living in the present

I have been so wrapped up in my job, the never-ending heat waves, and trying to get over the fact that Jake has been in existence for over a year now that I completely forgot to post that he is sleeping in his own room.

As I promised to myself, his first night in the crib was on the 17th, his four month birthday. He did great- he went down around 9 or 10 after a bottle, bath, and story and stayed that way until 5 or 6 the next morning. I did great too- mostly because I slept on the floor next to the crib.

In all fairness, it was 85 degrees outside that night and Jake has air conditioning. My room was a baby-less oven, his room was a haven. I swear I only checked on him every ten minutes. That's good, right? He was way up in his crib and I was way down on the floor. We have never slept more than three feet away from each other except when my mother stole him from my room at her house or Jake was vacationing at the grandparent's.

I slept in Jake's room for three or four nights. On the fifth night I slept in my big girl bed, and Jake stayed in his room. I was so excited to have my bedroom back, and felt confident camped out about six inches from the baby monitor. Dave agreed to sleep in bed instead of his usual spot in the air conditioned living room. Oh boy! He came upstairs, looked in our bed, looked in the bassinet, asked where the baby was, and promptly took his pillow into the nursery leaving me all alone with the cats. Oh boy. Fast forward one week, and we all sleep where we are supposed to, save for Friday nights when Jake and I do some serious nighttime cuddling.

Saturday is play day. It is amazing how much Jake changes from week to week, and I don't really notice it until the weekend. My week nights are spent trying to balance housework, feeding everyone, and resting a bit. Jake usually naps in the evenings, and when he is awake he isn't very playful. I hate to admit how much time he spends in his swing and his playmat during the week, but he seems happiest there. Poor baby has to unwind from watching and learning from the big kids all day.

This week Jake is really struggling to sit up. When he is on his back he holds on to whatever he can grab to pull himself up. It works well with our fingers, not so much with his toys. He is balancing himself pretty well in his activity center, and reaches for all the different toys. The new obsession is holding something different in each hand, and I almost melted when Jake was rubbing Dave's beard with one hand and playing with my glasses with the other when we first woke up this morning. He did baby push-ups and sit-ups all day, and he seems to really enjoy being on his belly now. What a change from last week when he couldn't stand it for more than a minute or two. Jake tries to touch everything he sees, and is starting to get very frustrated when he can't do whatever it is that he is trying to accomplish. The latest torture is to put a toy in front of him while he is on his belly. He rocks and wiggles and does the little baby swim dance to try to move himself toward the prize. He usually works so hard that he throws up a little, and then he rubs his face in it and laughs.

Babies are so cute.