Life of a Six Week Old

 Yay!  I do "real smiles" now!  I'm pretty sure that Jason changes by the day.  It's like someone sneaks into my house at night and changes him out for a more alert, larger baby every night.  For the first month, I was completely at his disposal.  Nap for 45 minutes at a time?  No problem, we just hung out on the couch watching HGTV.  Eat every hour one evening for half an hour at a time?  I was his pacifier.  Luckily, Jason was an awesome baby from the get-go.  We quickly formed a sort-of-schedule that was perfected from four to six weeks. Now that he's six weeks old, I can usually expect my day to go something like this:

 Here's our day:  

• WAKE UP:  7:30-8 am: wake up and eat
• PLAYTIME:  awake from 8 to 10 or 10:30 am (likes to be held, talked to, hang out on the play mat, play in bouncy seat, get the mail, go outside, take little snack breaks)
• I look for yawning, then it's a swaddle and full eating session around 10:30 am
• NAP TIME:  nap time for the next 2 hours or so (this is his "big nap"--if I have to run errands or go somewhere, I always plan it for 10 am - noon.  He's in a coma for his nap and doesn't care if I go to Target/Walmart/Kohls/Starbucks for the morning).
• EAT:  up around 12:30 pm for more eating
• NAP:  back to sleep til 3-ish
• catnapping, snacking, and various placements (like on mat or bouncy seat or swing) for next 2 hours
• WIDE AWAKE:  around 5 pm he's awake to eat and usually stays awake
• little nap from 6-7 pm while Emily is getting her bath and ready for bed (this nap is hit or miss, depending on how well his other naps have been earlier in the day)
• BATH TIME:  awake for bath from 7-8 pm (if he's not awake yet, we "encourage" him by stripping him naked for his tub time)--he gets baby wash every other bath, the other baths are just water so he doesn't dry out.  We hang out in the Whale tub for about 20 minutes (he loves it now), then get out for some drying time and lotion (he hates this), a new set of pjs, a fleece swaddler, and our big eating session.
• BED TIME:  it's lights out for the boy around 8 pm.  Once he's passed out from the feeding, I take him upstairs, put him in his Rock N Play, turn on the white noise machine, and get a little time to take my shower, etc. while he snoozes.
• He gets up twice a night:  12:30 -1 AM and around 4:30 AM.  When I go back to work, this last feeding will be my alarm clock.  He'll get to go back to sleep, but I will be up for the day!

 "Keep talkin' sweet to me.  I love to hear how gorgeous I am"

" Who you callin' yella?  I'm just a little tan still from my jaundice.  We nursed babies like to hold onto the golden color for a long time"