7 Weeks...

It's amazing how fast time goes by. Samantha is already 7 weeks old. We are starting to work on getting Samantha into a schedule for feeding, playing and sleeping. Kristi has been working on this during the day. Once Samantha wakes up, she will eat and then play for an hour or two and then go to sleep for 2-3 hours. The schedule repeats every 4 or 5 hours...the biggest variable is the nap. (Note: most of these observations are based on conversations with Kristi since a lot of this happens during the week, while I"m at work). I finally got to test my skills today while Kristi had to go to work during the morning. We started off the morning at 730am with a feeding and then Samantha and I went downstairs to play on her mat and hang out until about 9 o'clock, when she went down for a nap.

It seems like she has grown up so much in just one week. She has graduated from the baby that just wanted to be held, staring randomly around the room, and who would fall asleep in your arms at any time to a more independent baby that loves to play on her mat. Below are a couple of clips that we took:

She is a talker and really recognizes us. The best moments are when she's looking around the room and then will make eye contact with you and give you the biggest grin. She does pretty well when we change her too. Once we get rid of a dirty diaper, she's a happy baby. She'll laugh and yell and make all kinds of noises. I'll have to capture some video of this and post soon.

We typically put Samantha in her crib whenever she sleeps now. She used to go in her swing or bassinet that came with her pack and play. She does pretty well in her crib at any time of the day (of course, now i have probably jinxed myself).

Samantha is still the noisiest baby. She can't move or breath without some kind of groaning or grunting. It's almost chronic. We actually Googled "groaning and grunting baby" the other day and found a lot of topics on it. There is actually a syndrome called grunting baby syndrome (GBS). After reading a few articles, and continuing to monitor her, I have determined that, in my expert opinion, she is just being a normal baby.

On a separate, but related note, we want to welcome Laura Patterson. She was born on Valentines Day's. Laura, along with Mark, Lynn and Claire live up the street. I'm sure Laura and Samantha will become great friends as they grow up together!...and Claire will be a great big sister for both of them.

Here is a link to some updated pictures: link