Today I am 4 weeks...

We can now begin referring to our child by how many months old he is. Kellan has officially made it through his first month and we couldn't be more proud of his development. We started trying to get him to sleep on his own the last couple nights (if he had it his way, he's sleep on my chest whenever sleeping's the thing to do.) We'll have to update on the progress of this experiment when we have better findings. So far we know Kellan does NOT like this idea from mom and dad and is on strike, so it seems.

I was joking with a friend today that they should write a book exclusively, and honestly, about how rough the first 40 days are on new parents. The books call it the "transition" period which makes it seem so clinical, or sterile (almost approachable and tolerable even), almost like an easy diagnosis a doctor would give you: "You're just in the transition period. It's all very normal. It will end and then you will be in the reward period."

What they should really tell you about the 40 day transition period is: "Every day for 40 days, you will wake up and still be in the transition period. You will look at your husband and be so tired you may forget his name, or he will look at you each night and beg once again to be told to sleep on the couch. In the meanwhile, the baby will want to be attached to you at ALL TIMES. This is because he will want to eat ALL THE TIME, only to be interrupted by crying in hopes of eating again or spitting up to make room to eat again. You will both smell like sour milk constantly and you will resort to styling only the front and top portions of your hair that people will see and stuffing the rest into a matronly bun..."

They do get one part right though in the books and that is: there is no way, not in one million years or the 4 weeks he has been here that I could have imagined how much I would love my son. And that is for every day, through every stage, forever.