November 17: On being a PT SAHM, cute video

It's Monday morning, and Carter is sleeping on the boppy on my lap, which means I get internet time. I love watching him sleep, having him so close and warm and cuddly. He'll sleep for a solid hour usually, and then he'll wake up and look up at me with sleepy eyes and smile. I can usually nurse him back sleep at that point, for another half hour or so. I love the fact that the first thing he sees when he wakes up is me smiling down at him. :-)

I'm also loving having this much time to spend with him. It's been good to teach a course this semester, and when I'm at work I enjoy it. But I so appreciate the two mornings a week when I don't have to get up and leave him. We snuggle in bed, then go downstairs when we're ready, still in our pajamas. I fix myself some breakfast (and sometimes he shares it), have some coffee, and do some housework while Carter plays in the floor. After that, we play together for a while, and when it seems to be getting close to naptime, I set up my "nursing nest" on the couch with everything I'll need for an hour or two to get some work done: laptop, phone, drink, blanket, extra pillow, remote control, book, etc. And then I have some "me" time while Carter sleeps.

It's so strangely peaceful, so much more enjoyable than I ever expected. I never thought I could be a SAHM, but here I am, part-time, anyway. I like working part-time, I think, having some time on my own every week where I feel like I'm making a contribution to the world and to our finances (and keeping my career options open for the future), but also being able to spend a lot of time with Carter. I hope I can manage to continue this way for a while. Things might change for us, but for now, I'm very happy.

I captured this cute video of Carter last night. He is far more interested in everyday items than in baby toys, of course, and now that he can move around a bit we're finding out what sorts of things he really likes. Last night he really wanted to play with the power strip we use to plug in our laptops. He managed to get to it twice with quite a lot of determination before I thought, "Hey, I should get this on video." And so I did:



And yes, I took it away from him right after the camera turned off! How do they know exactly what things they shouldn't touch? Is it some sort of baby radar?

Those two bottom teeth are really visible now, especially when he smiles. I haven't got a good picture yet, as he seems to be pretty shy about them. He's still getting used to them, and will occasionally bite down on a toy too hard and then cry in pain. Poor punkin...