Posting Regularly is a Challenge...

when you have a newborn--as is just about anything else that might require more than 10 minutes of your time. When our son sleeps, which could happen (or not happen) at any time of the day or night, his naps range from-oh-about 2 minutes to 2 hours. And in that time, I scurry around trying to catch up on the mental to-do list that I can never seem to finish. Should I try and catch up on my sleep? Take a shower? Put away the laundry? Vacuum? Sneak in a snack? Check my email? I remember our baby care instructor advising us to sleep when the baby does. But there always seems to be so many other things I want, or need, to get done, that I never catch up on sleep. Fortunately, every few nights, our son bucks the newborn trend and sleeps for a full 3 or more hours. So we only have to get up twice during the night, and I can cobble together something like 7 hours of sleep, if you add it all up. I remember when that used to be the norm. That seems like a very long time ago now.
I've tried to update this blog a couple times, when our son was sleeping. But I would barely open the page when he would wake up again. By the time I returned to the computer, it had gone to sleep (and I was wishing I was too).
So I'll keep this post short. I'd hoped to update it every day so I could record any milestones. But he's still just 3 weeks. He doesn't do much more than sleep, eat, and poop--and a lot of each. But a couple days ago, I put a pyramid-shaped rattle near his head and gave it a couple shakes to try and distract him so he'd stop crying. I went to wash my face, and a few minutes later, I heard the rattle. I thought he must have punched it with one of his involuntary Frankenstein moves. (He has this odd habit of shooting both arms straight out, fists clenched, at random moments--usually when he's sleeping and I least expect it. In the process he's managed to punch me, his father, and even-once-himself. Fortunately there's not much force behind them).
But this time, he'd actually wrapped his arm around the rattle and was shaking it. He's repeated this trick twice since then--though never on command, unfortunately, so my husband has yet to witness it. But I was so thrilled that I actually called him at work the first time I saw it. It's just the little things now. A tiny fist wrapped around my finger. A flicker of recognition when his eyes scan my face (of course, I could be imagining that one). And a smile (even if it's only the result of some gas, as our pediatrician warns).
I can't wait until I'm the reason that he's smiling.