Silent Night

We're celebrating the four week anniversary of Jacob's emancipation from the womb, and I'd say he's handling life on the outside pretty well.

The verdict is still out on why he's such a great kid. We're not sure if our third-child mentality just makes things seem that much easier, or if he really is this awesome. It's probably a little of both.

He's still a phenomenal sleeper, and has decided to preclude our would-be efforts at Baby Boot Camp by comfortably sleeping from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. each day on his own accord. We finally moved the pack-n-play out of my closet and into the guest room. Perhaps his new sleeping quarters are just so cozy that he can't help but sleep through the night. (Caleb was sent to boot camp at around twelve weeks of age to kick some pretty poor sleep habits he'd fallen into. We're firm believers in helping our children get as much sleep as they need. Sometimes that calls for a little tough love. And ear plugs. Maybe Jacob will get to skip the cry-it-out step.)

Jacob's getting more and more smiley by the day, and Abby and Caleb just love the big grins they get from their little brother. Jacob still reserves his biggest smiles for his daddy, though. We're starting to get a couple of little coos from him as well, but those are few and far between. His once-hazel eyes have continued to get darker and are now most assuredly brown. His sparse dark baby hair has fallen out on top, leaving him with some pretty severe male pattern baldness. The new hair coming in is just as dark, so we might not have a third blondie to look forward to. But he's still just as cute as ever.

All in all, the little critter is fitting in quite nicely with our crazy family. The big kids adore him and love to report back to me on every little thing he does when I'm not looking, which includes, but is not limited to Abby's "Baby Jacob spit up again, Mommy" and Caleb's "Uh-oh. Baby Jacob big toot, Mommy."

And in an effort to make sure he doesn't become the forgotten third child, Jacob kicked off the weekend by coming down with a nasty newborn cold, requiring lots of holding, cuddling, and nasal suctioning. Way to go, buddy.