Dear Daniel, (six weeks!)

Today you are six weeks old! You are growing and changing so fast I feel like I can't even keep up. Your Grandma Sharon was here visiting us (mostly you) for these past two weeks and it was crazy to see how much you changed just during her visit!

Bedtime has gotten easier (overall) over the past two weeks. You are more easily calmed down in the evenings. We've figured out that when you're overstimulated and clearly tired, we can feed and change you and then give you your pacifier and lay you on your belly and you'll usually fall asleep within minutes. You also seem to like the sleep sheep white noise maker, particularly the rain track.

You are moving around a lot more now! We've been having exercise/activity time some afternoons and you are enjoying trying to roll from belly to back and kicking your feet and moving yourself all over your play mat. You can also use your little feet to scoot yourself all over your area of the bed at night, and you can get very cuddly with me and your dad without any assistance from us. Sometimes I wake up and you've crowded me so much that I'm sleeping with my pillow half on my night table! I enjoy it though, and I'm glad that the recent heat wave hasn't made you want to stop being cuddled.

Speaking of the heat, you weathered the 90-100 degree days like a champ! We dressed you in just your diaper a lot of the time, and you took lots of naps and we nursed a lot to keep you hydrated. You and Eddie like napping together on the floor in the living room, where it is the coolest. Another thing that you enjoyed during the heat is taking a bath with me before bed. When you are feeling cranky and hot, there's nothing like chilling with Momma in a tepid bath to cool you down. You get very quiet and content, and I can tell you're soaking in every little bit of the experience.

Most of the time, though, you are anything but quiet! You grunt a lot, sort of sounding like a discontent old man. (It's very cute!) You also are still making that amazing yawning/sigh noise that I love so much. One of the other sounds that you make that we enjoy is when you're nursing or sucking on your pacifier very contentedly and you go, "Mmm, mmm, MMM!!!" I really do love the yummy noises you make when you're eating!

The other thing is, you just really enjoy sucking on things. Nursing is definitely your favorite activity (you get very excited when it's mealtime!) but anything semi-soft and (preferably) fleshy will do. A couple of nights ago I went to take a shower and when I returned to the bedroom you had been sucking on Dad's upper arm so vigorously while he was bouncing you on the birth ball that you had left a mark. You also like sucking on fingertips or knuckles, and of course, your pacifiers. I'm certainly glad we bought those—they have been a great comfort to you when one of us isn't able to offer a finger to suck on (like when we're in the car).

You are smiling more now when you're awake, and I'm so excited for the day when I can elicit a smile (and a laugh!) from you whenever I want to! We still haven't gotten a smile photo, but each of your smiles is still just so wonderful. Thank you for sharing them with me.

Love,
Momma