One of my best friends and her husband had a baby the end of last week. I told her that when they got home, they should sleep whenever the baby sleeps, all of that good stuff. But more importantly, to not be one of those parents who out of the chute says, "My baby is already sleeping! He's on a schedule!". It's never that way. They sleep, sure, but they are also very groggy still from the anethesia the mom was given, the entire delivery, etc.

Sure enough. I had a call yesterday and she said, "He's already sleeping so well! We're so lucky to have such a GOOD baby".

You see, I remember HDH lying in bed, taking a nap with the Stink. HDH was gazing into this precious baby's little eyes and loving this little creature. It is a tender moment. The baby was totally tired, peaceful and completely fooling us.

Because - oh, maybe a few days later? - the baby started to cry. And he didn't STOP crying for three months. We rocked him. We held him. We took him for long rides in the car, all hours of the day and night. We put him in a car seat on top of the dryer and turned the puppy on high. Nothing worked. We read books. We took him to the doctor. We tried this. We tried that.

At some point, I was rocking this totally pissed off creature at 4 in the afternoon. At 4 in the morning, he was STILL crying. (HDH was in ROME at the time, trying to play down his 'not-so-great-time' ... "really, eating at this place isn't so great at all. Sure, we're on a rooftop overlooking Rome, but it's AWFUL.")

That would be 12 straight hours of me vs. the baby. It was the longest night of my life, I think. And of course, only to have him wake up again two hours after I got him to sleep to eat again.

Those first few months were such a short frame of time and I see that now. HDToddler is now 20-months-old. He is a spirited little man, full of love, curiosity and courage. I love this guy dearly.

Regardless ...

It's going to be interesting to see how my friends do these first few months. As I told HDH last night, I'll be waiting for the incoming phone calls very soon ....