Mr. Smiley

Today Ethan was a very happy and smiley boy. I can't believe how big he is becoming. He is really starting to fill in his cheeks and legs. It is amazing how fast babies grow in such a short time.

The last few nights Ethan has gone 6-7 hours in between his feeding time which has been so nice. I have fed him around 9 or 10 pm and he hasn't gotten up until 4am. I hope that continues, but tonight I don't think it will because he just ate a normal amount at his last feeding. Usually, around his 7pm feeding, he becomes very hungry and wants to eat a lot. It seems like I feed him all evening but he is storing up for the night which is fine by me if he will sleep longer in the night!

I am enjoying being a mom. Some people have asked me if it is what I thought it would be - it is and it isn't. For the most part it is, but I think growing up you fantasize about being a mom and you don't really think about it in too much detail. You are so excited to hold your baby, have them in the back of your car and can't wait to stay home with your baby. I definitely have enjoyed all of this but it is hard work that is very time consuming. I thought I knew a lot about babies and what to expect, having seen Laurie go through it twice, but I don't know if I really knew that all you do in the beginning is feed and change the baby. I knew that you had to feed the baby every 2-3 hours but you don't really realize that by the time you are done feeding them you only have at most 2 hours left before you have to do it again...and the baby isn't necessarily satisfied after you are done feeding him. You may need to hold him for a while and by the time you know it you have to feed him again. It is amazing how time goes by so fast. Some days Jared and I will look at the clock and it will be noon and we are still in our pajamas and we don't know where the day went. It is funny how simple things are not so simple any more. To take a shower you are hoping the baby won't cry while you are in there. The other day Jared was at the library studying and I took my first shower without Jared being there. Of course, I made sure that Ethan was happy and asleep before I took my shower but right as the water went on he started crying and it continued for my whole shower. It was the fastest shower I have ever taken! Also, when you go some where it takes twice the time to get there and get out. The other day I went to the mall with Ethan and I had to find all the elevators in the stores to get to the next level. It is funny how you forget about things like that. You can't just walk quickly through a crowd because you have a stroller. I must say that even though it is more time consuming it is very fun and rewarding.