My Sweet Roark,

Yesterday you turned one week old, and right now you are sleeping next to me on the couch, snuggled in your little Boppy with your tongue partially sticking out.  That is pretty much what you have done since we brought you home—sleep.  Even though I have known you only a week now, I think I can officially say that you are the easiest baby on earth.  

Even my labor with you was a breeze.  I actually slept through most of the contractions.  I woke just in time to be told you were about to be born, and I remember feeling relaxed and refreshed.  I hadn’t slept that good in months.  Within about twenty minutes from waking, I was holding you in my arms. 

 When the doctor made the announcement that you were a boy, I was shocked, and I realized in that moment that I had actually convinced myself that you were a girl.  I spent the next twenty-four hours wondering to myself (and sometimes out loud to your father), “What am I going to do with a boy?”   When your sister was born, I felt this instant connection with her, I guess because we shared the same gender.  I know girls.  I am one, but boys?!  I don’t know very much about boys except that they can be rowdy and loud and that now your father and I are going to argue over putting you in sailor suits.

However, it didn’t take me very long to fall in love with you.  I have spent many hours nuzzling and snuggling you, and I am totally smitten.  I have studied your little features over and over.  Your slightly crooked pinkies, and your little ears that don’t match each other.  I love the face you make when you stretch after a really good nap, and how you arch your back when I tickle your spine.   I love that instead of stressing about whether you are getting too much sleep or too little to eat, I can relax and just enjoy you.

I think that has been the biggest difference between our first week bringing you home versus the first week we brought your sister home—I am much more relaxed.  You are definitely benefiting from our experience, and I am benefiting as well.  The first time around, I was sleep deprived and pretty much scared out of my wits.  I fretted over everything, but with you, I am much more comfortable in my role as a mother. 

I know how quickly these days pass and how fast you change from infant to toddler to kid, and I don’t want to spend this precious time worrying over nothing.  So I don’t curse the midnight feedings or the inevitable “dookie blasts” that await my future.    No, I look at your sweet face and vow to hold you as much as I can, smother you with kisses, and revel in this precious time that I get to be with you as my baby.  

 

I love you,

Mommy