the essence

Frog Legs



Clay was 12 weeks on Monday. 12 weeks! The time is going by so much faster than I wish it would & yet it's hard to imagine what it was like before her was here. I just love that about adding children to your family, it's just so natural & right.

At Ruth & Ernie's last week I got Clay to laugh for the first time! I just love it! It's still not a real distinguished laugh but I could tell a difference between it & just his coos. I get a lot more smiles out of him now too, it totally melts my heart.

He's still sleeping through the night now. I don't count it as a pattern until it happens multiple nights in a row. Other than traveling home & staying in a hotel on Sunday night Clay has been sleeping through the night since Saturday. Even though the sleep-training has worked with each kid so that they sleep through the night by 9-12 weeks, I'm still amazed each time it happens, just like clock work. And, any mom will tell you, you feel like a completely new woman once you get solid sleep!

I'm totally going to gush now. I've been so incredibly happy these past 12 weeks. As in, try-not-to-constantly-tell-everybody-how-great-I-feel happy. I've just been enjoying Clay, & my family in general, so much. But, I've really been relishing having a baby. I think part of it is knowing that it might be our last one.

I think a bigger part is knowing that this time passes by way too quickly. The first time it's such a blur & and a total learning process & you keep looking forward to what's coming next (at least for me). The second time I think I kind of took it for granted & then a few months after Kate was born we started this job & we were gone every night & everything kind of went topsy turvy & I was so overwhelmed I didn't know how to enjoy it.

Babies bring me such content & make me so relaxed & I've just been soaking up & truly enjoying every moment of Clay's babyness. Even when he was waking up all through the night it didn't bother me like it did the first time around. I randomly talked to another mom in the store yesterday & out of the blue she told me she enjoyed her third (last) child the most.

As much as I dislike this job I feel it's given me a much greater appreciation for the time I do have with my family. I also feel it's helped me become more organized & efficient & a much better manager of my time. The 8 weeks of maternity leave I had was so wonderful; our husband/wife relationship was better & I was more patient with the kids.

And, yes, I do love the traits of the kids as they get older, too. But they are admittedly much more trying & don't offer the relaxation of babies. Even though things are crazy at times I've been trying to just enjoy it. It seems I've been encountering so many older people lately who are always chiming in at how quickly this time passes by. I appreciate their input because it's a good reminder for me to just enjoy every bit of it, crazy and all.