Life lately

Hi sisters,

I wrote this post 2 weeks ago, so it feels a bit dated. Calvin is changing at such a quick pace, learning more expressions and saying words more clearly. But here is a bit of an update about our lives lately.

In May we enjoyed a visit from Mom and Dad over the week of my final Chamber Chorale concert for the season, so it was a wonderful time for them to be here!

I got to wear a “My Fair Lady” costume for our fundraising dinner/silent auction featuring songs from Lerner & Loewe. I got to sing “Without You” from My Fair Lady and it was a blast! Kevin got a lot of alone time with Calvin as Mom, Dad and I went to rehearsals and showed a family friend around town, which was sweet for him. Mom and Dad got to spend one entire afternoon watching Calvin while I went to work and I know they had a great time. It is so wonderful having family around. We’re looking forward to having some more visitors this summer! It makes us melancholy as we realize how far everyone is travelling. Where is the magical device we’ve all been waiting for that can transport us across countries?

The Rollercoaster of Sleep

Hi sisters,

I’ve been ruminating awhile about how to talk about something that you get asked a lot when you have a baby.The first question is usually, “What’s his name?” and then “Is he sleeping?” or “Are you getting sleep?” My answer is usually, he sleeps really well but he wakes up every 3-4 hours to nurse. People look at me like I’m crazy to say he sleeps well when he wakes up so often, but he’s never fought sleep that much, and he goes back to sleep really quickly after nursing. Still it feels like he hasn’t “made it.” Most baby books say things like: by six months your baby doesn’t need to eat at night and should be able to go 8-10 hours without waking up. Calvin’s pediatrician reiterated this sentiment, telling me I could let him cry it out a bit, that he just prefers to nurse himself back to sleep. This bit of advice caused Kevin and I to react very differently.

Kevin heard that and thought, “Great, we can start letting him cry it out right away, after about a week he’ll be all sleep trained and will sleep through the night and life will be wonderful.”

Not exactly relevant to this post, but so so true. Can’t count the number of times where I think, wait, he’s sleeping so quietly and for longer than I expected, should I go check on him??