Here we go...

It's come to my attention that, although pictures are worth a thousand words, sometimes they're not enough. You've all been watching Beck grow and change with each picture we post, but you're not getting many details. Paul's been great about regularly posting pictures, so I think it falls to me to do the writing. I'm not quite sure which direction I'll go...right now I'm consumed with trying to be a mom who works outside the home...but it's probably not a good idea to publish those thoughts for the world to read, especially when I'm still pretty sleep-deprived. So, I'll just start with a family update.

The last few weeks have been challenging. Paul caught a stomach bug and was home from work for three days. He pretty much stayed away from Beck, for fear of him catching it. Just as Paul recovered, Beck started getting a cold. It was basically a stuffy nose for a week or so, then some sneezing, and on Monday night, he started developing a cough. Hearing your three month old cough is heart-wrenching! He was also sort of wheezing, so we made a 3 a.m. call to the pediatrician. We determined that it wasn't an emergency, but I stayed home with him that morning and took him in for the first appointment we could get. He was diagnosed with RSV...a mild version...and the start of ear infections in both ears. We were pretty surprised, because he was still his happy, cheerful self. In the middle of Beck's cold, I also got one. And, oh yeah, almost forgot, Paul had his wisdom teeth pulled last Friday. Cripes.

Well, Paul is pretty much recovered...he's even touting the "stomach bug and wisdom teeth" liquid diet as a surefire way to lose those 10 pregnancy sympathy pounds. Beck's also feeling good, as you can tell from his happy happy face below.

He's also getting down with the whole "tummy time" thing. For months, we would put him on his tummy and he would just bury his face in the blanket, drool all over the place, and kind of grunt. In the last few weeks, he's started to hold his head up more and more. Two Thursdays ago, I put him on his tummy after his massage (hmm...infant massage might be a future post), and he rolled from his tummy to his back. Whether that was a fluke or not, we were pretty excited and clapped for him.

He's been "cooing" since he was about 6 weeks, and he's getting louder and more vocal every day. He's hanging out with Paul two rooms away, and I can hear him from here. He was weighed (with his clothes and a full diaper on) at the Dr.'s on Tuesday, and he's up to 13 pounds, 4.5 ounces.

So, I've covered his health, the cooing and tummy time, and his weight...what else?? Ahhh, yes...SLEEP. We've developed a bedtime routine where he gets a sponge bath and a massage (sometimes we skip the massage if he's really sleepy), and then he eats and goes to sleep around 7:00 p.m. He wakes up 3 times to nurse, and goes right back to sleep when he's done. He tricked me a couple of weeks ago and slept for 6 straight hours (yaaaaay!), but he only did that twice, and hasn't since. So, it's about 3-4 hours at at time, which is not too bad. He usually wakes up for the third time between 5-6, and then it's time for me to get ready for work.

So, that's life for us right now. As I mentioned above, I'm still pretty sleep-deprived, so I hope the quality of my posts will improve as does the quantity of my sleep.

p.s. We got a real flash for our camera, and the pictures are so much better. I LOVE the most recent ones.