Whatever Gets You Through the Night

Carter inconceivably turned 10 weeks old this past weekend. The time has gone very quickly, but at the same time, it is hard to imagine a time when he wasn't a fixture in our family. Carter has changed so much since we first brought him home. He has trained us as to the things he wants and likes and when he tries to communicate with us, we usually get it. He does everything with a lot more purpose now: moving when he is playing with his toys, expressing actual happiness when he smiles, and looking where there is noise.

A very strange thing began to happen last weekend. We had constantly joked that each night would be the night that Carter would finally sleep six solid hours. He surprised us last Saturday night by skipping straight over six and advancing to seven. We believed this to be a fluke and not a pattern; however, he has done it four of the past eight nights. Of course at this point, we now expect it, so we are disappointed when he wakes us up at 4AM or 5AM, but he generally goes back down very quickly, within half an hour or less. I honestly never thought we would see the day, but after reading today's Baby Center update, I was informed that we are a lucky ten percent of parents that get to enjoy this uninterrupted sleep, so I count myself as lucky.

Since this long-term sleep has started occurring, we are starting to get him used to sleeping in his room in his crib. He doesn't sleep as well in his room, so we are just trying to get him to go down for naps in there for the time being, but I think he will continue to get more used to it and eventually, we will get our room back to ourselves and get to take down the bulky pack and play in our room.

Last weekend we took our first road trip to Pampa to visit Liz's grandparents, or Carter's great-grandparents. We planned the car time are Carter's normal nap times and everything went very well. Carter slept all the way there, got up, ate, played, and when he got tired, we packed him up for the ride home. He slept all the way home. This was kind of a trial run for the trip to Colorado Springs we will be taking in a few weeks to visit my sister and my nephews. I know that it won't be quite that smooth, but I am optimistic that he will spend a good amount of time sleeping and a good amount of time able to be placated by one of us.

Life at Two Months

2 Months Old

Carter at one month with Digby

Carter at 2 months with Digby

We can’t believe how quickly time has passed here at the Wilson house. Carter is 2 months old today! We survived! I have loved getting to know him. It seems we've passed the hardest part of infancy (although I’m sure those seasoned parents out there would tell us that’s just wishful thinking). Carter is sleeping an average of 5 hours at a time at night which to us is like heaven. Every night I still look at Shelby and say, “Tonight’s the night for 6!”, and someday that will be true. At the beginning 5 hours was unimaginable and I’m grateful it’s become the norm, especially since going back to work. It was tough leaving Carter the first morning (and is still difficult) but I was relieved to be leaving him with Nanny (my mom) that once I got to school I was amazed how quickly everything fell back into routine. My students have been wonderful and they have made the transition back into the classroom easy. It also helps that I have a conference period backed up against my lunch hour so I’m able to go to my Mom’s house and see Carter every day. This helps break up the day into more manageable pieces. At Nanny’s house he spends the morning watching Sesame Street and Sid the Science Kid. And believe it or not he really watches them. He follows the characters with his eyes and when they sing he pumps his legs and coos at the TV. He seems to get especially excited while watching Elmo’s World. I’m not kidding. It cracks me up! He is tracking noises really well and follows us with his eyes and turns his head when we enter or leave the room. He’s so much fun.

It’s also been really nice to learn his preferences and know what makes him happy. We have him on a pretty good schedule. I’ve tried to follow the “eat, play, sleep” suggestion from Babywise and that’s worked well for us. That’s about all I’ve taken from the book, but take what you like and leave the rest, right?! He’s eating about 4 ounces at time and loves music at bedtime. Bath time is one of our favorite times of the day, for all of us. Carter likes the water and we read to him in the bath from one of those plastic bath books. He really seems to like the colorful pages and he talks to us during the whole bath, I’m sure giving us a critique of the story! After Carter’s bath, Shelby plays songs for him on the guitar. Carter just watches Shelby’s hands on the neck playing the notes. Shelby thinks one day when Carter’s 3 or 4 he’s just going to pick up a guitar and start playing it. Last night, Shelby said something that really hit home with me about us knowing how to take care of Carter better than anyone. I hadn’t thought about it like that but I suppose that’s what the last 2 months have really been about, everyone getting used to other. I like knowing that we get the privilege of being Carter’s parents and get to care for him.

Carter went to his first baseball game last night and was real trooper. He lasted the whole game! I was certain we’d be leaving shortly after we got there but he took in the crowd, ate, napped, and had a diaper change. It was exciting cheering Uncle Shane on to victory! It was a super successful outing and gives us hope that we will be able to get out more. It seems that we have found a new normal as a family and the fun is just beginning.