Before I became a mother, I always thought a laughing baby was the greatest baby milestone, one of the best sounds in the world. You know they’re not faking it (they don’t know how), and it means they are genuinely happy in that moment. And a happy baby equals a happy mommy.

Little did I know the sound of your laughing baby could almost be described as life-changing.

At my in-laws’ house, my daughter was sitting with Grandma when her Pop Pop began laughing. A smile immediately appeared on her face, and next, a laugh. As he continued to laugh, her giggles kept coming -- a joyful sound we had never heard before, a glorious baby milestone. I wasn’t sure if she was merely imitating what she heard or thought it was funny, but I was happy to see her giggling regardless. This was at 3.5 months.

While hearing my baby giggle was a proud and happy moment, I was ready for a real laugh. When she was a little more than 5 months, her first belly laugh was born, which is what I consider to be her first true laugh, and a real baby milestone.

We decided that since she could hold her head up and was doing well sitting unassisted, it was time to try the activity jumper we received. We put her in and turned the music on. Since her feet didn’t yet touch the ground, I knelt beside her and gently bounced her up and down. The belly laughs started to flow freely.

In this moment, she was both discovering a new motion she enjoyed, and experiencing a new world in the activity jumper. I couldn’t stop bouncing her, because I didn’t want the sound of my laughing baby to stop. Along with the laughter, there were squeals of delight and big, open-mouth smiles. So much for baby milestones -- this was pure delight.

For weeks, every time my daughter was placed in the activity jumper, it guaranteed smiles -- at a minimum. The novelty wore off eventually, and we discovered new ways to garner laughs. This included, but was not limited to knocking on doors, tickling under the neck and arms, throwing our heads back and forth, and general silliness.

Although we’ve moved past this baby development milestone, the sound of her laugh will never grow old, and that first belly laugh especially, will stay with me forever.

Photo by Jonnelle Yankovich on Unsplash

Isabel, my firstborn, arrived fat and healthy at 8 pounds and 9 ounces, sporting a full head of dark brown hair. Like any new mom, I suspected that my days of uninterrupted slumber and sleeping in were in the past.

And I was correct: Isabel’s sleeping habits were erratic at first, causing my husband and I to be up at all hours of the night. I eagerly anticipated the day when I’d get my baby sleeping through the night. Of course, that baby milestone takes a bit of time to happen, but it eventually does.

Here’s my baby’s sleeping story:

Slow but Sure
By the 3-month mark, Isabel and I had set the bedtime routine: bath, nursing, story, and crib. This regular schedule helped her calm down at the end of the day and signaled that it was time to get some rest. I sent my new baby off to sleep each evening until 2:00 a.m. when she howled for the next feeding.

Almost There
Gradually, Isabel started to wake up a little later, a baby development milestone that gave me some much needed extra rest, too. My goal was to get her to sleep from bedtime all the way until 5:00 a.m. Would she make it?

She Did It!
When Isabel finally slept seven hours straight, I was a bit surprised. I knew eventually I’d get my baby sleeping through the night, but unfortunately, my body was ready for her to wake up sooner. Breasts need to be emptied of milk on a regular schedule, so while she was snoozing away, I was awake anyway, and with rather sore, full breasts!

A Quick Feed
As soon as Isabel was awake, I breastfed my new baby, so I could get some relief. She took a big drink from both sides, and then promptly fell back to sleep. After another week, my breasts had adjusted, and Isabel thankfully kept up her new pattern of sleeping a full night.

Now that Isabel is a few years older, she’s developed to the point where she’s a great sleeper. While I sometimes miss the days when she was an infant, I certainly don’t miss the days when my baby’s sleeping schedule meant I was up throughout the night. Now we are all snoozing more soundly!

Photo by Kevin Keith on Unsplash

My daughter, Morgan, had mastered the baby development step of cruising for months before taking her first unassisted steps. I worried a bit, since I couldn’t even find shoes to fit her too-small feet.

When she was about three weeks shy of her first birthday, we were doing her usual holding of my finger while walking around our home (another baby milestone I had come to love). I knew she was ready to walk but was timid and afraid to let go. At that moment, I decided to gently slip my finger from her grip, and as I did, she took three steps and ended up on her bottom.

I couldn’t believe my eyes, but as I tried to get her to conquer this baby milestone and to walk again, she kept falling on her bottom and crying out of frustration. I was certain it was confidence that she lacked, and I was set on helping her build it up. Once she would take off, she would never stop -- a prediction I was 100 percent correct about.

The day when my husband came home from work, we decided to help Morgan try to achieve this baby milestone again, with us supporting her as a team. We started her by me, and after helping her up, my husband held out his arms for her to fall into. I’m confident that seeing someone she trusted in front was the confidence booster she needed, and she walked right into his arms.

With each successful step, we moved farther and farther away from each other, and watched in awe as she took more and more steps. Two of my favorite parts of this baby milestone experience:

1.    She gave us a hug each time she made it across the room.

2.    The way she held her arms above her head and looked like the cute baby version of Frankenstein. We then deemed her, Morganstein.

From there, our baby’s development was happening all over the place. She learned to let go of the furniture she was holding onto, again building confidence. She soon learned to put her arms down while walking, and to stand up on her own without holding onto a table or sofa.

Watching my daughter grow her independence was both a proud and somewhat sad moment. I know this independence will only increase with time as she continues to conquer all of these baby milestones. But the best part about her ability to walk on her own now is, when I come home, I see her face light up as she runs to give me that same hug she gave while taking her first steps.

Photo by julio andres rosario ortiz on Unsplash

My daughter, Morgan, was 8 months old when she started saying her first word: ‘dada.’ My husband may have “won,” but seeing how happy it made him and knowing how proud we were eased the pain of losing. After all, ‘dada’ is much easier to pronounce than ‘mama.’

As much as my husband loved hearing his child say ‘dada,’ he knew she called everything ‘dada.’ It was all she could say, which made it a bit less meaningful. Even still, he didn’t waste a second bragging about our baby’s first word.

I was feeling a bit down, but hopeful, when a mere week later, she looked up at me during a diaper change and said ‘mama.’ The excitement of hearing those two syllables took over my body, and tears began to flow while my smile continued to widen.

I could tell it was more difficult for her to say, but she continued with her new word. It took curling both lips over her toothless gums to pronounce it correctly. She would drag out the second ‘ma’ to pronounce as “mamaaa-aaa,” in almost a whining/singing tone. But it was the most beautiful sound I ever heard.

After that day, it took weeks to hear ‘mama’ again, while ‘dada’ was bountiful. Yet in the rare occurrences that ‘mama’ was spoken, it was only while I was around and was directed at me. On the other hand, ‘dada’ referred to books, food, bath time: just name it.

At 13 months, Morgan’s personal dictionary has been filled with a few more first words, including hi, yes, yuck, and up. And with each new word, I always feel a sense of pride in knowing her language is developing, and she’s reaching this important baby milestone. However, I will always remember her identifying me as that ‘mama’ she’s been hearing about, and saying my name in the most loving way possible.

Photo by Jonathan Borba on Unsplash

Personally, I believe you carry a child for 40 weeks, not just because the baby needs time to grow, but because you need every last bit of that time to come up with a name! My husband and I literally began searching baby names within hours of finding out I was expecting. And no sooner had we started, did we realize how challenging it would be.

I'd pick a baby name, he'd shut it down. He'd pick a name, and I'd remind him of the unpleasant things it rhymed with. We both used the "I went to school/worked with so-and-so" many times. So, when we were finally able to narrow it down, we were beyond thrilled.

At the time, we both wanted to stick with the same first letter for all of our future children's names (that didn't happen), so when we decided on our favorite boy name, Hayden, we immediately began searching the H's for our girl name. And when we found the name Hadley, we fell in love. As the months passed, and we found out we were having a girl, we couldn't have been more pleased with our decision -- Hadley it was.

When we learned we were expecting the second time, we honestly didn't think too much about baby names until the actual gender reveal. It was a boy, and we had already decided on Hayden three years earlier. Piece of cake, right? Nope -- three years later Hayden didn’t have quite the same ring to it. 

My husband and I decided we wanted to use a boy name that revolved around our alma mater, The Ohio State University Then, one night after coming home from a football game, it hit us: Tatum, after football star, Jack Tatum. Not only because my husband played the same position as him at OSU, but because his nickname was "The Assassin." And when I was expecting my dear son, I honestly thought he was going to kill me.

Though we second-guessed it right up until we filled out the paper work after he was born, I can't imagine him as anything other than our Tatum.

Are my names traditional? Not really. Did we have many naysayers with both of our children's name choices? Of course, but in the end, working with my husband to come up with the perfect monikers for our little ones made it all worth it.

Photo by Melisa Figueroa on Unsplash