Two Months Old

Dear Carter,

Today you’re two months old! To celebrate, we’re all taking a nap. Well, your father and I are, you will probably flail in your crib for a while, possibly squawk with displeasure and proceed to stay awake for the next 6 hours. I sometimes feel like I gave birth to the energizer bunny. You don’t sleep nearly enough for your age and we can’t quite figure out where you’re storing these energy reserves you seem to tap into. You still only go about 3 hours between feedings, including at night. This has been the biggest struggle with you lately and we get all sorts of unsolicited advice on how to remedy this. We’ve come to the conclusion that you’re hungry a lot and not ready to go more than 3 (or sometimes 2, occasionally 4) hours. Some people have told us to ignore you and just not feed you. That would be disastrous. If you stay asleep too long and wake up too hungry you get absolutely furious. It’s those time when you beat me with your tiny little fist and claw my chest while I try my best to soothe you. So, yeah, ignoring you… bad idea for you, bad idea for the mental state of your parents. Others think you need to be swaddled. Those people don’t know you too well, Houdini. You haven’t wanted to be swaddled since before we left the hospital. If we try, which we gave up about 6 weeks ago, you voice your displeasure and thrash violently until you can free yourself. You prefer to sleep like a starfish, all of your limbs extended. For now, we’re zombified and just trying to make it through each night and resulting blurry days.

We had you dedicated on my birthday. I won’t publish the details of the difficulties you provided that day… let’s just say you owe us. I guess it was partially our fault for trying to dedicate you just shy of 5 weeks old. It was a very special moment for us, for us to basically commit to raising you in the ways of the Lord and pray that one day you would embrace Him. Carter, we want many things for you but nothing more than our desire for you to know God. We will try our best as your parents but we will undoubtedly fail. He never will. His love is perfect and He loves you more than we ever could. Let me tell you little guy, that is a LOT because it’s hard for me to imagine anyone loving you more than we do.

This has been a fun month for us. We know you a little better, you know us a lot better. You lock your eyes on me when I walk into a room and you recognize our voices and Stella’s barking. You used to hear our voices and look all around trying to find out where that strange noise was coming from. Now, you immediately turn your head toward our voices and stare at us. This week you’ve started smiling a lot. When I come get you out of your crib after you wake up you always give me the biggest smile and coo at me. It pretty much melts my heart with joy. You’re also very smiley when I change your diaper, which makes it a little better when you pee on me. Still, I could do without the being peed on part. Simply put, you learned how to work me before you were even two months old, smiling at precisely the right moments.

You laughed for the first time last weekend. Your dad had just weighed you and came out to report you were tipping the scales at 13 pounds. He held you up in the air at his eye level and announced in a very silly voice “13 pounds! That’s bigger than a ham!” Apparently that was the most hilarious thing you’d ever heard and you let out the cutest giggle I’d ever heard. You’ve laughed a few times since then, though we’re sure you have no idea what you’re really laughing at.
You are such a little sponge, growing leaps and bounds. It seems like every day you are less of a (very cute lovable) blob and more of a little person. Your dad says you’re the most amazing baby in the world. You like to stand and support all your weight. If you had the muscle control I just know you would be running down the halls already. You’ve been picking your head up from the first few days of your life and now you’re really starting to figure out what to do with it. You’re beginning to understand that your hands are connected to your arms and that you have control over them. Before you would sort of dive after them as they flew by your face, a bit like Stella trying to catch a fly. Even your pediatrician thinks you’re advanced. In fact, at your one month check up he told you to slow down and enjoy being a baby. He also told you to sleep more but that yielded no results. And remember the controversy over whether or not you had actually rolled over last month? You solved that by rolling over for real shortly after I wrote that letter, on the day you reach one month. I don’t know where you think you’re going but it seems you have big plans and places to go. I just hope some of those plans involve us, because we sure do like you.

Love,
Mama