Slobber, Chub and Chuckles

So you can all quit hassling me - here is an update.


 Life with a three month old baby is busy. Lately, we've been trying to convince Uncle Bob and Auntie Jimena to move to Seattle from Florida. It was so much fun to have them in town and we hope they visit again soon! Also, I am now working two days a week, joining mommy groups, trying to go to the gym, and taking walks whenever the sunshine makes a debut. Finneas has been chatting, no hollering, at me non-stop for the past couple of days. He found his voice several weeks ago and each day he discovers a new sound. It's amazing to watch him contort his little mouth only to stumble upon the wide range of vocal instruments one little tot can have. His baby Poindexter laugh sends me rolling, at which time he begins to laugh at my laugh. I love that we find each other hilarious. When pregnant, I worried that I wouldn't be an amusing enough mother. My baby entertainment skills were limited to zerberts and raspberries; I had the smallest box of overly used tricks ever. But now I see that adoration and entertainment are mutually exclusive for a baby, and you learn as you go. Everything is a toy. The laundry is like the ball pit at Chuck E Cheese's, (but without the needles and dirty diapers) and my hand is a rubix cube. I can read philosophy on the high end of treble, and my boy thinks I'm singing him a song. Finn is also amused by smelling my baking extracts, and implies from time to time, that I'm his favorite dance partner.

New in development:  Finn's recent fascination with his thumb. He sucks it, bites it and shoves it as far back in his mouth as his big hand will allow. I can just picture him being in kindergarten saying to the kid one desk over, "I bet you can't stick your whole fist in your mouth, like this..." He's also gazing, mostly at me, for long periods of time. When he's done playing he just peers at me from behind his squeaking toys; it's a loving stare that doesn't beg, but lures me into scooping him up and snuggling him. Not that he has to try very hard for that to happen! Everyday Finneas shapes me into a more loving and kind person, and for that I will always thank him.

Now, if I take you past the beautiful old growth, to the clear cut, I can tell you that Finneas WAS sleeping great - one 4-5 hour stretch followed by two hour increments afterward. But now we are back to waking every 45 min - 2 hours to nurse, and nursing for an hour or more at times!!! This has been happening off and on since going back to work. Poor baby misses his mum. Adam says things like, "yea, but he goes back to sleep afterward, right?" like it's not that hard to have your sleep constantly interrupted. But it is. By the way, Adam is a fantastic dad, and even though Finny misses his mom, I can tell he loves his Papa time! Dad just has no idea what it's like to sleep like a mom.

Also, something I'm eating, or as it turns out, a bunch of things in my vegetarian diet give Finneas gas -  painful, tender tummy kind of gas. Watching him be uncomfortable makes us both miserable. I'm trying to eliminate foods that produce unwanted gas, fussiness, and other symptoms but have been left with so little of options I'm down to a rather unhealthy diet.  I may even eat meat. Okay, okay, I'll admit it... I already ate it: prosciutto, culatello, serrano, salame...!!!! Did I enjoy it? Of course. I was never vegetarian because I didn't like the taste of salty cured pork products; I did it because I love pigs, cows, goats like people love their pet cats and dogs. I can't believe I made it through 40 weeks of pregnancy, where my work environment smelled like breakfast bacon all day long to break now. That's what I get for being a slightly malnourished, breastfeeding mom, working at a specialty food store. Delaurenti - you finally broke me down! I am, though, only consuming 'tastes' that are 'on the house' for 'educational purposes.' I'm not ready to actually buy meat and cook it at home. How would I even go about that?

Truly, I will wake up for Finneas as much as he needs and eat whatever I have to so that he's comfortable. And I will try not to complain about any of the hard spots much, because one - he is my baby, and my baby can do no wrong, and two - he's kind of perfect. Also, I would rather be the one that takes night duty instead of Adam - he's working full time and is a busy dad as I am a busy mom. He would bottle feed Finneas if I asked him to, but as silly as it seems, I'm not ready to give up night duty with my baby, even with it's inconvenient timing. Babies aren't convenient.

Stats: For those that are curious, Finneas has fully recoverd from being ill over New Year's. He's a healthy 15.5 pounds in the 95th percentile (for height and weight) and is 'on track' developmentally in every way. The photograph above is of Finn when he wasn't feeling well. The one below is of Finn is the famous Lobster Larvae costume from Bob and Jimena! I hope all my friends and family are doing well! AND don't forget to leave comments, otherwise it feels like lonesome self-conversing. Much love - The Kestlers