Mornings with Colt

My favorite part of the day with my baby boy has to be in the morning when he wakes up. No matter whether it's 0530 or 0800, or whether I'm cursing the early hour or wide awake, I'm instantly happy when I reach his crib. He always wakes up with a smile on his face. Our routine is pretty much the same every morning (well, except for today, funny enough):

He never makes that much noise when he wakes up, so I'm never quite sure how it wakes me up. I'm a light sleeper, but not that light (plus we have white noise playing in the room). I guess it's just I sense a change in the room or something - I'll call it my Momstinct. :) Anyway, I get up and go over to his crib. He's either squirming around or just lying there looking at his woodland animal mobile. Sometimes he makes little happy noises, especially if he's looking at the mobile. Often the swaddle is around his waist and his little arms are raised over his head in his Victory pose (like, hooray, I defeated sleep again!).

An early combo of Victory and Stiff Baby poses

I let him see me and then put my hand on his little tummy (don't want to startle the little guy too early!). As soon as he sees me, he gets the biggest grin on his face. And that's what I look forward to every morning. It's a truly beautiful sight, where his whole face lights up and his little body wiggles - he really smiles from head to toe! I say good morning and ask if he's ready to start his day, to which he responds with more wiggles and smiles. I usually give him 1 or 20 kisses on the cheeks while unwrapping the swaddle, then it's off to the changing table. He gets in a good stretch (Stiff Baby!) while I get ready to change his diaper, then it's downstairs for a meal then playtime or playtime then a meal, depending on what he wants.

I really treasure these mornings with him. Even though we spend all day together, there's something special about these moments when it's still dark out and everything feels mellow. Today was different only because he didn't wake for a nighttime feeding until 5:30am, and then didn't want to go back to bed afterward! Though my day started a bit earlier than I would have liked, the upside is that my baby boy slept through the night for the first time!

Since the above picture is from quite awhile ago (don't have any newer pics of him being stiff or victorious), here are some recent photos of my 3 month fella (who now weighs 15.5lb and is 26in long!):

New toy from Gram's advent stocking!

Playing with Rudolph

Yummy baby paper in the Bumbo!