the best advice I ever got

Pass on some useful advice or information you learned and always remembered. 

Hold your baby as much as possible in the first four months.

I collected this little gem from Susan Crawford at my first baby shower.  

I was 26 weeks pregnant with the twins, and thought it was... odd.

Fast forward to their arrival, and I remember thinking about this strange piece of advice (why four months? why so specific?) all.the.time.  I can't tell you how many times I let laundry sit in the dryer, dishes sit in the sink, and cat poo sit in the litterbox because of this advice.  

As the weeks crept (and then flew) by, I continued following the interesting advice, holding one or the both of them every chance I got.  While I watched TV... While they slept... While I talked on the phone...

Then BAM! they were four months old, and her advice made complete sense.  They would wriggle and strain their necks to see what was going on around us.  They would fuss, push up off my chest and straighten their little chicken legs.

Four months is the mark.  

It's the age where they transition from newborn to baby, and it's a big one.  

Before four months, they are like a puddle of baby powder scented goodness.  Past four months, they are their own person, with a desire to see what they want to see and do what they want to do.

As much as I followed this advice (which I now pass on to every pregnant woman I know) with the twins, I followed it ten times more with Wyatt.  With the arrival of your second (or in my case third) child, experience proves just how fast time does fly that first year. 

Particularly that blurry, sleepless first half of the year.

 And so I'd like to thank Susan for knowing that she knew more than me. I would like to thank her for sharing the priceless truth that there is nothing like those first four months, with a warm, doughy baby asleep in your arms.

Thanks to her, I cherished every moment.