A glance back, a look ahead...

I want to apologize in advance on this post.. something has been bugging me, and I was debating whether or not to write about it. In the end I decided that I'd post about it, at the encouragement of a few good friends of the family.

Sleeping through the night is a big milestone for babies, but an even bigger milestone for the parents since it finally allows them to shake that bleary eyed look that veteran parents get so much amusement out of.

For the past month, we worked on getting Ashlyn to sleep through the night by cutting back the amount of feedings, the amount of milk at each feeding, and finally by cutting out the last bottle all together. She fussed for a bit that last night when we didn't get up to feed her, but since then has been sleeping through the night with little or no fuss. And I have mixed feelings about this. Since I'm a light sleeper, and since Heather was giving so much to Ashlyn already, I took care of the night feedings. I'd get out of bed, warm up a bottle, feed her, and then put her on my shoulder where she instantly fell asleep while I patted her back.

Those moments, those few minutes where she slept on my shulder at three in the morning, were pretty special to me.  Rarely would Ashlyn sleep on anyone but Heather during the day, Mom must have the magic touch. And this is the rub, the thing that bugs me every time I think about it. I never knew when the last 3am feeding would be. Had I known, I probably would have stayed awake with her for awhile. And yes, I realize there will be many more last times: the last coo, the last time to watch her laugh when Heather hops up the stairs, the last time she'll let us pick her up, and so many more. I just wish I could know when the last time would be, so I could stay with it a bit longer. Oh well, I suppose I need to look forward to the firsts instead: the first step, the first word, the first day at school, the first date...

Okay, so I don't need to look forward to ALL the firsts.

To lighten the mood a bit, here's a few videos of recent developments.  One is Ashlyn laughing as hard as we've ever seen her laugh, the other is the first time we've been able to catch her babbles on camera.  I apologize for the background noise, the dryer was on but it's hard to capture her on camera because she stops babbling the second she sees someone.

Ashlyn's Big Laugh - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zKigrFM-l0
Ashlyn Babbles - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ryRbpQ2l5U0