Summer... again

It's summer again, and lately I've been thinking about how different this summer is from last summer. Last summer I was hugely pregnant. This summer I have a 1-year-old roaming my house.

Since R turned 1, just two weeks ago (although because we had three different birthday parties for her, it felt more like a process of turning 1 rather than a single momentous occasion), I've been reminiscing a lot about what it was like last summer, being pregnant, anticipating labor, and looking forward to having a little baby at home.

This is R just a few moments after she was born and wrapped up in a blanket--June 12, 2007.


After R was born, we had tons of friends and family in town visiting. Some of those same family members--J's parents and my parents, for example--are coming to see us again this year. Last summer, though, they made last-minute flight arrangements to come out and meet R and help with new baby stuff. This summer, they're coming, of course, to see R, but also to help us pack up our house in anticipation of our cross-country move.

Last summer, early in June, we made appointments to meet pediatricians--one of whom, uncannily, predicted I would give birth within two weeks, despite the fact that I was only 35 weeks along. (I gave birth exactly a week after meeting with him). This photo was taken, I think, a day or two before we met with the pediatrician.


















This summer, we took R to get her 1-year shots amidst worries about autism and vaccines.

Last summer, when our families came to visit, we were in a sea of sleep deprivation, adjusting to a newborn, and trying to "follow the baby's cues". This summer, we're wrestling with establishing R's schedule and sticking to it, which is kind of funny since I have never been the most schedule-oriented person (although J definitely is a creature of routine and habit).

What a difference a year makes in terms of sleep. Last summer, I was nursing round-the-clock and J and I were lucky to get 4 straight hours of sleep. This summer, R has started sleeping through the night starting around 6:30 or 7:00 and going until 6:30 or 7:00 the next morning. We're now working on getting her naps to be consistent--we haven't been very successful on that front yet--she naps every day, and usually gets about 2-2.5 hours of nap altogether, but it's not consistently at the same time nor for the same length of time. Sometimes she'll have two naps, sometimes just one really long one, etc.