Let's Talk

Here is the cute little Mr. Noble. He will be 4 months old on Monday. I feel the need to journal a bit about him and since I have been using the blog for that lately, you will have to bare with me for this post. It may not be so interesting to you but someday Noble will want to know what he was like as a baby and I am sure I will not remember so well.

Noble is not my easiest baby. But he is not the hardest either. He is a bubbly boy. He has gas bubbles and burpy bubbles and lots of spit bubbles -- lots of bubbles with this boy. He is just starting to really play with and be interested in toys though his attention span is still short. He like a good game of peek a boo. He loves to be held facing out with an arm across his tummy and he wants whoever is holding him to be standing up and moving. He just wants to go.

He is rather easy to put to sleep as long as we are at home. In this regard he is exactly like Camille was. He just needs to be put in his own bed with a sound machine on and a blanket to snuggle. He may cry in protest for a minute but if he is tired he quiets right down and goes to sleep. Where he differs from Camille is in nap length. He doesn't sleep for very long. She would sleep for hours and he does about one hour and is done.

When he is fussing in the car we can usually get him to settle down by turning off all music and singing "Maybe" from the movie Annie. Sabrina was practicing this song ALL THE TIME when I was in my last month of pregnancy as it was the song she sang at the talent show. I guess he heard it in the womb enough to like it or at least be comforted by it. His sisters are good to sing it to him over and over when necessary.

Annie likes to have staring contests with Noble. He usually wins. All the girls love to help with Noble whether it is changing diapers or rocking him in a rocking chair. They all adore him.

Noble is not a giggly baby. He has a more serious temperament like Ann Marie. He will readily give a hearty dimple filled smile but laughs are hard to come by. He often stares at us as if he just has something so important to tell us. I am sure he does. I just wish I could understand his language or read his mind. The other day I took him over to see Camille's big photo in the family room. He just stared and stared at it then turned his head around and looked at me in such a knowing way and then turned to look at her picture again.

Sometimes when he is being cranky and loud I hold him up to my face and put our cheeks together with my mouth to his ear and we talk. We have full conversations and he always has so much to say in our whispered tones. If only I could understand all that he is telling me.

These are dear moments to me -- our talks. They make the sleepless nights and aching back and tired arms worth it. Let's face it. The first year of life is just hard. Babies are so much work. But it is a work I am happy to have on my plate. I am blessed by it. Often our hardest trials are blessings in disguise when we allow them to push us in the right direction.

Noble is pushing me to have more patience and to stretch myself physically. I am daily tested at how I will handle myself and react under the pressure of kids, lack of sleep, and more chores on my plate that I will ever finish. Some nights I feel I have not passed that test for the day. I thank my Father in Heaven for every tomorrow I have with my family to get it right and do it better.