What I've Learned...Month 3 Edition

Well, I'm not so great at keeping up with this blogging thing.  I've committed myself to the once a month blog, and I'm not even good at keeping up with that.  At least I didn't over-extend myself and commit to a bi-weekly blog.  I can't imagine who would do such a thing.  

Three months have gone by!  I really can't believe it.  In some ways it seems like it has gone by so fast.  In others, it seems like a lifetime!  He seems so big to me now.  

I've learned that I love this kid's personality -- which is just now starting to show.  Nothing makes me happier than to come home at the end of the day and see his big smile.  I never thought I would be so cheesy, but it's true.  It doesn't matter how tired, stressed or just generally annoyed I am, if Hayden gives me the big cheese grin, I'm VERY happy.  Who knew I would be such a sap?  The big cheese grin is also coming more and more frequently these days.  It is still difficult to catch on camera, but he seems to really recognize Mommy and Daddy.  Love it!  

Also very amusing is Hayden's obsession with sticking out his tongue.  He does it ALL the time.  If you stick your tongue back out at him, he finds this very amusing.  He will make his "I'm-trying-really-hard-to-giggle" noise.  Also very cute.  

I've also learned that it is very normal for baby's hair to fall out.  Hayden was born with a lot of cute brown hair.  This hair was very much around during his newborn pics which were taken around 3 weeks old.  Now, Hayden is almost bald, but you can see his Eddie Munster-esque widow's peak.  I find this to be cute as well.  So, I guess the other thing I've learned is that everything my kid does, tries to do, has or doesn't have is extremely cute to me.  He's also extremely smart in my eyes.  So, I'm one of those parents.  He's started grasping his little play keys recently.   By my reaction, you would have thought he was reciting Shakespeare or performing difficult mathematical equations.  Still it was a big day at our house.  

Another big day at our house came on May 16 when Clark graduated from medical school.  We are so proud of Daddy.  You can tell just how proud Hayden is in this picture.  He even wore his best button-up shirt.  This great event made me reflect upon something else.  I've only called the pediatrician's office once since Hayden's birth.  This is amazing considering how incredibly paranoid/anal/obsessive compulsive I can be.  Don't get me wrong, when the swine flu was making its rounds, I definitely thought Hayden had it and I refused to take him Target to expose him to the obvious swine flu germs that were lurking there.  Here is where having a doctor Daddy is clutch.  He refused to let me call the pediatrician (smart move) and kept the peace at our house.  Way to go, Dr. Meador!  Seriously, we are so, so proud of Dad and his BIG accomplishment.  

I've also become reacquainted with sleep, and I quite like it.  I've been hesitant to say this out loud (or in print) for fear of jinxing it, but the little guy has been sleeping through the night for the past 3 weeks.  We've had 2 nights where he woke up at 5 or 5:30 (which is technically the morning) but for the most part he's sleeps until 6 or 7.  It is amazing.  This is clearly the best thing my child does.  

One thing my child does NOT do well is take long car rides.  Please do not be fooled by the angelic look on his face here.  You should be alerted to the obviously fake, forced smile on my face.  This weekend Clark and I took Hayden to Grammy and Grandpa's house in Lumberton.  This is a 5 1/2 hour car ride.  However, add Hayden to the mix and add an extra 2 hours.  Or it could just feel like an extra 2 hours, I'm not sure.  Frankly, I'm still suffering from post traumatic stress from the entire experience.  Hayden usually loves the car -- it puts him right to sleep.  I think this kid just knew this was way too long of a car ride.  He made it until Corsicana (about a 1/3 of the way there) and started screaming.  This required a stop.  A stop that lasted an hour.  I HATE stopping on long car rides.  I mean, seriously hate it.  This made my eye start twitching (a very bad sign).  After the hour long pit stop, we were off...screaming ensued.  Screaming ensued on and off for 2 more hours.  Terrible.  However, our stay in Lumberton was a lot of fun.  Grammy is now nicknamed "The Baby Hog."  You can forget holding him when she's around!  However, she is so helpful, we'll forgive her.  She got up at 6:30 both mornings to give him his morning bottle.  The car ride back to Ft. Worth was just as bad, so I won't recount it here.  We have a trip to Oklahoma City in 3 weeks.  Hopefully he'll magically get over his aversion to car rides longer than 2 hours.  

Lastly, I've learned that Harry Potter is much better the 700th time around.  I really love reading it aloud to Hayden every night.  We've started The Prisoner of Azkaban...I think this one is Hayden's favorite so far.  I can tell by the way his eyes start to roll back in his head when I start reading!