12 weeks: December

Dear Patrick,

Since you have come into our lives, our standards for television have become incredibly low. Your father and I will now watch just about anything as we feed your bottle in the middle of the night. Recently, one night alone, I found myself engrossed in an infomercial for "Wen hair-care," which starred Alissa Milano. Not only did I watch the program for an entire hour, but I actually ended up ordering the product. Me - your sensible mother, who barely brushes her hair lately on a good day - found myself purchasing elite shampoo. This is a side of parenthood that no one tells you about.  

The other side of parenthood that no one prepares you for is how quickly you seem to change:

• Now that you can better control the muscles in your face, you’ve developed a distinctive “look” in which you pull your eyebrows down and close together. It wrinkles your forehead and your Omi says its the face of a philosopher or a scientist - a thinker. Or you may simply be Irish and a worry-wart like your mom.
• You’ve started sleeping some 5 - 6 hour stretches at night.  I’m hesitant to even type this - I may have just jinxed us all.
• You've started to notice your toys.  I read that babies your age can distinguish between the faces of real people and stuffed animals and that babies prefer human faces. "Tigger," however, gets the majority of your attention lately and I’m going to try not to be jealous of a Disney character.    
• You love to sleep on your stomach.  Did I mention that we’re related?
• You have begun to mimic our facial expressions.  If we stick our tongue out, you will try to do it too.  And when I pull my mouth into an “O” and hoot at you, you do it back with the tiniest hint of a smile.  It is so darn cute. “Whoooo.”  
• Maritza volunteered to feed you last Friday night (bless her!) so your Dad and I could sleep. It was heaven.  And in case you were wondering, you Uncky Bunky also slept right through.  
• We’ve been concerned about your belly button protrusion now that the doctor has given it the official title of an “umbilical hernia,” which sounds scary but is apparently very common. We learned this month that it will heal on its own by the time you are four years old so we'll be playing Pillsbury dough boy a little longer.    
• Mitch’s new “nom-noms method” of feeding you is propping you up in the boppy and using an extra pillow to hold the bottle. This allows us to do other things like make coffee or change the channel to another infomercial.
• Why does everything come down to poo?    
• Your nursery is basically decorated now.  Your father hung that cool zig-zag shelf that Omi and I found for you at Ikea and we added a lamp from the Hopes and some unique artwork of Coopy, painted by your very own mom!  
• I’ve realized recently that I’ve just started to dream again, which must mean that your father and I are getting a bit more sleep. I love dreams (and telling them to your dad in nauseating detail, which I know he has missed these last few months.)  Welcome back REM state.
• You look exactly like a bulldog puppy.
• Your daycare with Grammy started this month and we are very thankful that Sharon is there with you. (And April on Fridays!)  We may be your parents, but we don’t entirely know what we are doing...yet.  Don’t worry. I plan to have it figured out before you catch on.
• We are taking you to Macon for the first time over Christmas, and Mom and Dad are throwing you a party. They are expecting thousands to arrive and pay homage to "the anointed one."

Love,
Mom