A Month of Sammy

Today is Sam’s one month birthday. Forgive me if this post isn’t as eloquent as the occasion calls for, but I am currently nursing him and typing one-handed on a wireless keyboard that’s about out of batteries and requires me to hit each letter 86 times before it shows up on the screen. Maybe I’ll use text message shorthand. Oh wait, I don’t know any.

I can’t believe he’s a month old already. I scares me how quickly time passes. My maternity leave is 1/4 over… a thought that makes me want to cry.

I have absolutely loved this past month with Sammy. I don’t know if it’s because I’m already used to being a mom or if it’s just the way the hormone cookie crumbled, but this initial post-partum time has been much easier for me than it was the first time around, and I’ve enjoyed it so much more. (Kate, someday when you read this blog, know that it wasn’t you, it was me. Really.)

Sammy has taught us a thing or two during the past few weeks, though, I never dreamed pee could actually travel that far. He’s hit the curtains, the wall, and his parents more times than I can count. He is also quite the spitter. Kate spit up a total of about 4 times in her life, so this is new to us. But Sam spits up all the time. So much so that he’s had two baths today. It’s funny how quickly I’ve become accustomed to being covered in spit up. Actually, since Sam still spends at least part of the night on my chest, some mornings I can’t distinguish the spit up from the pee from the breastmilk that’s covering me. Nice, huh?

It’s been fun, too, to see Kate take on the role as big sister. She’s generally been great about the whole thing, but we’ve had to threaten her with time out if she continues to bother her brother while he’s sleeping. Not that I don’t want her to love on him or anything, but for the love of God leave him alone while he is asleep! But really, it is so sweet to see her want to hold him and help us with his diaper changes and baths. I look forward to seeing them become good friends.

Kate’s take on breastfeeding has been pretty amusing. She called me in her room at 3:00 one morning and said “Mommy, how do you actually make milk for the baby?” She has also offered to “help” feed Sammy by “squeezing out the milk.” She’s anxious to give him a bottle, and I’ve tried to explain that that requires me pumping, so she keeps asking me when I’m going to “put on the machine.”

I don’t know if it’s just that I realize how quickly time passes now that I’ve seen Kate grow up so much in four years, or that, to borrow the phrase from Mom-101, this is baby number last, but I have had a strong desire to spend time with Sam holding him, nursing him, or just looking at him in a way that is new to me. It sounds so corny, but every day has been precious. I love him so much.

And as I got all sentimental there for a second, I look down at him adoringly. He looked up at me and proceeded to up chuck all over my lap. It’s a good thing he’s so cute.