The Whole Night Through

On the eve of his 8 week birthday, Benjamin slept through the night for the first time. (He must really like the crib!) He's had a couple nights where he's slept from 11 to 4 or something similar, but last night I put him down at 9 and he woke back up at 8:45 the next day. It was glorious. I don't know if it was a fluke or not, but it sure made me happy. I've read that once they're 11 lbs. (he's almost 12), metabolically babies can last through the night without eating. It's just that most babies wake up out of habit. Likely Benjamin will still take a while to make sleeping through the night a habit, but as a mother, I just have to brag a bit. My Benjamin is just so awesome.

Also, while we're on the subject of milestones, he shed his first tear yesterday as well. He had been playing peacefully by himself on a blanket for a while when he started to cry. I tried distracting him a little to get him to stop (using the those colorful linkable rings that he loves) and I noticed a little tear running down his cheek. They say that tear ducts develop around this time, so I guess that's finally happened for him. It was the most tender thing! As I wiped it away and picked him up, it made me think of the scripture in Isaiah 25 where it states that God will "wipe away tears from off all faces." I had never wiped anyone's tears away and it made me feel truly motherly for a moment. He's really my little boy. He relies on me and I love him so dearly. When I pick him up and he puts his arms around my neck and rests his head on my chest, there are no words to describe that moment. And now that he's a little bigger and sturdier, he's just so much fun to cuddle! I could hug him all day long.

His 8 week birthday photo




Also, along with the motherly warm fuzzies, comes another mother distinction - when it comes to Benjamin, nothing is too gross to handle. From spit to vomit to boogers to poop, no bodily fluid or substance bothers me anymore. Truly, it's just like people say - when it's your own kid, you don't mind. I used to hate being drooled on by other people's kids and don't even get me started on changing their poopy diapers! But for some reason with Benjamin, he'll wipe a booger on my shirt and I'll just think, 'oh, I'm glad that's not bothering him anymore.' What has happened to me? And I'm one of those people who's very conscious of my own personal space. Someone, even Kelly, breathing in my face drives me insane. Yet I find Benjamin's breath pleasing. When he breathes in my face, I think, 'how wonderful, that was inside my little baby.' Is that twisted? I don't know why all the rules change when it comes to your own kid, but truly, it's like Johnson & Johnson says, "Having a baby changes everything."

Every time Kelly feeds him, he tries to teach Benjamin how to hold his own bottle. Leave it to Kelly to try to automate even that process. :) So, here's an example of last night's attempt. Not bad in my opinion. It stayed like that for nearly the entire time he ate.