Dear Graham, Week 3

Happy 21 days, Graham! This week you continued to mark more milestones in your short life, including your first bottle that was given to you by your dad (which meant mom’s first pumping experience), your first nights of sleep (or lack thereof) in your crib after being in our room for the first two weeks, and outgrowing your first diaper size. Your face continues to change as you grow more into a “baby” and show less signs of being a “newborn.” You’ve also learned to make a new sound, which mommy and daddy affectionately call your billy goat noises. You make this noise when you’re content after eating or almost asleep, and we have no idea how something so small can make a sound that’s so rustic. But it makes us smile every time.

So, with all of this progress that you’re making, I think you’re old enough for me to let you in on something about your mom and dad.

First, your daddy and I are the type of people who truly believe knowledge is power. We like to read, research, and learn before making major decisions. (Okay, so minor decisions too.) So you can imagine in preparation for your arrival, to say that we read quite a bit would be an understatement. (In fact, I think your daddy knows more about breastfeeding than I do, as he read all of the information too just so he could support your mommy during this process.)

However, much to our dismay, you don’t exactly match any of the descriptions in any of our books, no matter how many times we read them. And yes, we have been known to pull out a book or two at 1:00 a.m. when nothing seems to calm you down.

So, yesterday, we made a strategic decision that goes against pretty much every fiber of the Akin household: WE ARE TAKING A BREAK FROM THE BOOKS. There, I said it. Even writing it now gives your mom a bit of hesitation, but we learned we were stressing ourselves more by trying to fit your patterns into some predetermined mold instead of just learning your unique ways as we go.

Now, we’re not going too crazy here and throwing everything we’ve learned out the window, but we are learning to trust our own instincts and rely more on your cues.

While we’ll see how this new mindset goes over the next week, I can tell you this: you already make your daddy and me so proud, and this comes when your greatest accomplishments are eating, pooping and sleeping. I love being a family of three.

Love,

Mommy