L'Enfant Terrible

First of all, it is a terrible idea to give me a baby and a camera.

We just got back from a week at the beach, and as far as I can tell with a six-week-old baby, Calvin really enjoyed himself. We took him out on the beach in his little chair one day, and he sat under the umbrella and slept. We also took him for an evening walk along the beach in his front pack. It's an Infantino EasyRider that I picked up at Walmart. Again: slept the whole time. One day we took him to the aquarium at Fort Fisher, and guess what he did? Yup. Slept in his stroller. But we enjoyed the fish.

The walk on the beach was nice. As we were coming back we saw a bunch of people gathered around this walled-off lane in the sand, and one of the men there told us that there was a sea turtle nest and the babies would be hatching soon! We sat out there for about an hour and a half in the dark waiting to see if they'd come out, but they never did. They hadn't by Thursday afternoon, but I imagine they made it safely to the ocean--they had people helping to guide them down the lane into the water. Apparently they'll just head for the brightest light they see, and with artificial lights along the beach that could send them anywhere.

I've learned that Calvin sleeps much better when he wears his pajamas with feet, probably because they keep him warm. He cries pretty much only when he's hungry or wants attention, and if it's not one of those two things it will stop on its own eventually. On the whole, he's a wonderful baby, and so cute that I can't be mad at him for anything. If he doesn't sleep well at night, putting him in our bed generally works, even though we aren't supposed to. He has the most wonderful baby smell, especially after he's had a bath. I adore Johnson's Baby Shampoo and am using it on all six of his hairs. I also finally wised up and bought the giant box of diapers today. He's up to 7lb 10oz, which means the next diapers I buy will probably be size 1 instead of Newborn OH MY GOD MY BABY IS GROWING. I see six-month-old kids in the store and think they're giant, and one day that will be him. It will seriously freak me out when that happens.

Unfortunately, he does have his moments...there have been a couple of nights when he hasn't slept worth a crap, or has been making little noises that keep me awake, and then I'm just tired and cranky. Mostly, I've adapted pretty well to 3 hour shifts, and it's only when he deviates from that schedule that I feel like crap. He has slept for up to 4 hours at a time, and that's almost a luxury. I can't wait til he sleeps through the night.