hey there, smiley!

What a particular joy it is to wake up in the morning next to a darling smiling little boy, laughing alongside his hottie mommy just after the sun starts washing the room in happy-happy summertime. Mondays couldn't get any better! It seems like The Ben is turning more corners lately than an Indy 500 race. One day it's laughing and smiling; another it's sleeping for three hours in the afternoon; another it's pooping out the side of his diaper (okay that one is a turn towards the Dark Side, but nonetheless a turn). Next up? Sleeping through the night. . . Ooooooh, doesn't that just give you goose-bumps?! Let's hope for sooner rather than later.

Anna seems to believe I think The Ben is cute only when he is sleeping, but that couldn't be farther from the truth. The Ben's sleep time is just the period in the day where he is most cute. He is plenty cute when he smiles, when he looks contemplative, even when he cries. But when he sleeps, that's when the cuteness really oozes out. There is a ton of joy to be had when he is smiling at your endless efforts to get him do to so, but when you finally get him to that certain point where he is so content, so comfortable, so at ease in your protection that he can drift off without worry or pain, it makes you feel like you're actually doing something right. Like these past eight weeks have made you a 'Father', at least in his eyes, because you certainly don't feel like one yourself just yet. Knowing that that little dude thinks you are the ultimate protective canopy, just like you think of your dad, well, it just makes him look so cute! Never more so.

I don't know. Maybe he just sleeps to escape the horror of staring up at my enormous nose and double chin, thinking silently to himself dear lord, I hope I don't look like that when I'm old.

I think I am a little obsessed with this sleeping thing, no? Where are my priorities?!