getting the hang of things

we're getting the hang of things around here.  our night time sleep has been getting better and better.  i took the advice of my wonderful sister and decided to start letting brady wake me up during the night to let me know when he wanted to eat.  this has been working much better than me waking him up.  namely because he's not so tired that i waste an hour trying to get a sleepy baby to nurse.  so our wake time during the night has been cut down from over an hour each feeding to about fifteen minutes.  when he acts like he's done, i don't question it... i just pop him back in his moses basket and it's back to sleep for the two of us!  last night was probably our best night yet.  i think we went to sleep around 11 30 or so and we both slept for a four hour stretch and then slept for a 2h 40min stretch and then a two and a half hour stretch and woke up sometime in the 9:00 hour.  it was fantastic.

something else i'm loving?  brady doesn't cry for all of his diaper changes anymore!  did i mention he used to cry during every diaper change?  i mean every. single. one.  i guess he's learned now that it's just an inevitable part of his life for the next couple of years.

i'm also starting to see improvement in him putting himself to sleep.  you see, he's somewhat under the impression that he needs to always be held or eating or sleeping or doing some combination of those options, if not all three at the same time.  but little by little he's getting used to the idea of just hanging out in his basket while he's awake without acting like he's ferociously hungry.  and right now he's been napping for over two and a half hours for a nap that he put himself to sleep for!  it took him a little while and he had a few seconds of being unsettled where it was tempting for me to swoop him up and just bounce him but sure enough, he finally closed his eyes and didn't open them again!

speaking of those eyes (and pretty much everything, actually), he is just so different than abigail was at this stage and i'm loving this opportunity to experience so many new things.  back to the eyes, with abigail as a baby, i could look into her eyes and i felt like she could see into my soul.  her eyes looked so old and wise and deep like she knew all the secrets of the world.  i can't explain it but it was unmistakable.  from the beginning she was just so alert and i just trusted her.  like i was taking care of an elderly person that couldn't talk instead of taking care of a 3 day old newborn.  she never cried and she never seemed scared or confused.  and i talked to her as if she was old and wise.  i would love to hear if anyone else knows what i'm talking about.  i remember asking my friend carolyn about it and if she saw the same thing in her son's eyes and she was like "ummm no, he seems like a baby."  and now i know what she means because brady doesn't seem old and wise, he seems new and bewildered.  his eyes are wide and confused like he's constantly trying to figure out what the heck is going on.  he looks at me every time like it's the first time.  like a "who are you and what are we doing here?!" sort of look.  it's a deer in the headlights look that makes me feel like i'm taking care of a little bambi.  he cried for the majority of the first two hours he was born.  he cried for diaper changes, for clothing changes, to be held, to be fed.  he cried.  he just seemed so scared and confused.  and i feel like he's getting the hang of things now but i can see him learning.  he wasn't born already knowing and honestly, it brings out the nurturing and protective mother in me.  i just want to help ease this transition for him.  my little fawn.

ps- check facebook for more pictures of brady.