Long Story Short

I've probably written about it here before, but I just found this great blog post by Mayim Balik on bed-sharing (not to be confused with cosleeping).  We're bed-sharers for most of the reasons that she goes over, and she says it a whole lot better than I could at this time of night (when I should be sleeping, but I'm scouring blogs instead because I'm on spring break!).  I semi-regularly see other moms post on Facebook about sleep issues with their babes, and I'm always reticent to respond because our family views are so vastly different than most people we know. Often, we're judged or slammed or told we're wrong because we respond to our children's needs in a different way, one that feels more natural to us and less like a method we read in some book.  We've never expected our young children to be independent, but have tried to teach them independence in age-appropriate ways.  Generally, I tend to think that what a generalized American society thinks is "right" is not always right for us.  And so go read her blog and think we're freaks or geniuses.  Either one works for us.

Love makes you a parent; not biology.

(first, you must know that I am currently in bed with two boys.  two young, sweet, sleeping boys who are making my heart melt and get all musha every time I look over at them.  this is one of my happiest moments today).

I want to adopt.  I think, deep down, my family will feel complete with one more child.  I always said that I really wanted three, and right now, we do sort of have three kids that we're caring for, but I think I need one more baby to raise.  Sometimes, when I look at E, I think I have to have another child, one more that will have my cowlick and blue eyes, with Jason's grin and sparkle.  But other times, I feel this sense of... something like responsibility to love a child that has come from someone else's genetics. Being a stepmom has been an incredible experience and has taught me that loving a child and being a parent isn't all about genetics.  Sure,  it's an amazing thing to look at a child and see parts of yourself shine through, things that are just innate.  But H., my stepson, is like me in so many ways, too and we are bonded just as deeply.  And so I feel like I know I can love another child as my own, even if they don't have 23 chromosomes from me, or from my husband.  I feel like it would be a nice way to round out our family-- everyone would have a different biological set of parents, but we'd still make one family. 

Time Flies.

My baby is 3 months old. I'm amazed at how fast he's grown and how much I love him. Night before last, he refused to go to bed on his own. I'd lay him down in his cosleeper and he just wasn't having it. I ended up just keeping him in the bed with us. But last night was great. He fell asleep around 9:15pm, slept soundly in the cosleeper until 3:45am when he woke up for a snack, and then went right back to sleep. I was able to get into the shower at 7:00am and lay back down. He didn't wake up until 8:00am, when he nursed and we napped for another half an hour. And now, he's content in his swing while we "talk." Also, I'm fairly certain he's teething, or pre-teething or something like that. He's always liked to suck on his hands but they are constantly in his mouth and he's gnawing on everything! And the drool-- oh, the drool. But he's so cute, my little turtle.