Night time schedule.... SET!

I am proud (and relieved) to report that we have a full on nighttime routine in motion for Jackson that gets him set for a full night of restfull sleep. Around 8-8:30pm, (after dealing with 3-4 hours of fussy time) Paul and I give Jax a bath. He really seems to enjoy the bath (not in his little baby tub, but rather with one of us for a real bath). Usually he cries during the drying and lotioning though. We have found that by turning up the heater 1 degree, just enough to kick in the furnace, we can then get him dressed on the floor right by the vent and he stays warm that way. Then, if Jax isn't too fussy he gets a story. This is usually given by Daddy because if Mommy tries at this point... he's just ready for food. Mommy = food on tap :). After he eats, I rock him and sing to him and put him in his crib. He is usually awake for about 15 mins just staring at the revolving light show casted by the Homedic Spa Sound Machine (best gift ever received!! Thanks Mom!!) I usually sneek in the vibrating cartridge from his bouncy seat and together this help him quietly drift to sleep. This is where we are lucky parents... he doesn't scream when we put him down. He's in his crib by 9:30pm ish.

Jackson will sleep straight through until 2-3:30am. He wakes up and I change him and feed him (a pumped bottle because he takes more) and repeat the rock/sing routine before putting him down again. This usually goes really smooth (if he poos his diaper while feeding... you can add a good 30 mins. to sooth him to drowsiness). Jackson will sleep until 7am then (if he ate after 3am)... but this morning it was 8am :). If he gets up around 2am to eat, I can expect him to wake again by 5am or so... in this case he goes back down after this feeding and sleeps again until 9-9:30am.

I finally have a pumping routine down as well. Ideally, I wanted to get 2 expressed bottles a day (one for the nighttime feeding and one to freeze). I am finally able to get that without interferring with any of the nursing during the day. This however does mean that at night when I wake to feed him, I also spend the time to pump. I am usually up for 2 hours at night because I have a hard time falling back asleep. (Not complaining! Most mothers are not so fortuante to be getting this much sleep at 7 weeks... I am grateful and not at all taking it for granted!)

He is smiling more and more everyday. It is so fun to see him interacting back with us. I can't wait until he hold his arms out for me and is able to kiss me back. What a little peanut! Paul and I were watching the disc from our video recorder that was started in mid November. We couldn't believe just how much he has changed in only a few weeks. He used to be all eyes with a thin face. That face is now rounded out and his eyes don't stand out quite as much. You don't take to heart the statement that everyone throws at you "This time doesn't last long, enjoy it while you can!", until you actually SEE the change for yourself. I love being a Mom :)