Favorite things

As a pretty sentimental creature, one of my favorite things to do as a mom is to quietly go in once Max is asleep and look at him/check on him. I'm a worrier and there's a niggling little part of me that would never forgive myself if checking on him would have prevented something bad from happening. Maybe I've been watching too much Law & Order SVU.....

But I digress- the point of this entry is to showcase how cute Max is when he sleeps. He cracks us up sometimes- that's right, Jack has joined me now in our nightly little check-up of sleeping Max. It started pretty organically, one of us would have to go in to fix his baby monitor receiver or something and we gradually discovered that he wouldn't wake up or be disturbed. The pre-sleep check on my part began on a bit of a whim, I have to walk past his door to get to my bedroom at night and he goes to sleep at 7 while I generally stay up until 10 or later (usually later). So I miss him a little and just couldn't resist going in to see him one last time before bed. I never intended to do it every night but I do now- I know I won't do it forever. This is just my little way of squeezing every bit of enjoyment out of his oh-so-temporary-smallness.

I assure you dear reader that Max has never woken up from either a night-time visit or having his picture taken. As of yet, he is quite a heavy sleeper, I might have Thor to thank for that.

This was taken back at our old duplex and I think it was actually a nap. Too cute with his little teddy. :)

I was really surprised to find him sound asleep folded in half like this. This was the trial tiny blanket that I tested out to see if he was ready to sleep with blankets. I had gotten the clue from him that he wanted to by him pulling things like towels or t-shirts into his crib if we accidentally left them within reach. Also, I found once that in the car on the way home he had pulled my sweater hoodie up into his carseat and was all snuggled with it.

These were my favorite jammies for a little while, they're so fitted on his cute little chubby body- they were the first sort of thermal style ones that he ever wore.

A variation on the folded-in-half position. I wonder when it is that we stop being so bendable foldable?

I had to call Jack in to see this one- so funny to see his little feet sticking out. Also, pretty solid evidence of how big he'd gotten. It's hard to realize how much they're growing when you see them constantly, but every now and then you gain a little perspective.

The one foot out variation- I just had to pet that sweet soft little foot. It's adorable all on it's own and kind of like a little hamster or something in it's doughy firmness.

He has since graduated to proper blankets and Jack and I will usually go in and cover him up once he's asleep. I have no idea how much he moves in a typical night, so our efforts may be a drop in the bucket, but it makes us feel better to have him "tucked in" before we leave.

He crosses his ankles pretty often, when he's eating, apparently when he's sleeping, etc. It makes me feel like he's my son especially in that little moment because I cross my ankles without realizing it quite a bit (they're crossed right now, actually). This was another night when foot-petting was required.

Sometimes I have to gently ease the blanket out from under his face because I worry that he's not getting enough air, but I realize that it's mostly just to make me feel better. He really does seem to enjoy sleeping with blankets so I'm glad that he can be trusted with them.

Sometimes Jack and I get so tickled by his position that we'll end up snorting and having to leave so we don't wake him.