Emerson was right

“There was never a child so lovely

but his mother was glad to get him to sleep.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

{pic is from when Shepard was about two weeks old}

We have hit a milestone! Shepard has slept through the night two nights in a row. Before you go telling me all about how they may do that once and never do it again--whatever! That's fine. At least he's done it twice, and now I know he CAN.  :)

I usually sleep with the monitor pretty close to my head because I am a heavy sleeper. I woke up at 2:15 am Monday night wondering why I hadn't heard him, checked the volume, and thought, "he'll probably wake up in about an hour, so I'll just check on him then." I heard him finally at 5:30 am!

Then, last night he ate and went down for the final time around 10:30 (after having been asleep since about 6:30 already), and slept in until about 6:15 am! I never heard a peep. The funniest thing was he somehow shimmied all the way down his snuggler (used to elevate his head) and turned completely around and was facing the other end of the crib when he woke up! I have no idea how he did that. I guess just scooting. He's not rolling yet...not all the way over. It looked like someone had picked him up and flipped him around.

In any case, I was pretty darn excited to have gotten more than 3 hours sleep all together at the same time. Now, if I could just get in bed earlier, we'd all be well-rested. 

Makin' Faces

Mommy was quiet on this one...just making faces behind the camera...and letting it drift a little at the end oops).

Here's looking at you, kid!

Yes, most days I just want to hold him and squeeze him and call him my own. And stare at his perfect face. Especially when I've been working all week and it's FRIDAY! He still sleeps quite a lot, so getting some moments with him awake is a special treat during the week. The grandparents have been requesting a longer video so they can sit and look at him too. So here's a long-form video with not much more than just Shepard checking out the world, some Daddy, Sir Prance-a-lot and me narrating, if I may use the term loosely.
Shortly after this, Shepard went to bed for the night and I took an intense two-hour-plus death-nap on the sofa (accidentally--one minute I was watching "Project Runway," and I awoke at 10 pm wondering what day it was...). And that, my friends, is an awesome Friday night around here. Five-thirty am comes early. And we're just kinda pooped on the weekend. We're enjoying our Saturday with laundry and house-work. Enjoy the video!

First week of school

So, I was holding Shepard today and he started talking up a storm. Forgive the REALLYCLOSE angle and slight fuzziness. It's hard to hold a baby and get good video at the same time. I'm working on not cutting off his forehead so much.  :)

Some pictures for fun

Just hangin' out in my nursery. Rockin' in the rockin' chair. Thinkin' about milk and stuff.




















I realized as I was leaving for work that we were both sporting some stripes.

They don't fit yet; but it was so sunny, Mommy thought she'd give them a whirl.

Awkward pose and looking off into the distance pensively.

Shepard made the President's Opening Address!

...at Winthrop University.  :)

Here is a link to the full address.

Here is the quote from the address that mentions my sweet boy. For context, he is describing the year 1992, the year in which most entering freshmen were BORN (geesh) and the rise of the digital native...i.e. most of the current college students have grown up gathering information and learning via computer/online.

Here it is:

"The shifting sands of technology and commerce swirled around us, and the students who came to us in those years gradually started reflecting the social and economic changes that were afoot – and not just in their fashion statements or taste in music.



That shift has been so accelerated and profound that I learned the other day that one of the newest members of Winthrop’s extended family – barely a month old –has his own personal web site in place on the World Wide Web, and already has appeared on You Tube, not once, but twice!"

Very cool. Thanks, Dr. D!
http://www.winthrop.edu/

Shepard Jones: future Winthrop Eagle, class of 2032. (remind me to insert a picture of him in his Winthrop bib...)

Back-pedaling: Nursery

I want to make this blog/website comprehensive...kind of like an online baby book. So, I might be posting some "back-pedaling" entries. Here's a collage of Shepard's nursery. It's such a relaxing room that it usually puts Mommy and Daddy to sleep when we're in there at night. But I also like that it has bursts of color and should serve him well for the next few years with some tweaks.