BIG Baby, smiles, getting out, and being a mom

Hi All!

I hope everyone is doing well and remember I would always love to hear from you—or better yet, get a visit!! Things are going well here. Joseph is growing and changing like crazy. He seems a totally different being then the helpless little guy we brought home from the hospital. He is so big I have to tell everyone how old he really is because everyone thinks he is much older. We have a pile of clothes he has grown out of and he fits into lots of 6 month clothes. Yesterday for the 4th he wore his first pair of overalls, which was so amazingly cute. However, the biggest news; the most exciting new development is definitely SMILING. Smiles, smiles, smiles. It is so great to see Joseph light up—often from just gazing at your face, which he can do for looong periods of time. Everyday seems to bring more smiles and he isn’t shy; he will smile at anyone. Also around the beginning of the month I was shocked to discover the Joseph seems to actually get bored. His favorite diversion: walking around the yard. Around and around and around. I like to say that as he has gotten older his bad moods have gotten worse and his good moods have gotten better.

Brad went back to work a couple weeks ago and that is going well—he has lots of work (actually two houses going at once). While he was home he painted the garage, the bathroom, and reseeded the lawn that was torn up, so things are looking good around here. He also put up a clothes line and made a compost pile—trying to do our part. Speaking of clothes line, I am now finally using cloth diapers when we are at home. Joseph and I are also getting much better at getting out and about. I am no longer totally freaked about him screaming when we are in public. We have now been to: Kinney’s, Shaw’s, the Shoreham Library, the Middlebury Library, the Middlebury Book Shop, Agway, the quilting shop, the Rutland Mall, a birthday party, a BBQ, NY state (Wal-Mart), McDonalds, a couple playgroups, a mom’s group, a fancy restaurant, a dinner party, strawberry picking, an infant massage class, the 4th of July in Bristol, and more. . . Pretty good hugh? Of course, as some of you have experienced, Joseph can be quite fussy, but I am learning to worry about this less. And I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how well he did at the 4th yesterday.

Everyone keeps asking me how it feels to be a mom. I never know how to answer this. It feels amazing. It feels like I am being let in on a secret; like now I can see the “miracle of life” for myself. Super cheesy I know, but it’s true. Sometimes I can’t believe I really am a mom and sometimes it feels like he has been here forever. On a practical level, sometimes it is completely overwhelming and sometimes totally invigorating. Mostly it is just amazing.

All my best,

Ruth (mom)