The magical corner

Everyone said it would come but I didn't believe it. Sure enough - Crispin has turned that corner. He eats! I mean real food! I eat! He's not screaming his head off or climbing on our table at dinner time. I'm serious - since he could climb he thought himself a cat and would sit on our table while we eat dinner. Try as we might to get him in his chair he would just climb out and end up on our table. Every night we would try to sit him down first and feed him so we could at least enjoy our meal. It seemed like as soon as I sat down he was done throwing his food around (he was not eating much) and screaming like a banshee whenever I told him to let me eat my dinner. So there I would be running around the table from him or keeping him at arms length while I shoved food down my face. We all got good at tuning him out and we would carry on w/ our conversations like there wasn't a baby crying while he scaled the chairs to the table to get to me - why? to nurse of course because he was a marathon nurser - he was a champion! He was on his way to the olympics to win the gold in nursing. It was crazy. I know many of you out there are saying "I simply would not stand for that kind of behavior!!" I too was of the same mind but some how Crispin managed to thwart that stance. Clint and I held strong and just before we lost our minds Crispin turned the corner and became a 3 times a day nurser and an average toddler eater! WOW! Also, he has managed to sleep through the night w/ only waking up once to nurse and then HE turns around when he's done. I no longer have to pry my boob out of his mouth while he gropes me until I have to put it back before he wakes up the whole neighborhood. As I write this, I'm amazed that we went through all that and lived to tell about it. Part of me feels like I scaled Mt. Everest and would do it again in a heart beat. I was always the 'odd man out' whenever women shared their stories of sleepless nights and fussy babes. I had neither w/ Slade and Jack and as I would describe to others my boys were a cake walk.

Now, I've been to the other side and what I would like to carry on is empathy and hope for other mothers and share that it will get better and it will end - and most importantly keep your wits about you and enjoy all of it for what it's worth. I've spent way too many hours w/ mothers that will commiserate and "warn" the new mom that it only gets worse and to tell her husband to get a vasectomy ASAP! I will be the opposite of that.

For now I'm happy that enjoyed every minute of Crispin's marathon nursing and restless nights. I feel like I totally deserve any accolades that come my way on my mothering. Before I was just accepting graciously but deep inside I felt like a fraud . Jack and Slade practically raised themselves with minor rearing from us. Of course Jack might have had a few broken bones if it wasn't for our attentiveness, but other than that these boys have been good from the get-go. Crispin had a later start. I can tell he's following in the ways of his older brothers with his easy going ways and he will be just as delightful from this point on. Oh - I am feeling pretty high in my boots right now.

Can't edit - need to get crispin from flushing his books down the toilet. Well, maybe he's not so easy peasy as the older boys!