Liam Giggles!

We finally got a bit of his giggling on video! He had a few bigger laughs before we got the camera on him, but this is really sweet:


Those laughs and giggles can bring me amazing joy and delight, but today has been challenging overall. In between still recovering from the time change, having an unreliable washer that still is having issues, and computer application issues, I also have a baby that has wanted to feed (what seems like) constantly, since I woke from a deep sleep and a weird dream at 5am. I guess it's a good thing, considering he's been so distracted lately I often cannot get him to eat much during the day unless I go to a quiet room. Today he's even eating when I'm at the computer, which now feels like a guilty pleasure (you mean I can do something else besides just be quiet when nursing again!).

I just wasn't prepared for the abrupt change of pace. I so I have been a bit irritable, and dealing with a serious case of feeling "touched-out" (aka, please give me some personal space!). These are days, I don't know what I'd do without Michael to help out, and I have all new respect for single moms. He also has been a terrible napper today, maybe napping an hour total (usually he naps at least 3-5 hours total during the day on average, I think??). Sometimes it is still hard to let go of any plans or desire to do anything productive other than just go with the constant ebb and flow of baby care.

Tonight he was acting tired, but clearly didn't want to relax and was started to get fussy. The Rainforest Soother did nothing. I tried nursing him to sleep, but he only wanted to chew on my fingers after awhile (better than letting him chomp down while nursing). So I pushed aside the fear of bad habits (which I get so annoyed at experts for creating as it only seems to make moms feel guilty for doing what they find works for them at a particular time, that never ends up being a permanent solution anyway...if it was there wouldn't even be "sleep experts" right?). Tonight we just rocked him to sleep in the car seat and only with that could calm him down. Sometimes he even lets me move him from car seat to crib without waking up if he passed the limp arm test. I so far only had to use rocking to sleep in the car seat for some naps and on Friday nights when we are at International Friendships. But it was in order tonight.

I recently heard about something called the 4-month sleep regression. At first, I thought it was just some pop-psychology theory or it was probably a myth. Then my babe who used to sleep through the night consistently started waking up frequently at night again, though our schedule didn't really change. Other women with babies the same age are also dealing with this same issue, so I looked into it more. Here are some great articles about it if any of you are interested! They sure helped encourage me. I like ones that are positive: let you know this is normal, it will pass, just do what you can to get through it!

Sleep regressions:
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2006/02/qa_what_are_sle.html

I also really liked her other articles on sleep, I agree with most of her points of view!
http://moxie.blogs.com/askmoxie/2005/12/quick_and_dirty.html
http://www.askmoxie.org/2008/10/sleeplessseattle.html

Ironically, as the extra baby care reminded me how hard those newborn days were, I got a little reminder of the happiness and joy in the mail. Here are some wonderful pictures a lady at church took of our new family during one of Liam's first church visits. He is right around one month old here!