Torture and Joy

I looked at my last post from nearly a month ago, and laughed. Here is what I had to say:


"Each of the past few nights he has had one stretch of sleep lasting four hours. Hopefully this trend continues."


Often I am very glad that I can't see the future. Living through the present can be a lot easier than knowing it's going to get worse before it gets better. 


Between getting sick, traveling for the holidays, and a crazy storm driving us to stay at my dad's, Mason's sleeping has gotten worse. The nights when he sleeps for 2 - 3 hours at a time now feel like heaven. On bad nights we are up every 15 - 90 minutes through the night. It was sad and scary while he was sick, and felt like torture once I got sick. We have had three weeks of this sleep pattern with a couple good nights sprinkled in. It has been emotionally grueling as much as physically. So, I've been reading up on baby sleep topics and we have an appointment tomorrow for Mason to get checked out for any physical issues. Wish me luck.


We've all been pretty exhausted. Here's a photo I took as I emerged from a nap one day...

I don't mean to sound pessimistic or ungrateful. We really are so blessed and have a wonderful, healthy, happy boy. So, onto the JOY part of the post. 


We had a fun Thanksgiving visiting with family. First we went to Koosharem and had a great Thanksgiving Day with my family. Then we got to spend the rest of the weekend with Damen's family which was wonderful. We even got to go to Grandpa Burnham's 95th birthday party.


Here's a picture of Mason as we were riding FrontRunner to Ogden to meet Damen on Black Friday.

He was so cute and so content all morning. I love this boy.


Over just the past couple weeks, his curiosity has turned on full speed! He is interested in everything, especially the computer, phone and remote...a true Burnham boy. The dexterity in his hands is getting better, so he wants to touch and hold everything. He laughs more and is more interactive. He is also experimenting with his voice, so he likes to yell often. (I love the way his tongue rolls sideways and sticks out the corner of his mouth when he tries to "talk".) He has become interested in his toys, but also wants to be in the middle of whatever we are doing. It has been a lot of fun to see his curiosity grow and to watch him begin to explore things. The only negative side affects are that EVERYTHING gets shoved into the mouth, and he fusses a lot because that is the only way he can communicate. 


Here he is, fascinated with something I'm holding. I love his bright, blue eyes and the serious face he pulls when he is intently studying something.

I've never been more exhausted in my life, but this guy is definitely worth it. As I am typing he is rolling on the floor smiling at me, chewing on a finger, and gurgling happily. It makes me smile, makes me happy inside, and almost makes me forget how many times we were up last night.