Could I BE any prouder?

The past two nights, Nick has slept for 10 hours. TEN! Night before last he went down at 9:00pm and slept until 7:00am. Last night he went down at 8:30am and slept until about 6:30am. I tried pushing him back a half hour to see if he could go until 7:00am, but he couldn't quite make it. I watched him fussing and rolling back and forth on the monitor and figured it meant he was done with sleep for the night.

He has become such a great sleeper. He goes down with absolutely zero fuss -- for naps AND bed time. Our night time routine is so easy, it's amazing. We give him a bath (which he LOVES), get him dressed and all ready for bed, give him his last bottle, and as soon as he finishes the last drop, he typically passes right out. I sneak his pacifier in his mouth, and hold him upright for about 15-20 minutes just to make sure his dinner settles in his belly. And then I lay him down in his crib, and he doesn't even notice...just continues his dreaming. He IS a dream! His calm nature reminds me so much of his daddy, and his ability to sleep for long stretches reminds me of me. :)

Best part about it all is that he wakes up with a huge smile on his face! And I have proof!:

I swear it looked like he was waving "good morning, mommy!" to me, but by the time I snapped this picture, it looked more like he was saluting me. Eh, I'll take it. :)

I'm so proud of our little guy and can't help but laugh at myself when I think back about 10 weeks ago, when I spent the majority of my time in tears -- mostly due to lack of sleep -- wondering when he was going to sleep for longer than 30 minutes at a time. And now that he's sleeping so well, I'm getting less sleep. I can't help it -- I go in to his room and just stand over his crib. I stroke his little bald head, and lightly rest my hand on his belly, watching it go up and down with each breath he takes. When I finally make it back to our bedroom, I lay in bed watching him on the monitor. I am in awe of his little life. I can't believe we created him. He is better than anything I could have ever imagined.

Thank you Todd, Nick, and God, for making me a mommy to the most beautiful, perfect baby boy. I just love that little guy!