Babies grow up too quickly. At first they're tiny and fragile and you can't wait until their circumcision and belly button heal up and they pass that 2-month milestone when they supposedly will have a much better chance of surviving a cold or flu. Then all of a sudden, they start smiling and then laughing. They roll over and once that happens the rest is history. They crawl, walk, talk . . . and then they graduate from high school and are gone from home forever (well . . . usually).
This is one of the last nights my baby was a real cry baby (a month or so ago). I spent many, many hours in this chair Side Swaddle Swinging (rocking) Sucking Shushing my baby to sleep. The 5 S's. Most times, the chair wouldn't even do it and I'd shush at the top of my lungs while walking quickly in circles around the house. Repetitive vibration (bouncing while walking) I think always beats rocking in colicky times. Anyway, thank you Harvey Karp for writing The Happiest Baby on the Block and giving all of us parents of distraught infants some tips and some peace of mind in 5 simple steps. Those nights are exhausting. I always told myself that those unhappy baby days are not going to last forever. I enjoyed them. And sure enough now they are a distant memory. I miss them already.
This spring of 2010 was an exciting time to have a baby. There were a lot of babies born this spring. Owen, Julia, Niko, Jayden, Brynn, Zoe, Wess & Arthur, Kloe, Oliver, Freya, Abigail, Tyree, Elias, Brianna, and above Riley (2 weeks) with Nikolai (3 months). Yes, 16 babies that I know within 3.5 months of each other. 3 are cousins, 5 are college friends' babies, 3 are co-workers' babies, 2 are kids of old high school friends, and 2 are just friends' babies. Only 3 of the babies were born in Alaska, so I still have a lot of babies to meet. It is and will always be exciting to watch all of these kids grow up since they are so close in age.
