Harry Reaches Another Developmental Milestone!!!

Harry with his Silly Parents
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

So tonight Harry reached another developmental milestone. He was on his play mat and rolled from his back to his tummy! Very exciting! Plus, I managed to actually get it on video! Quite a surprise given that one can never predict when one's babe is going to do something important. I was pleased though because Dan is in Seattle this week and so he was not here for it. But now I can show him the proof on video. :-) (We will also see if we can add the video to the blog, so stay tuned.) Whilst he has rolled from his tummy to his back before, doing the opposite is much more challenging (since he doesn't have the weight of his head to help him get around.) So he has truly moved into the rolling over "big league." :-)

Seeing Harry grow up is an astounding process. You can see him putting all of the pieces together to do something. Rolling over is quite complicated - having taken it foregranted for most of my life - when broken down into its component parts. There is quite a bit to it and Harry has been working on it for a while now - having mastered front to back he turned his attention to back to front. You can see him trying out various techniques for leveraging his body with his leg. Tonight, he put all of the pieces together and took one more step towards becoming a little boy. At the same time, he was looking at his hands today in a way that he used to as a newborn - in this psychedelic, "wow my hands are so cool" manner. It was a reminder of how far he has come and yet how many things are still ahead of our little, baby boy. Of course, it made me feel weepy. But I realize that I might as well get used to it because there are so many steps (literal and figurative) ahead of him. My only hope is that as a parent I can surround Harry with love, provide him with the tools to be happy and secure and help him grow the wings to launch himself into this big old world of ours.

A Big Day in the Holden-Brown Household

IMG_0022.JPG
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

So today was a big day in the Holden-Brown household. Two big things happened. To start the day, Harry slept through the night for the first time in a while! Very exciting! His very sleep deprived parents were beyond grateful. Whilst we are not holding our breath for tonight. To have one night go well provides hope for nights to come. :-) Then at the end of the day, Harry laughed for his parents. This is not the first time he has laughed. At Harry's four month check up, Dr Kulp, Harry's pediatrician got Harry to laugh. When he started, Dan and I looked at each other and couldn't quite believe that he was doing it. But at the same time, it was very close to hysteria. Tonight, it was a genuine belly laugh. One that was brought on by physical slap stick. Harry dropped back onto the bed and I guess the sensation tickled him. He laughed. A wonderful, straight from his belly, secure laugh. It was so sweet and made his mummy and daddy feel so good. Better than anything.

Technical Difficulties and New Obsessions

Harry's four-month check-up
Originally uploaded by brownorama.

So the Holden-Brown household has been struck by technical difficulties. First, the blog was not working for a while - we were having problems getting posts published. Then our camera died and has to go back to Nikon to be fixed. So there was a period of about 3 weeks where there was very little documenting going on. This happened to coincide with a rather intense period from a baby rearing perspective. We have a beautiful baby boy. But we also have a baby boy that has taken to waking up at 1:30, 3:30, 4:30 etc. etc. And this is in the AM not the afternoon. :-) Hence a switch in obsessions for the Holden-Browns. When Harry was first with us, it was all about feeding. Making sure that he was properly fed and putting on weight was all we talked and read about for a while. However, after 4 months and Harry putting on the weight he needed to, our attention has switched to the time that we are not spending sleeping. He started out great - sleeping 5 -6 hours relatively early. But in recent weeks, as he has become more aware of his world and those in it, Harry has started to regress and wake up more and more. From what we have read, and we have read a LOT :-), apparently this is not uncommon in babies that start off sleeping relatively well. However, this is cold comfort to parents who are now going on 4 months of sleep deprivation. :-) I realize that I just have to relax and "go with the flow." But this is a challenging mantra for me to follow. Something that is made even more challenging the more sleep deprived I am. Fortunately, if parenthood up until now has taught me anything, this too shall pass and we will move on to the next phase and there will be something else we will be worried about and obsessed with. The great comfort is how wonderful our little boy is and how he is growing into this sweet, mellow, little person who has turned our house into a home and our marriage into a family.