Everyone knows that having a newborn means you’re not getting a ton of sleep, but you do spend a lot of time watching someone who is. I guess I could get jealous of all that quality sleep the baby is getting, but instead my mind wandered to another spot - how amazing it is to be a baby that gets to feel so secure and safe at all times. Due to both of us being home on leave right now, this baby spends almost 24 hours a day in direct contact with one of us. Assuming you believe that a newborn can smell their parents, what an awesome gift we’re able to give to let her know we’re always there.
It certainly helps to think about in the middle of the night while I’m not sleeping. Another thing I do while walking around at night settling her or trying to get her to fall asleep, is sing to her. All my children have a unique song that I sing mostly to them. I’m not sure why, but it’s happened that way. And now with the older two, the songs have become a source of comfort. If they’re crying I might sing it to them, or if they’re upset they’ve been known to request their song. Even cuter, they’ll sometimes sing the songs to each other when they see a sibling is upset.
E’s song is “You Are My Sunshine.” It was a loose theme when I did his nursery and have sang it to him countless times. Sometimes I replace ‘sunshine’ with his name or ‘sweetness’ which is one of my nicknames for him. He can now sing the song by himself, and when baby F was crying in the car recently, he started singing it to her from the backseat.
He can actually sing G’s song too, but instead of singing it when his brother is upset, he’ll usually just yell at me that “He wants his song! He wants his song! SING IT” until I do. G’s song is a little odd, and is actually set to the tune of Louie Louie, with different lyrics:
Lovie Lovie, oh oh
Mama loves you so
Aye-yi-yi-yi, I said
Lovie Lovie, oh oh
Mama loves you so
I don’t know why, I don’t remember how it started, I just know that I used to have to sing it over and over the entire ride home from daycare every day. It was the only way to make G stop screaming. Otherwise he’d cry the entire drive, every single day. So the song has stuck, and it’s officially G’s song.
So I guess I’m not surprised that F now has her own song too. I’ve been singing her “Three Little Birds” over and over again as we pace the house. Again, I’m not sure how or why it popped in my head one night, but she seems to like it.
Speaking of smiles - she’s started to smile in her sleep lately. She does this little half smile where she smiles from one cheek and gives a crooked grin. And then proceeds to drool all over the shirt of whoever she’s sleeping on. Her hand is usually wrapped around my shirt - a safe guard to make sure she doesn’t get handed off while she’s asleep maybe? Either way, the look on her face is usually a content one. It’s not the worst way to spend your time.
