Talk

I had an interesting evening tonight. It was my first day alone with Shaan in about 3 weeks...my mother-in-law left this morning. I've only been alone with Shaan for about a week in total since he was born. We've been very fortunate to have had the help of both my mother and my mother-in-law up until now (except for that one week in between their visits), so I haven't had to do much parenting by myself yet (I say "by myself" as Manu as on-call this evening, so it really has been a day all by myself with the little man).

We really have been so lucky to have had help for this long, since I finally caved in today and admitted that Shaan has colic. Up until now, I have just been saying that he's just "being a baby" every time he fusses. For some reason, I had in my head that a "colicky" baby was one that cried 24/7. When I was re-reading some of "The Happiest Baby on the Block" today and realized that the definition of colic is "an otherwise healthy baby" that cries for no explainable reason "at least 3 hours a day, 3 times a week, for 3 weeks a month"...I realized that Shaan does indeed have colic...he's had it since about 2 weeks after he was born...so almost 2 months now! But, the good news is that it seems most colicky babies grow out of this phase by 3 months or so...so maybe we're getting close to the end?

Anyway, so about my night...

Even though Shaan is colicky...particularly from 5-10 pm or so...he is GREAT in the nighttime. I mean, really great. They say most kids should not be on a schedule at his age, but he is definitely on a night schedule, and has been for some time now. He goes to bed around 10 pm or so, only gets up a few times in the night to eat, and gets up around 7 am or so. This is awesome, as I don't feel sleep deprived as so many new moms do, since he miraculously did not arrive with "day/night" reversal like many newborns. So, my goal each evening is to make it to that 10pm hour...

Tonight, we had done the usual things...strolling in the neighborhood, feeding, bathtime, etc...so I was trying to come up with ways to pass the time to 10 pm when he normally passes out. I had Pandora radio on the computer (btw...LOVE Pandora) tuned to "The Fray" station. The song "Talk" by Coldplay came on, and I was dancing over the bassinet to entertain the little man. Then, I got really cracked up at myself....

For those country fans that read the blog...you know the song by Clint Black "State of Mind?" There's a line that goes, "Ain't it funny how a melody...can bring back memories...take you to another place and time...even change your state of mind?" Well, that's what happened to me tonight. The last time I could remember a "memory" with the song "Talk" was 2.5 years ago, in the middle of busy season, right after I moved to NY. I was working on the Bank of New York engagement, and we were swamped with the company's asset swap with JPMorgan Chase. I remember listening to this song while trying to get through that very busy "busy season." And then fast forward a few years and I'm dancing around my apartment trying to entertain my 2 month old to this song...

Funny how things change. I don't know which was tougher...trying to get through that busy season or trying to calm down my colicky baby. It's probably a tie.... :)

Pics of Shaan during the "witching hour" (from 5-10 pm)