7 Week Update

Wow. I can't believe that we just hit the 7-week mark today. And to think that 7 weeks ago, I was crying because I couldn't possibly conceive of taking care of an infant. Today, I tote her around everywhere I go and for the past week or so, I've actually not been dreading full days with her. In the beginning, Lauren was so...asleep. When she was awake, she still couldn't really do anything because she was barely able to -see- anything. Her world awareness was eat, stay awake - sort of - and hurry up back to sleep for another hour or so before starting all over again.

Last week, all that changed and she continues to change through this week. Week 6 is supposed to be the most difficult in regards to fussiness, but she still didn't really fuss at all. In fact, she began to fuss less...she took better naps without crying beforehand and was more aware during the daytime hours. She has begun to interact more with her toys and with people around her, so I've been trying to get her out of the house and in public as much as possible - even a trip to the tire store to get tires on the Avalon replaced was great fun.

Today we went to the Alpharetta Greenway (which is quite nice) and had a nice lunch al fresco - she from a bottle, me from Chik-fil-A. When we got home, she had a nice nap and spent pretty much the rest of the day laughing and smiling and having a good time as we took a walk around the block. She is definitely fussier at night - I changed her schedule a little tonight (instead of a snack at 7, I fed her at 8 and changed her into PJs - not her Miracle Blanket). She's been sleeping through till 4:00 if she eats at 9, so I'm trying to see if she'll do the same if she eats at 8ish. Normally, she doesn't cry at all going to bed at 9:00 or 9:30, but tonight, she has been wailing since 8:40. I never thought I would be able to let a child of mine "cry it out" but I've been trying Dr. Weissbluth's sleep training methods (already at 6 weeks) and she's actually cried very little overall and sleeps pretty much through the night already.

Granted, she is drooling like a fiend which means that we might be expecting teeth in the next couple of months. That is also evident in the fact that in the past couple of days, Lauren's been treating my breasts like a chew toy which is far from pleasant...and all that right after she and I finally had the nursing thing down to a painfree experience. Oh well - the sacrifices we make for our kids. She'll know what I went through one day, but she'll still tell me she hates me one day in the future.

In the meantime, I'll take all the smiles and new lessons (like rolling over from her stomach to her back) and store them up as tight as possible. Perhaps it's time to write her a 7-week update as well...