Arlo is 3 months old on Sunday. It feels like he's been a part of us for much longer. We're a devoted little family of three humans and little three pets. Everyday is an unwritten adventure, every morning is full of fresh anticipation. Most days we're counting every smile, giggling and swapping average conversation to song. When Arlo falls asleep I find myself pining for him, greedy for one more smile, for one more explosion in my heart.
There are days, scattered amongst the best, when our patience is tested and we're bashing our heads against the wall. He is such a young person, yet so powerful, with such an emphatic cry. He has us wound around his fingers, running circles and diving through hoops.
When we thought we couldn't take one more minute of screaming, I'd do it all a thousand times over for one more moment in those very first seconds he looked into my eyes, and I looked down at my entire world, changed forever.
Arlo functions on a 2 hourly clock. Feed, sleep, feed, playtime, feed, sleep, feed, playtime, feed, sleep...
Arlo loves getting outside in the pram and looking up into the sky. He loves swimming and bath time. He also loves his bunny toy, he'll snuggle his face into it when he sleeps. He spends 50% of his time in a swing chair listening to a recording of the seashore and drifts off into long naps. Some of his favourite things to do are looking around the garden - clung on to my hip, reading pop up books with daddy in bed, practising saying 'mama' and 'dada' and tummy time on the play mat. Symmetrical patterns and monochrome are fascinating (a boy after my own heart.) Such simple pleasures.
He reminds me every day to enjoy these simple pleasures again. I tell him everything I can, describing the colour, the shape and how it makes me feel. I've come to realise what I personally find fascinating and how much detail I was forgetting to notice before.
Changing my life slightly to look after a baby has been interesting and challenging at times, but I enjoy it. I'm getting to know him, Michael and myself better all the time. You teach them so much, yet it's amazing how much they teach you too.