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The cries from the monitor pierce your ears and startle you out of sleep. The red light beams in your eyes and you fumble for the volume button. Pam only quietly stirs, her lack of sleep over the past week claiming her consciousness. The baby is still crying and you gently roll out of bed as 3:35 stares at you from the bedside table.
He’s been off and on this week, sometimes waking up as much as three times a night, sucking the energy out of both of you. But this is Saturday, nay, now Sunday morning and you think that Pam is the one who deserves the sleep now after taking the workweek shift.
You get to the nursery and push open the door. He’s still crying and you wait for your eyes to adjust to the light in the room. You lean over the railing of the crib and lift him up. His little face is wet with tears, which now pool slightly on the fabric on your shoulder.
“Okay buddy, it’s alright,” With your free hand, you grab his blanket from the crib and wrap it around him. He’s quieted down, but still hasn’t stopped crying, so you walk out in the hallway and down the stairs.
Now three months old, you can partly decipher the meanings of his cries, a learnable skill that Pam filled you in on six months into her readings. These cries meant, feed me and I’ll be quiet.
The refrigerator light temporarily blinds you again, but you’re able to reach for a bottle, pop the lid off of it and place it in the microwave in one fluid motion. The sink still has soaking dishes in it from dinner and if you weren’t so afraid of passing out from fatigue, you’d throw them in the dishwasher. But no, seriously, you weren’t that tired, but it sounded like a good excuse.
The microwave beeps and you take the bottle out, testing it on the back of your hand.
“Ok, here we go,” You walk into the living room and sit down on the couch, positioning him in the crook of your arm. He’s a fast eater and reaches his hand up and rests it against yours on the bottle.
“Pretty soon I bet you could hold this up all by yourself huh? But, what I want to know is, when are you gonna sleep through the night?” Your last three words stumble out in a yawn into your shoulder. He looks up at you, blinking his eyes slowly, a sure sign there was a chance he’d be down and out again very soon.
“You’re gonna fall asleep on me now, after all that? After all that noise? It’s a good thing you didn’t wake Mommy up, cause you’ve been wearing her out and she is tired.” You yawn again, “and Daddy is too.”
He lets go of the bottle and sighs, almost comically. “That’s it, you’re all done?” You lay a burp cloth over you shoulder and lay him up. He’s gained six pounds since he was born, and his legs are starting to get chubby. You gently pat and rub his back, and he lets out some Olympic sounding burps and you can’t help but quietly chuckle to yourself.
“Hey, good ones, feel better now?” He lays his head sideways and lifts his arms up to rest on your chest, like he was trying to give you a hug. You rest your cheek down onto his head and wrap him up again in his blanket. You stand up and walk back into the kitchen placing the empty bottle on the side of the sink.
The baby is soft and warm against your chest, like your own little heater. The rug creaks quietly as you reach the top step. You can tell by his slowed breathing that he’s once again sound asleep. His nightlight casts the path to the crib and when you lay him down again, it casts dim rays across his chest and face.
It’s been three months since he was born and you think he looks more and more like Pam everyday. But she tells you she sees you in him too. You figure it’s a perfect balance.
You lean over and kiss his forehead and wisps of baby hair. “Goodnight little buddy, love you.”
You walk back into your bedroom and hear Pam breathing deeply. (‘I don’t snore, Jim’). Well, you’re glad she was able to sleep and not be disrupted. You peel back the covers and slide in next to her once again, the red faced numbers on the clock now reading 4:07. You turn up the volume on the monitor again and fall back asleep to the peaceful breathing sounds of your wife and son.
Author's Chapter Notes:
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
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Jumping on the baby bandwagon. Title is from James Taylor's Sweet Baby James. Hope you enjoy.
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Jumping on the baby bandwagon. Title is from James Taylor's Sweet Baby James. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter End Notes:
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