The sixth week

Our days over the last week have settled into a little more of a routine: Madeline has somewhat regular periods of alertness in the morning and afternoon, and a final burst of alertness (often accompanied by increasing fussiness) in the evening during her pre-bedtime cluster feeding.

While the daytime routine has become, well, routine, the nights are another matter. Many nights this week Madeline has been restless for hours on end - she'll sleep well in our arms but fuss within minutes after she's put down. We attribute the restlessness to gas discomfort and have been using Mylicon drops regularly. They seem to help, and on Wednesday and Thursday nights she finally slept for longer periods.

Of course, Madeline is getting all the sleep she needs through all this. It's just her parents, who have to rock and hold her almost non-stop through the night, who have been sleeping little. We both take overnight rotations to make sure the other gets at least a few hours of shut-eye.

The funny thing about babies - they are so cute you just can't get too frustrated with them. One look from those big eyes or a high-pitched "gah!" delivered with a toothless grin erases everything else.

Notes from this week:
- She's growing! We haven't had an official weigh-in this week, but Madeline is noticeably heavier and is filling out her clothes more obviously. Thursday we were running errands and came across a family with a 9-day-old baby who looked to be about half Madeline's size. I wonder how big she'll be in six more weeks?

- Also on Thursday we bought a swing. Madeline already loves her vibrating bouncy chair, and we're hoping the swing will help soothe her during these long, sleepless nights.