Signs of progress ... maybe

For a while there, Alex was doing great sleeping at night, going 10 hours on a regular basis and giving Mommy sweet, uninterrupted sleep. But then, about two weeks ago, the progress stopped and he began to regress, waking at about 3 a.m. to feed and then making noises and waking off and on from about 5 a.m. on. I've been told that regression can be indicative of a growth spurt or the onset of a major milestone. I really hope this is the case. Losing sleep would be made more bearable if he started flipping both ways or sitting up or prepping for his SATs.

In all honesty, though, Alex really is making progress day by day. It's amazing how much babies change in such a short amount of time. It is so much fun to watch as he discovers new and exciting abilities and things in his environment. It's a little sad, too, to think about how quickly it's going and that each "first" is, in a way, a "last" as well. But I keep telling myself we'll have another kid, so wait and get really sad when he or she has his or her "lasts."

Just in case you needed another reason to think that babies are God's greatest gift: Yesterday after I balanced the checkbook, I looked down at Alex, sighed, and said "oh, baby, we're running out of money." (Don't worry, we aren't really; I was being dramatic.) As I said this, he looked up at me with those beautiful baby blues and gave me the biggest grin. As if to say "I love you mommy! At least you have me!"

Here are some of Alex's newest favorite things to do:

1. Scream (I know I had this on the list last time, but he's taken it to a whole new level)
2. Pull things into his mouth (pacifier, blanket, stuffed lion, Mommy's fingers)
3. Push his bottle nipple out of his mouth (then get frustrated that he's not getting food; does this mean he's ready for solids?)
4. Squat thrusts (you know the dreaded exercise - he loves it)
5. Be Superbaby (It's a bird! It's a plane! No, it's Superbaby!)
6. Be lifted in the air by his hands (Yes, this makes Granny very nervous, but Daddy is VERY gentle)
7. Blow rasberries
8. Pee in his eyes (Yes, still)
9. Watch sports on TV, especially golf (he was enthralled by the Masters)
10. Sport a mini-mullet (he's rubbed the hair off the back of his head, but left a tuft at the nape of his neck)