Logan is growing so fast. He is becoming a chub of a baby. He crested the 13 lb mark just before he turned two months old. If you stop to think about it you can really tell how much larger he is than he was a month ago. We have already retired some clothes and we will soon graduate to a new diaper size.
Logan is also spending more time awake which means more smiles and more sounds. Usually after he eats we can get him to smile for a little while. He gets excited, scrunches up his face and flails his arms and legs. He is so close to combining his sounds and his smile into a laugh. Now he sometimes smiles along with a coo which warms our hearts.
After he is done smiling he usually needs some time alone. He will look away from us and if we try to put our face back in his field of vision he will look away; sometimes up, down, to the side and will even go to the painstaking process of turning his head just to not look at us. Apparently he needs time to process what he is learning as we smile at him, make noises for him and talk to him, but to us it just seems he gets bored.
If he starts to get fussy too quickly we have a sure fire way to calm him down momentarily so we can make preparations for bed time or nap time: the fuzzy nose of a specific stuffed animal. Actually this stuffed animal is just a head attached to a very small blanket, more like a hand towel or wash cloth. The nose is black and protrudes from the nose in such a way that makes it easily accessible for him to bite down on and lick. It can usually buy us enough time to get him wrapped up and then we can swap the animal for a binky.
He has already been able to roll over from his stomach to his back but is inconsistent at it and now has found joy in the halfway point. What this means is that it does not matter if we lay him on his back or his stomach we usually find him on his side fairly quickly. He arches his back and cocks his head and licks and drools all over his blanket. Once he is in this position he is stuck there because once he gets uncomfortable he can’t figure out how to get his chubby arm out of the way to roll to his stomach and when he gets angry he arches his back and cocks his head making it impossible for him to roll to his back; stuck between a rock and a hard place.
When he does spend any appreciable time on his stomach (called Tummy Time) he spends it relishing the taste and texture of his hands. He will drool all over those things and making sucking noises until he decides he has had enough and rolls onto his side.
Often times we find that he is enjoying creating saliva and allowing it to drool out of his mouth. He can get an impressive collection of spit bubbles on his lips poised and ready to slide down his chin. Heidi and I both love watching his lips. It seems so funny to us how he will spontaneously suck on his tongue and make some loud sucking sounds.
Even though he is spending much more time awake than he was even a few weeks ago he still tires relatively quickly and needs to go down for a nap. In general he has been a great sleeper. During the night we still (and by “we” I mean Heidi) do not enjoy eight hours of uninterrupted sleep. He usually can go four to five hours between feedings which was a welcome change from the three we were accustomed to. Unfortunately we have experienced an unexpected disruption in his sleep habits. For some reason, even though he will go down for a nap fairly easy, he will often times wake up well before it is time to eat again. However, the most distressing thing is his new night problems. Granted, he has only displayed and put Heidi through a few stressful nights in a row so there is no reason to panic; he may just be having a few difficult nights and then be right back on schedule.
Last night, Heidi had a Jazz game. It only takes two bottles, or two feeding times, before Heidi makes it home and usually feeds him when she arrives and then goes to bed. Last night was no different except for he woke up at 12:00AM and ate and then refused to go back to sleep. Heidi was up and down for the next two hours putting his binky in every ten minutes until finally she decided to feed him again almost an hour early. She was already exhausted from being up so late because of the game and then to have such a frustrating night on top of that was quite difficult for her.
Before you think ill of me I would like to point out that my wife is very nice to get up with Logan during my work weeks. I generally only get about six hours of sleep a night all week long anyway and if I were up for an hour with the baby I don’t know how I would pay attention in class. I am much more helpful during my off weeks and therefore these incidents would involved more sleep for Heidi and less of her involvement and less sleep for me with more of my involvement.
Logan’s favorite time is bath time. He can be screaming bloody murder and then you set him on his little bath cradle and poor water over his tummy and he will serenely stare off into space as if to say, “I feel safe with you, Mom/Dad, you have a gentle touch.” Getting out is not easy, however. The transition from tub to towel to living room floor is often difficult and perilous. Yet, his baby massage usually calms him back down quickly.
I have loved our baby since the moment his head popped out and probably before. Heidi has loved him as well but her bonding with him is much more complete. I look at him in awe and realize he is ours forever and we are his and we have sacred responsibilities toward each other. However, it wasn’t until recently that I can honestly say that I have started to feel a bond with him. I don’t want that to seem cold or calloused in any way I just think it has taking me some time to grow accustomed to our relationship and feel a special bond with him. It is difficult to describe because, like I said, I have loved him from the start, and I would have done anything for him from the beginning so hopefully no one will think less of me.
We blessed Logan three weeks ago today. Dave Lawrence’s mom drove to our ward to record, in short hand, the blessing. We got off to a good start but Logan cried through three fourths of the blessing. We struggled as he spit his binky out. The first time it landed in someone’s hand but the second time it fell to the floor and that was it. There was no comforting Logan. There was a brief moment where he opened his eyes and saw me. We locked eyes and for a second or two and then he started crying again. The eye contact was as distracting as his crying so I wasn’t able to gather my thoughts. After the blessing I felt I hadn’t said anything I had wanted to, however, upon reading the transcript I had said enough and kept it succinct so that the blessing alludes to much without much detail. It was a great experience as a father to bless Logan and I am excited to continue to be a priesthood leader in my home.
I am thankful for my husband he truly is an amazing man and father.
