5 weeks later

Where do I begin!!! People have been saying lately that my husband and I have done the two most stressful things in life - having a baby and moving into a new home. I didn't know this and never really thought about it, but yes, they are probably the two most stressful things I've done in my life. Even so, my life with Javier has been so delightful. He is getting bigger and bigger and the precious moments are abundant. The house is coming along, but it'll be awhile before it feels like home... Lots to do, but in the end it'll be fabulous.

Javier continues to be the cutest baby in the world. OK, maybe not the cutest in the world, but pretty darn close. He continues to smile and coo all the time and is definitely recognizing my husband and me. When he hears our voices he looks over and stares. He always knew who we were, but now he is able to express it and it's so fun. My favorite time right now is when he wakes up from naps and smiles when he sees me. It's such an amazingly, warm feeling.

So, something I wanted to improve with the baby was that he was sleeping during the day in my arms - way too much. Every time I'd put him down in his moses basket for a nap, he'd wake up 10 min later and cry. I didn't want to do the CIO (cry it out) thing because I thought he was too young for that, but I really didn't know what else to do. He would also sleep in a chair that was set up as a swing, but not all the time. So obviously he only slept in arms or to movement. I loved holding him and snuggling with him, but it wasn't fair to him. I felt that he would probably sleep better on his own in his own bed, and without movement. So I tried and tried, until something miraculous happened. Javier was getting a little too big for his moses basket so I decided to put him in a pack-n-play because we were going to use on vacation. I put him in there when he fell asleep and he slept in there for 2 hours! I thought maybe it was a fluke, but it wasn't - he loves it. We put him in there every single time and now he naps and sleeps in it at night with no fuss. This was a huge milestone for us. He is also now starting to fall asleep on his own. This has only happened a few times, but it's getting better.

We're going to start daycare in a week and I'm very nervous about it. We chose an in-home daycare that is run by a Mexican woman. She has 2 other women that help her, which I think is great. They all only speak Spanish to the kids, which is great too. Leaving my child with a complete stranger sounds awful, but the reality is we have no choice. The positive side of it is that Javier will socialize with other children, he'll learn to speak Spanish, and I do have a good feeling that he will be cared for appropriately. We'll see how it goes.

Javier is now 3 months old! How does that happen? I'm trying to enjoy every moment with him. It's hard when you have a new house to settle into and projects galore to finish, but it's OK. We manage, and being on short family vacations is helping to spend that quality time together. We just got back from one and getting ready for the next... Busy, busy, busy.