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A friend asked me today what has surprised me most after having Dexter. I told her I really didn't know as the past 3 months have just flown by without a lot of time for reflection. Perhaps I have been surprised most by how hard post-labor has been. I took classes, spent lots of time visualizing and preparing for labor, but I didn't really do much to prepare for the new baby phase. Looking back there was probably no way I could have prepared for the cocktail of craziness that the first 2 months became. Screaming. Sleep deprivation. Extreme sleep deprivation. Pain. No sleep. Emotions. No sleep. Wait - did I mention no sleep?

Month 3 looks like it will be the best yet. Dexter has started sleeping much more regularly - sometimes 8 hours at a stretch (Hooooooray!). Oh, the bliss. We have worked out a good schedule as well which has resulted in a smiling awake baby and longer nap times. Schedulewise I have done what babycenter.com calls the "combination approach" - it is half parent directed and half baby directed. I think it is just common sense. He eats, we play, he gets red eyes and sleepy so I put him down, he wakes up, repeat. If he doesn't get sleepy right at 45mins of play time, I wait until he is sleepy to put him down. If he is sleepy after 15min of play time, I put him down then. Now, there are times he has to fuss a little to put himself to sleep, but after awhile I will go in, reassure him with a little hug - then he is immediately off to sleep. It is quite a comforting routine for me and him.

As the pictures below indicate, Dexter was dedicated this Sunday. He couldn't have behaved better - he even smiled at the pastor as he introduced him to the congregation. For those of you not familiar with a dedication service, here is the gist. Sander and I brought Dexter up in front of the church. There the pastor introduced Dexter Eliot to the church and talked about what his name meant. Then Sander and I answered a few questions from the pastor. We stated to the church. that we were 1)followers of Christ, 2)would raise Dexter according to our beliefs, 3)that we, as best as we understand it at this time, will give Dexter over to God's purposes and not to what we want him to be. Then, our family that was there stood and the pastor prayed for Dexter. It was a sweet time.

Our pastor, as he introduced the baby dedication time mentioned a passage of the Bible where a woman who was unable to have children miraculously conceives a baby after praying to the Lord. Her response was to give her baby over to the Lord. She says: "For this child I prayed, and the LORD has granted me my petition that I made to him. Therefore I have lent him to the LORD. As long as he lives, he is lent to the LORD." That has been my prayer through pregnancy and it was really cool that our pastor brought it up on Sunday.

Be sure and check out our complete album of pictures by clicking the "our pictures" tab above - I am adding more all the time.