Our Couch Potato

In two days, (not-so) little Michael will reach his official 2 month birthday!

He's such a sweetheart!

All has been going well in the Barber home! Daddy Michael is busy, busy, busy working on his dissertation. Please pray for him!

But despite his busy schedule, he always makes it home to have special time with little Michael. Their special Daddy-son playtime is so much fun to watch! No one can get him to kick his feet and play better than his Daddy. In fact, no one can get him to sleep peacefully better than his daddy....I'm really starting to just feel like a food dispenser around here! :)

No...I have my fun times with Michael too. We have our special "I'm gonna get you" game, which usually gets Michael to smile at me really big. I love it!

Some new developments: Michael is getting his hand to his mouth pretty regularly...he seems to like it! I can't wait for him to be mesmerized by his hands.

He is also getting really good at Tummy Time, though he hates it pretty much with as much intensity as he ever did. Although yesterday, he lifted his head really high for about 10 seconds and smiled really big! I was shocked! Of course, that was short-lived after he put his head down and began fussing to a state of rage.

One funny thing about his state of rage is that he kicks his feet and scoots himself (screaming the whole time) across his blanket. He can actually move from one end to the other! I've tried recording it, but he is usually so angry, I would be so embarrassed to post a video of him screaming and me just sitting by passively with a video recorder. I would feel like the President of the Mean Mommy club!

So you'll have to trust me on this one, ok?

Michael is getting better and worse at sleeping. Better because he fusses, yet can still get himself to sleep on his own (though the pained look on his face, even while sleeping, is heartbreaking after he fussed himself to sleep!). But after only 15 minutes of fussing to get himself to sleep...this is good progress!

What's also exciting is that last night he slept from 10pm-5 am. Ca-ching!! That is seven hours straight! He went back down for another 2 hour nap...however, I'm starting to regret going back to sleep myself. I was SO much more tired at 7:20 than I was at 5:20....will I start to become one of THOSE mommy's who rise with the dawn, getting all her chores done before the sun comes out...yet going to bed at 9 pm? Part of me hopes not..but a secret part of me has always admired those types of people. I have a great opportunity to become one of those early-risers by having an alarm clock with no snooze button! Maybe I'll try it.....maybe....

Back to the fussing himself to sleep business...Michael and I have had to employ this technique more frequently than we would probably like because little Michael is becoming more resistent to staying asleep after we put him in his crib. We will rock him to sleep and then as we stoop down to put him in his little bed, his eyes flutter open and he realizes what we are up to and starts to cry.

Mean Mommy Kim has frequently shrugged her shoulders with a "You're fed, you're changed, you're burped and swaddled, and you're yawning your head off. It's naptime!" I'm starting to employ just plain old "Quiet Time" for him, if he's not lucky enough for a nap. First, so he can learn to just spend time in his crib, and secondly, and a bit more selfishly, so I can have SOME time to grab a bite to eat, or shower, or just breathe away the minor frustration I have with a son who is clearly exhausted but doesn't want to sleep!

But you know, thinking back to how things were at the very beginning, when Michael wouldn't sleep alone...Oh...the nights in the hospital where Michael Sr was desperately trying to sleep, but after putting the baby down only for him to wake up again time and time and time again for hours at a time....wow, we've come a long way. A very, very long way.

In fact, I don't even want my blogs to be considered complaints about his sleeping, rather than just reporting. He is SUCH a good boy, and so tolerant of my schedule in which I seem to be zipping him here and there and everywhere these days. But I don't think he minds because if I am in a meeting, or teaching a class, or putting together a Bible study, where do you suppose baby Michael is? In someone's arms! Either mine, or one of several people at Church (including Fr. Michael) anxious to get hold of a chubby, sleepy little baby who really only cries if he's hungry or you are not bouncing to the beat of his little personal drummer.

When we are at home, how much time do you think I spend holding him while he naps rather than trying to help him sleep in his crib...haha...let's just say, I think he's glad Mommy's running around at work. At work, my goal is to keep him content and quiet so as not to disturb others...at home I inflict mean and terrible things upon him, like crib time and tummy time and don't have to worry about glaring looks from co-workers when he cries.

The long and short of it is....we are doing great and trying our best. I just love little Michael and hope and pray everyday I'm doing things right by him! He's such a precious little boy!