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

Hooray Weekend!

I love the weekends! Weekends bring rest, relaxation and hanging out with Samantha!

The past few weeks have been tough for me with getting home early from work. There's been a lot going on at work and traffic has been awful so it has limited the amount of time that I get to spend at home. But, no matter how time consuming the work week may be, I love Friday afternoons when I drive home and scoop Samantha up in my arms.

Typically during the week, Kristi is on night duty so I can sleep through the night and get to work early. This makes it tough since she is the only one around during the day. We have been trying to find a balance and get into a routine to see what works best for all three of us. Some nights, I'll come home, we'll eat dinner and then Kristi will go to bed around 8pm and sleep until Samantha's first feeding. I'll stay up and play with Samantha and try to feed her around10 or 11 and then put her down. This usually keeps her asleep until 2 o'clock. The other night, we got a great treat where Samantha slept until 5AM...almost 6 hrs. The challenge with this schedule is that Kristi and I don't get to see much of each other, which obviously, we don't like. Some nights, Kristi has gone out with co-workers or friends for dinner and drinks. This past week, my mom was in town so we had a little more flexibility to get things done and get out of the house since we had an extra set of hands. Thanks mom for all of your help!

On the weekends, I try to help out as much as possible since I can't during the week. I'll get up with Samantha and we'll hang out downstairs. It can be an early start to the morning, but I'm learning to deal with minimal sleep. Every now and then I'll crash, but those are rare exceptions.

Each weekend morning, Samantha and I have a routine. It typically starts with diaper change and then I'll hold her all bundled up in my arms. I'll usually give her around 50 - 75 kisses and then she'll decide if she wants to stay awake, fall back asleep or eat from her bottle.

Here's a video clip of Samantha first thing in the morning trying to fight sleep...she makes great faces.



Most mornings she'll lay back down in her swing or bassinet until about 9am. Here's another video that I took:



It's a lot of fun to watch her and hang out with her. These days, she is starting to see us and recognize us and give us a little smile and smirk which cracks us up.

This week...Dave & Gwen visit us. We are looking forward to seeing them. It's Valentine's Weekend...we might go out the 5 of us to dinner somewhere.