Harper - 6 Weeks

Well, Harper is 6 weeks old now!  I am trying to figure what to say about her, but it's hard because she is honestly different every day.  Some days she is utterly content, very smiley and falls asleep anywhere at the drop of a hat.  Other days she cries more and sleeps less easily.  Most of the time she is somewhere in-between.  One nice thing is that for some time now she has been "sleeping through the night."  Now, when I say that I am talking about the technical definition, which is 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.  Indeed, she almost always has a 4 - 6 hour stretch of sleep, starting around 9ish.  Then, the rest of the night it's 2-3 hour stretches.  Often, though, just because she's sleeping, that doesn't mean we are.  She can be very loud (grunts, moans, laughs, cries, all in her sleep), plus she is always losing the binky and rooting around til we give it back to her.  But sometimes she does none of those things and sleeps very soundly and quietly.  Last night we started a bedtime and a bedtime routine.  Starting at 8:30pm, we give her a bath (which she loves and which relaxes her), then we put her in her jammies, I nurse her while playing a lullaby CD my mom got her, burp her, swaddle her and put her in the bassinet.  Last night it worked GREAT!  She went right to sleep with no "maintenance" and slept until 1:30am.  Then, I fed her, changed her, swaddled her and put her back.  Once again, she went right to sleep.  She woke up again at 5 and we did the same thing.  Then, she woke up for the day at 7:30 and has been a happy girl all morning.  She took another nap at 9:30 and is working on going down for another.  The best part of last night was that I don't think I had to put the binkie back in her mouth even once!  

Anyway, so last night and this morning she has been Harper the easy baby.  But, often she gets cranky in the evenings and sometimes she doesn't sleep as well.  Occasionally she'll also get cranky and restless during the day, but not usually.  During the day the schedule goes nurse, burp, change diaper, chat with and smile at each other for a while, maybe read a book or lay on the play mat, then she gets sleepy and in goes the bink and she goes down for a nap.  When she wakes up it's time for another feeding.  Usually it's 2 - 3 hours between feedings.  At night she always sleeps in the bassinet, but during the day I try to switch it up so that she doesn't get too picky.  Sometimes she sleeps on her playmat, sometimes the bassinet, sometimes the crib, sometimes the swing, sometimes the carrier, sometimes the carseat (when we go for walks or run errands) and sometimes my arms.  Usually when we run errands she is a total champ and just sleeps the whole time or is awake and content.  She usually loves driving in the car or being wheeled around in the stroller.

I feel like she just gets cuter everyday.  Here's some pictures as proof.  The first few are from when my dad, grandma and mom were here.

We watched a BYU game together and they won!

The blanket I have down in the crib was made for her by someone in our ward who makes blankets for every single baby who is born in the ward!  What a nice lady!

Daddy burping her.  She often falls asleep while being burped.

Talking to grandma: http://youtu.be/1UYgx5W4vyU

In her swing.

Bracelet courtesy of grandma.  She blew out of this outfit right after of course.

I just think it's cute when she sleeps with her arms up.

Out for a walk on a nice Fall day.

Snuggling with Mommy in the carrier.

Exploring the playmat: http://youtu.be/pwdiZ0Ep9x4

Fun with Daddy: http://youtu.be/XLnH3gL-Kr0

This is my favorite video, which is why I made sure to actually download it through Blogger.  She is super smiley in it.  Just wish I could mute my voice.

For Halloween she was a cow.  She dressed up for the Stake turnk or treat, a shindig at Tom's work and to greet trick or treaters at Tom's parents' house.  One night, after the trunk or treat, she was still in her costume and I was nursing her.  I looked down, and realized it was a very ironic situation.

I love the tail.

All down one of the streets by our house someone had decorated every single light post like this.  It was awesome!  Plus, one of the houses had a whole bunch of real tombstones in front of it and it looked like a legitimate cemetery.  I LOVE HALLOWEEN.

New onesie she got from my friend Crissy, which she promptly pooped on.

Smiles.  She's always smileyest after nursing, when we are changing her diaper.

Went for a walk to go meet Daddy on his way home from work:

Talking to Daddy: http://youtu.be/k5ENbF3NEpM

Watching Daddy play guitar: http://youtu.be/REEqHbXQW9k

Dancing with Daddy: http://youtu.be/eNT4VTktovc

I know, I take sooooo many pictures and videos.