If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma."

"Get your rest while you can."

"Sleep! Sleep! Sleep!"
"You'll never sleep again..."

When you're pregnant, people don't hold back. Suddenly calling you "big" and "huge" are not considered insults, strangers touching, poking, and rubbing your belly is expected, and everyone wants to scare you with some of their "horror stories" about their own babies.

First of all, I didn't mind being called "big" and "huge." I handled it quite well. I was not blind and understood the looks I got. It was some miracle of gravity that I didn't fall over. I don't know how I balanced on two feet by the end. I'm surprised I wasn't forced to crawl around.

The belly rubbing and touching, I understood. I am guilty of this myself and often times have to fight the urge to touch pregnant bellies as well. They have always fascinated me. I actually love everything about pregnant women-the round belly, the "glow" (which I now know may be from throwing up), the "waddle," and even the stretchy clothes. I felt that happy hands touching my belly gave the baby good vibes surrounded him with positive energy. I knew he would already feel so loved by the time he was born. I know, I make some people want to puke with my love for pregnancy-I'm nuts!

Now for the scary stories....I distinctly remember Andy coming home one day with a nervous expression on his face. "Why does everyone want to scare us?" I think, as a female, we are brought up to have thick skin about the "scary baby stories." We do the research-we know what is expected after having a baby. God gives us almost 10 months to prepare for these changes. But with dads-its different. So here is Andy, excited as can be for James' arrival, thinking soon he will be holding his adorable baby boy, then "BAM" the scary stories start. I never realized how much people love sharing their horror stories, especially with expecting parents who can't turn back and change their minds. I reassured Andy that everything will be fine, and even if not, we will be so distracted with his cuteness-we won't have time to focus on the negative things.

 
So here we are-we had just walked through the doors to exit South Shore Hospital on July 9th. I remember standing on the curb feeling a bit overwhelmed. Andy was holding James in the baby carrier, and the time had come to strap him in the car and take our first ride home as a family. It was now our responsibility to keep him out of danger and most importantly-to keep him alive. This is a huge responsibility if you can imagine.

Night One-we put James in his pajama's and fed him. We put him in his bassinet and watched as he fell asleep. No crying, no fussing. The time was 11p.m. Andy and I decided that since we'd be up all night as  the scary women had said, we would go to sleep at the same time as James. The first night was rough, not because I had a fussy newborn, but because every time I shut my eyes I had a minor panic attack thinking that he had stopped breathing. I woke up multiple times and put my hand near his mouth to feel him breathe. At 4:30a.m. I heard a tiny coo-not a cry, not a scream. I sat up in bed and saw his little feet kicking. I had a bottle all prepared so I picked him up and fed him. He got his 2oz down and fell back to sleep. At 8:30a.m. he officially "woke up." Could this be possible? 5.5hrs through the night, then an additional 4hrs after a feeding? We figured it was just a fluke, but it wasn't. Within 2 weeks James was sleeping from 11p.m-8a.m. Not only would he sleep, we would put him to bed and he wouldn't fight it. After hours of him sleeping with just the hum of the fan, I could walk in the room and turn on the T.V. and he wouldn't wake up. He had inherited the gene that Andy and I both share-we LOVE sleep! We are the most spoiled parents on earth.

Now, at 15 months old, James sleeps 13hrs a night. If he sleeps any less than that, I am greeted with a little grumpy face in his crib. I know he'll be in for his nap an hour early. He is so predictable. You know the saying, "Work hard. Play hard." That is James' motto. From the moment he wakes up, he is on the go. He loves to explore, dance, walk, talk, sing, you name it. Go! Go! Go! Nap time comes around, and like always, he crashes. By the time I get to his crib, he is practically asleep on my shoulder. He wakes up with a smile on my face-never a cry. Its unreal. The child is a dream.

I found the quote that I posted with this blog, "If your baby is "beautiful and perfect, never cries or fusses, sleeps on schedule and burps on demand, an angel all the time," you're the grandma."-- Theresa Bloomingdale. This isn't always the case. To me, James is beautiful and perfect. He almost never cries or fusses, he has slept on schedule from the start, burped himself from 8weeks on, and is our very own, special, angel.

Now that I have given birth to this mini masterpiece, I am the mom who shares the "good stories." I know he is a one in a million baby, but every expecting mother needs to know that there IS a chance out there that the scary, predictable, baby stories might not come true, and if they do-everything will be fine, you will be so distracted with his or her cuteness-you won't have time to focus on the negative things.

Here is a cute pick of my little "calf" snoozing. I loved this onesie (thank you Courtney). As you can see, he was a belly sleeper. I did not force him to do the back-to-sleep thing. Took a risk-definitely, but it paid off. Happy baby and a happy mommy! Sometimes I listen to the older women who pass down their advice, over the recent health fads.

Andy absolutely loved when James would fall asleep on his chest. I loved this because Mr. McKenna (Andy's dad) was so excited throughout my pregnancy to "have a baby sleep on his chest" again. The fact that they both share their love for something so simple, melts my heart.



Here is James' gremlin face. He makes it while he sleeps. Only a mother can get away with refering to her sleeping baby as "gremlin-like." He's clearly deep in thought and taking in everything he's learned. Love him.

Andy and I literally fight over who gets to go into James' room first. This is how he greets us. Talk about a self-esteem booster. If only we could all be this happy first thing in the morning. He is such a love.