it's the end of the summer

i realized something the other day. i am not a housewife. i am a stay at home mom. (save the 10 hours a week i'll be in the classroom) so when the clock somehow reads 6:00PM and the dishes are still piled up in the sink, and i still haven't vacuumed, and the clothes still aren't folded, because all i've done that day is take care of shepard, my day is a success!! when i realized this, i felt a weight lift off my shoulders and i said a little prayer of thanksgiving. whew!

shepard's latest amazing feat is sleeping through the night!!! yes, yes, yes. it might have just been a fluke. but last night, little guy slept from 11:00 until 6:00. he usually wakes up for a 3am feeding, and he was grunting like crazy last night right at 3, but when i stood up and went to get him, he was very obviously still asleep. he was totally comatose between half-hearted grunts. so i tiptoed back to bed and cautiously went back to sleep. about an hour later, the same half-hearted grunts started. i watched him for a little while, but then laid back down. i didn't even get under the covers b/c i was so sure he would wake up starving any minute. an hour later at about 5:30, i woke up on my own and thought he had died for sure!!! when i gently put my hand on his beautifully breathing chest, i almost YIPPED out loud! if he woke up right then, i would consider it sleeping through the night. i laid back down, and lo and behold, when my alarm went off at 6:00, it woke him up too. a-ma-zing. i unswaddled him and took him to our feeding spot on the couch and looked at him. "you're growing up little man!!" i said. his response? BIG GRIN!!! i love that kid.

he is also very consistently smiling at his parents like CRAZY. all the books say that he will prefer us to anyone else, and it has been SO amazing to witness that the books are right!! he doesn't mind going to other people at all. but when he sees or hears either one of us, it's a huge face-squishing smile! *wow* makes me cry just thinking about it!! i LOVE that kid!!

today is chris' first day back at school for a week of inservice before the students start back next thursday. so i consider today my first real day of stay-at-homeness. today marks the beginning of me getting both of us on a real, set schedule. regular feeding times, regular bath days and times, regular grocery planning and shopping. or at least it's when i start figuring out when all that is going to work best for us. and it's been awesome because i have actually been motivated to DO things between his naps and feedings. usually i just want to veg out and either watch tv or get on the computer. you need to know that shepard sleeps for literally only 30 minutes at a time. here's what a day looks like for us:

6:00 am - feed shepard
~6:45 - awake time for shepard, breakfast for me
~7:30 - shepard to sleep
8 - shepard awake
8:00-9:00 - more awake and play time for shepard
9:00 - feed shepard

and it starts all over and repeats until 9 or 10 at night. did you see that? the only time without shepard was from 7:30 to 8:00. do you know how fast 30 minutes goes by when you're trying to get something done??? and you could set a clock by this kid! he is so eerily accurate about that 30 minutes. but good news is that he has started to be willing and able to either sit in his little seat or lie on his playmat for at least 20 minutes during the hour before his next feeding, so i can sometimes get some more stuff done. but usually we're either reading books or swinging on the porch swing or just hanging out and talking. have i mentioned that i love that kid?

wow. i haven't uploaded pictures from the camera in forever. sorry about that...new pictures of our little man soon!!

i started blogging at 12:00. it is now 12:36 and he is awake. wow. a long nap!! hah!