4.11.15 - Clara's progress

The first week or two home from the hospital, Clara would wake up multiple times throughout the night, sometimes with only an hour or less of sleep in between. We expected that. What we didn't expect was that by 4 weeks old she was sleeping 3 or 4 hour stretches every night, and getting into a routine without us hardly doing anything. At first I thought it was a phase, too good to be true--and I suppose it still could be. But we are halfway through week 5 and she still only wakes up once in the middle of the night, and that is definitely a joy for us. In fact I've discovered if I give her a bath shortly before "bedtime" (between 10 and 11pm) she'll sleep 4.5 hours straight, which gives Jack a nice stretch of sleep too, since he is usually the one to get up with her.

Talking to her crib.

Also, in the last 4-5 days I've noticed I can put her down in her crib or in her "bassinet" (the under-the-bed storage container we let her hang out in while in the living room) and she won't start fussing right away like she used to. In fact she will hang out and stare at the slabs of her crib or watch the ceiling fan or stare at Hobbes (if I set him near her) and just kick and coo and exclaim to herself for sometimes 20 minutes at a time. This is a joy both because I think she's adorable to listen to and because it gives me a break from holding her incessantly and lets me get other things done, like cleaning up a little or writing a Joy Inventory blog post, haha.

Talking to her best friend Hobbes.

I've also noticed she smiles more often when I'm singing to her. In fact just a little while ago she was being pretty fussy and I wasn't sure why - she was full and I just changed her diaper and she didn't seem tired. I tried walking her around and it didn't help much, so then I just held her right in front of me and started singing "Oh Darling" by the Beatles. The moment I started singing it (I've sung it to her many times already) she broke into a grin, and then she reverted to being upset for just a moment, and then broke into another grin. As I sang to her she mostly stared intently at me but she also smiled two or three more times. It's delightful. I love to see her smiles any time but it's even sweeter to think she likes when I sing to her.

She seems like a pretty easy baby so far. I feel lucky.