At one month, our little man is still the most peaceful, laid back babe of all time. With the [very] notable exception of his gassy grunting, he's an extremely content little dude. Someone who hung out with us recently called him Buddha baby - not for his belly (though that would be apt as well), but for his very zen way of looking around and taking in the world, just like he's doing in his one-month picture. As long as he's not working a gas bubble through, he is the chillest baby you've ever seen. It took a couple weeks before I felt confident that I could even pick out his cry from other babes', because I heard it so rarely. We are totally enjoying his uber-relaxed nature.
His contentedness also extends to his sleep. Our chunker is averaging at least three hours at a stretch during the night, but on several occasions he's gone four or even five hours. What's more: after he's fed and changed, I can pretty much just lay him in his bed, turn out the light, and that's that. He just goes to sleep. ??? I didn't know babies actually did that. I'm trying not to get my hopes up about having a baby who actually knows how to sleep through the night, and in his own bed...but he is quickly starting to break down whatever thick sleep-skin I developed with little miss Annabel, who woke me up every two hours until she was eight months old. This guy is spoiling me.
His one complaint right now is definitely gassiness. This little guy's grunting puts Tim the Tool Man Taylor to shame. He rarely cries, but his grunts - those I know VERY well. This is pretty much the only thing that will keep him up at night. We're currently experimenting with various methods of addressing this issue. Hopefully by two months, we'll have figured out a way to avoid that. If we succeed, I'm pretty sure I'll have a baby who truly never complains, since gas is the one and only thing that seems to bother him (besides being hungry, which is quickly addressed).
As for big sister, she's handled this first month of her new role amazingly well. Way better than we even anticipated. She's nurturing, protective, and pretty much totally enamored with her baby brother. There are few things cuter in life than listening to your three-year-old do baby talk to her newborn brother. It's a beautiful thing. The thing I most often hear come out of her mouth in reference to her brother is, "awww, cute!" ...Which, again, coming from a three-year-old, is exponentially cute. Painful, really.
We are loving being a family of four. I had no idea how much I would love it, honestly. I thought it would be way harder. But other than getting places on time, it's pretty much just amazing, and smoother than I imagined. Life, right now, is good.
