Dear Lucas (16 Weeks)

This has been one of the most challenging and rewarding weeks we've had together so far. Challenging because I had to listen to my sweet baby cry and choose to let you keep on wailing so that you could sleep by yourself. Never mind the fact that the very week I decided to try the Ferber Method (AKA Lindsay method) that he is all over the national news saying "hmmm maybe letting your baby cry to sleep isn't so good after all." So if you wind up in therapy years later you will blame me. So far so good though.

I know you hate to be all alone in the dark but you have to learn to put yourself to sleep. A few tears now will save us both more tears in the long run (I hope). Plus tonight is the fourth night of letting you cry yourself to sleep and now you are crying less than fussing... I checked... your eyes are dry. Also I promise I still love you and I get no pleasure out of hearing you fuss or cry. It breaks my heart. It really does. You should see how much more sane we both are during the day though! One day you'll want to go spend the night at someone's house and think how hard that would be if you could only fall asleep with your mommy holding you. Kids can be cruel. They wouldn't understand.

You are so much fun now! Every day is new and exciting. You like to sit up even more now and I think soon you'll be doing it all on your own! You love to play and still your favorite thing in the whole entire world is to chew on things. You even try to grab Mommy's and Daddy's fingers and sneak them into your mouth.

Your also still eating like a champ. You don't have baby food every night but when you are really hungry we love feeding it to you. One night Mommy made the mistake of making your baby cereal with bottle water instead of breast milk and you weren't having that! I should know by now there are no acceptable shortcuts when it comes to you!

My favorite part of the day is when you want to play with me instead of devouring your toys. It is the coolest thing to tickle or kiss your belly and send you into fits of laughter. The absolute best thing though is when you get in the mood to talk and we just go on and on. You cooing and gooing and ahhing and me talking right back. I can hardly keep up. You also hold your arms out when you want me to scoop you up and shower you in kisses.

This week all your clothes came from the 3-6 month drawer. You have officially grown out of ALL of your 0-3 month clothes. Up until now you still could wear some of them but now I can pack them all away and we'll have enough room for all of your 3-6 month clothes.

You still love to go outside and enjoy the sunshine and listen to all the sounds of the busy world going on around us. You just sit there and stare out and I wonder what you are thinking. You watch Jadie run around and I can't wait until you can chase after her and play together. You still love to stare at her. I am surprised that you don't try and reach out and touch her. Instead you just gaze up at her. Even when she sneak attacks you to lick you in the face you just stare back at her not laughing or crying. When you were about a month old you used to knead her fur with your toes because she would lay cuddled up by your feet... then you learned to kick, and now she makes sure she is a safe distance away from your toes. She thinks the world of you still because every night she goes with me to check on you. After I close the door I always hear this little scratching sound because I forgot she followed me in there.

I love you so much!