For 12 weeks I have been reading baby books...until now.

As of today I am swearing off all baby books. All they do is drive me crazy.

It all started reading about how Ian should be advancing each week. "By eight weeks your child should be able to lock eyes with you", and "by 10 weeks your child should be able to grasp an object dangled in front of him." I about died when Ian couldn't do either by week 11. What is wrong with our baby? Was it the tuna I ate while I was pregnant? It was the tuna wasn't it? Too much mercury.

I started to lose it. Just ask Tim.

At one point Ian couldn't follow a moving object in front of him so Tim put him on the fridge as punishment.


Ian didn't get the severity of his lack of visual advancement.

Trying to put Ian on a nighttime schedule was even worse. Every book I read told be that by eight weeks my baby should be sleeping 8 hours through the night and that he should be putting himself to sleep. Well Ian doesn't fall asleep until close to 11pm and only after being fed frequently for two hours and then rocked and ricked to sleep. This just wasn't working for our schedule. So, I did what these books said. I tried putting him in his crib every two hours; did the whole eat, activity, sleep thing; walked; cajoled; nursed; tried several days of bath, bottle, book, bed...until now. Seriously, if I don't burn these books I may lose it.

And so I put away the books, purposely left a coffee ring on one of them, and did a mental pro/con list.

And I'll tell you what I found, Ian IS a great baby. He just doesn't thrive on routine. He is totally go with the flow. He will nap just about anywhere. He has a beautiful smile. He is so even-keeled (unlike his mother) and good-natured. He will lay on his back and play by himself so I can drink my coffee and blog.

And he IS advancing, just not exactly as the books say. He can lift his head while on his stomach and hold his head steady when sitting up. His legs are strong and he can lift himself up when someone is holding his hands. He loves walks and getting licked by Pippin. He has a great mullet and his back hair finally fell out (thank the Lord because I was getting ready to schedule him a waxing). He likes the church nursery and barely ever cries unless he is tired.




So, the dark side is behind me. I have turned over a new leaf. No more books.

Going

Going

Gone

"Dear God, Please let the Browns win so my son can have a happy fulfilling life"

Ian is destined to have a long sad life: He is now officially a Browns fan.

Uncle Pete sent Ian a Brown's onesie and he has now watched his first Brown's game. Judging from experience he will start becoming depressed in a few weeks and said depression will last until February with a quick feeling of ecstasy around draft time, hope of a better team and season lifting his spirits for the summer months, and then a slow and steady decline into depression around this time next year. It is an awful way to go through life. The prayers have already started.

Like Father Like Son

Ian has inherited Tim's furrowed brow. I have yet to determine exactly what Ian is thinking when he makes this face. Is he worried? Skeptical? Annoyed? Or is he is still coming to grips with having to live with me for the rest of his life? We are talking about Ian here, not Tim.

Two momentous things happened today. Ian smiled (I mean really smiled) and I took a shower.

The later one first. I showered today. I feel like a new woman. I won't tell you how long it has been, you'll cease being my friend. Granted Ian woke up just as I was starting to shave my left leg so I am a bit off balanced, but I am clean. Ian has been much more demanding lately and the schedule I posted a month and a half ago has gone to the wind. Ian has no schedule and every day is different. Just when I think we are getting on a schedule Ian decides to switch things up a bit and instead of feeding every three hours is hungry every two and a half hours or instead of being awake during the day and asleep at night is now incredibly difficult to keep up during the day, doses off and on for hours, and then is up at 4:00am (more on that later).

Ian is much more alert now, can hold his head up on his own, and loves to look around (the football hold is great for this). When he is asleep I end up emailing, catching up on phone calls, and attempting to keep the house clean and orderly instead of showering. His favorite position is still over the shoulder so much of my day looks like this:

Now on to the smiling. Ian has been waking up several times a night this week just to hang out. He is not hungry and doesn't really want to be held he just wants to look around and drum roll...smile!

This morning at 4am Ian smiled at me. He really smiled. And then he made the most adorable noise that I wish I caught on video. It was just so darn cute I could not be mad at him for waking me up. I let him watch the latest Project Runway episode which I had tivo'd as a reward. He was very excited that Blaynelicious finally got kicked off and smiled some more.