have always made me a little edgy. I love our boy beyond belief, but I am constantly counting the days til the next big milestone (2 months and 1 week until 6 months!) When my doula came for our postpardem check-up at around 3 weeks, she expressed that that was her favorite time with her babies. They laid there quietly and were all cuddles and quiet yawns, no chasing after them or talking back. I sat there and thought--you're crazy! He doesn't even smile at me! This relationship seems so one-way! (Yes, maybe I am just a little selfish and prefer to hang out all day--and night-- with someone who responds to me!)

As you can imagine, it is getting better with time. I love his smiles and tiny laughs, and I really enjoy that they are in response to games we play. He is "talking" more now, which is a blast, and he holds his own personal dance parties when he is stripped down to his diaper. It is adorable. 

But I have been coming back to my steep learning curve of having an infant lately, as Era is going through his 4- month sleep regression (for our overachiever, it started at 3 months). They talk about this period as a wonder week, a growth spurt, a change in baby's sleep structure. Whatever it is, our boy is only sleeping 1 or 2 hours at a time at night, is a super grumpy pants during the day, and desires my constant, undivided attention all.the.time. (Note, at around 2 months he was sleeping 5 hours at night and would play happily on his play gym by himself for an hour at a time). We have about another week to go to see if this is just a phase or if this is the new normal. As you can imagine, if this is the new normal we have some major sleep training ahead of us, as waking every hour is not sustainable for anyone. I have been trying to decide if the first 3 weeks were the hardest thus far or if this period has been the hardest. I am beginning to feel like I did when we were just home from the hospital: completely and utterly exhausted and worn thin.

Luckily, I have the best mother in the world, who is willing to fly out to frozen Ohio is stay with me and Era for an indeterminate amount of time, as we get through this phase. I am still getting up at night, but it is so reassuring to know that I will have help during the day and can squeeze in a nap. 

I will close with a picture of our handsome little boy. From the light in his eyes, you would never guess sleep was a problem. :)

The many faces of Erasmus

Erasmus is five weeks old and becoming more expressive. Here are a few of his faces...

And a sweet smile 

Our little family at Thanksgiving 

Three weeks!

Erasmus is three weeks old today! To mark this milestone, he rolled over from his tummy to his back today during tummy time. He also weighed almost 2 pounds over his birth weight at the doctor on Friday. Here we come athletic scholarship! Heh.

Here is my latest favorite picture of Era and Dad. 

And here is Era and Mom getting ready to go for a walk.

And our sweet boy smiling in his sleep.

Faux-hawk

When you newborn son has a full head of hair, it is almost a requirement to give him a faux-hawk after bath time. 

But don't worry, he returned to his "my parents are boring" haircut shortly thereafter.

Era photos, 12 days old

A few recent photos of Era. We had our newborn check up yesterday and he did great. Almost 8 pounds! Mommy's big boy!

Nap time.

Nathan got Era a few classic superheroes for his 1 week "birthday." Not sure who was more excited about the purchase, Era or Dad. (And, yes, he is wearing one of his girl onesies from our pre-birth collection. However, Aunt Heather recently sent us Soren's NB and 0-3 clothes, so now we can always dress like a boy! Thanks, Aunt Heather!)

Era and Superman.

Bright-eyed Era

Sunny nap.

Announcing Erasmus Nathan French

Just a quick note to announce the birth of our son, Erasmus Nathan French! Era was born October 27th at 5:56pm, weighing in at 7lb 9.7oz and 20.5 inches long. He has a full head of hair and is very chatty. Mom and dad are tired but doing well. 

And just in case you are wondering, yes, we were to.d we were having a girl at our 19 week ultrasound, so Era was quite a surprise. Possibly the most talked about baby in the hospital last week!

A few photos of our boy...

Home from the hospital in time for Halloween! Cutest skeleton ever.

First family photo

Happy boy!

Daddy likes close ups

As I type this post, Era sleeps to celebrate his one week of life.

Pants!

My mom is visiting from California this week, and during her stay she is teaching me how to use her old sewing machine, which she gifted to me several years ago.

My mother has been sewing for ages and knows all the right ways to do things (and the time-saving "wrong" ways to do things too). We have gone over all the basics from types of fabrics to pattern reading. I've gotten a little more comfortable with the machine, and am starting to view it as a more of a friend than an enemy.

My first project was a pair of pants for Baby French. Starting with baby clothes is a great idea (I think) because you are able to finish a project in a day and work through all the steps in sequence. It is great for the spirits to be able to start a project in the morning and be done before you go to bed (including the several hours in the middle of the day when you are mad at the sewing machine and need to take a break). 

The evidence:

The finished product:

The pants are flannel, but they have a jean design. Nathan thinks they look like baby yoga pants.

In other news, Nathan brought the Nintendo home from his folk's house. Now we've got some sweet eight-bit Russian folk songs jamming in the background.