noah benjamin thompson: Grandma Bea, Grandpa Art and Uncle Jake came to visit

Tomorrow Noah will be 6 weeks old. It is amazing how much he has changed since we brought him home and how quickly the time has gone by. (It is also amazing how well a person can function on such little sleep...). If you asked me what we've done for the past 6 weeks I honestly couldn't tell you since it is somewhat of a blur (thankfully there is no shortage of pictures to remind me).   What I can tell you is that it's been so much better than I could have ever imagined (most of the time, that is).

Over the past week, we modified his schedule slightly so we are finally on the 4-8 week Moms on Call schedule. Basically, his dinner and bath/bedtime routine were bumped up by 30 minutes and his naps are slighly shorter. The big changes come at 8 weeks (dropping a nap and more mealtime adjustments), so we will see how that goes. According to the book, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child, fussiness peaks at 6 weeks as babies become more alert and aware of their surroundings, which can be overwhelming and overstimulating. Some babies will refuse to nap during this time too, and Noah has certainly done some adamant refusing, especially the last few mornings. He seems too busy looking around to fall asleep no matter how tired he is.  This week he has also been a little fussier than normal in the afternoons, but so far I really can't complain. We will see what the next week brings.

In addition to fighting sleep and gazing all over the room, he has started to make more eye contact and do some babbling. I have also seen a lot of smiles, but I'm not convinced they are intentional - I'm holding out hope that I see one this week! We still spend a lot of time on our playmat, doing tummy time, signing and listening to music, going for walks and being cuddled.

This past week, Noah had several special visitors, including Uncle Jake, Grandma Bea, Grandpa Art and my friends Heather and Melanie. Everyone got to hold him and play with him, and Grandpa Art even got to babysit while mommy and Grandma went out.

Here are the highlights of the past week:
- seeing Grandpa Art, Grandma Bea and Uncle Jake
- babbling
- moving up to size 1 diapers (mostly because we ran out of newborns)
- growing out of my first outfit
- getting my newborn pictures (ok this was really a highlight for mommy)

And the pictures...