My little boy

Marty slept straight through the night last Thursday...10 hours! I actually woke him up at 7:30 on Friday morning. I don't know why...I just felt like maybe ten hours was enough and he needed to eat. He didn't even fuss like he was starving, just smiled at me a lot while I was changing his diaper. And he has not slept through the night since. Figures.

I am baffled by how un-stressed I am by babyhood this time around. Marty is just such an easy baby. He sleeps a lot when we are at home during the week...long morning and afternoon naps and fairly decent night sleep as well. He doesn't sleep much when we are out at church or shopping or visiting people because he wants to look around too much. But even when his schedule is disrupted, he rolls with it.

Olivia SO did not roll with it at that age. If you dared to screw with her nap schedule, there were dire consequences. Like a baby who would not stop crying, would not sleep, would not eat, refused to be held and refused to be put down. Yeah. That.

When Olivia was born, I fell in love immediately with this squalling, needy infant. Maybe it was because I was in the delivery room for her birth, or maybe it was because she made herself known (by crying) from the beginning, but for whatever reason, I felt a strong connection. I would have been absolutely devastated if things hadn't panned out after that.

It wasn't the same for me when Martin was born. For one, we missed his birth entirely and met him for the first time when he was about 12 hours old. And then he was just such a laid-back, sleepy baby that we didn't hear him cry...well, at all, I don't think. Not until we left the hospital. There's something about comforting a tiny crying baby that makes you want to hold him/her forever. But Martin was just snuggly and didn't care who he was snuggling as long as he was being held.

So, for whatever reason, I didn't have that instant connection. I was still terrified that our adoption plans would be interrupted, but that had more to do with how long we'd waited than anything else.

But now...oh, yes. I am in love with this little guy. He snuggled his way right into my heart. Or maybe smiled his way. He's a good smiler.

No one mentioned to me how fun it would be to have a little boy. But oh, it is so fun! He is so sweet and cuddly, and he talks to me like he has something to say. He gives me his best smiles! He just looks at me with that look that says, "Mommy, you are my favorite girl forever!" Melt my heart!

I know it won't always be this way. I know that someday he might take up Olivia's current favorite phrase. ("I don't like you, Mommy!") But for now, I am really, really enjoying my little boy.