Nate The Great

I took Nate to the doctor on Monday to make sure his cold wasn't more serious than a cold. Luckily, all is clear. She told me that she usually can tell when she walks in a room if a baby is really sick. Since Nate smiled, laughed and flapped his arms at her when she walked in, she could pretty much tell IMMEDIATELY that he was fine. But, it was reassuring to know that all is well.

In any case, they always weigh him at his visits, whether well baby or not. He weighed in, at 5.5 months, at 16 pounds 12.5 ounces. I think that's pretty big! I checked James's stats, and at 6 months he was 15 pounds 15.5 ounces. So, it looks like Nate is continuing to outgrow his "big" brother by a pound. I put big in quotes because James probably still only weighs 27 or 28 pounds. We'll see how these guys turn out in a few years!

Besides being a big boy, Nate is just....adorable. I have to say, he is such a happy and contented baby. He smiles at everyone (usually with his tongue between his lips) ALL THE TIME. And when I look in his eyes, I see calmness and gentleness. I don't know if that will be the case forever (considering how strong he is and how I think he's going to crawl early like James) but I think he has a gentle, loving spirit. He certainly enjoys grabbing faces, skin, and hair with his vice-like grip and pulling any of these towards his mouth so he can suck, suck, suck at you. Hence, I've begun giving him solids twice a day. :) Things are going pretty well. I went straight to oatmeal with breastmilk (screw rice cereal, it blows) and now he's enjoyed sweet potatoes, carrots, and peaches. Yum. :)

And finally, because while Nate IS practically perfect in every way, he is a terrible. Awful. Sleeper. We were doing very well for a good while. He was progressing to 6-8 hour stretches. I thought the angels had risen and were singing over our house. And then. And then. Another cold. The trip to CT. Now Nate is up EVERY NIGHT at 11:30 or midnight. Why, you ask? To nurse. Desperately. To send his poor mother to say, when she's 90 and he's 60, "When you were a baby I nursed you night after night after night, and THIS is how you repay me? Putting me in a home in Boca?". To...I don't know. I just don't know. So I'm, needless to say, flipping exhausted. I made the decision, after being up with him at 5 a.m. today, that our whole house needs a new schedule. I won't type about it just in case it's a miserable failure and I'm back to crying at midnight, but I've got a semi-plan I hope works.

I'd post some photos but I think Nate's up. It's cool. I got 45 minutes to myself. Well, not really. I'm making cookies for a friend who can't eat dairy (chocolate meringues, I had two, they are fat free and utterly delicious and there's no dairy!), cleaning up the kitchen, doing emails, and generally sitting on my butt watching soaps. But I do plan to enjoy my afternoon playdate (or, sorry, James's playdate) and my planned workout. And hopefully, hopefully, the sleeping will work.

Nate is still great, by the way. And I absolutely adore him. He is truly my gift from God, as his name means. We'll get through this. And someday I'll look back and miss his cuddles!