The twenty-third week

We've had some major distractions this week - I have largely been focused on my brother, who was injured in a motorcycle wreck last Saturday morning. As a result of my preoccupation, Lacey has been with Madeline most of the week.

The time I have spent with Madeline has been fun - she's been taking shorter naps during the day this week and, therefore, has had longer stretches of awake time. When she might have previously slept for an hour and a half in the late morning, this week she's been going down for about 30 minutes per nap. But we can't really complain - she's usually in a great mood despite sleeping less. Perhaps her longer overnight sleep sessions have been giving her more energy through the day (Madeline has been regularly sleeping until about 6:30 every morning this week, and going to bed at about 7 or 7:15).

Madeline continues to find new and fascinating distractions, including her own feet. Between the foot-grabbing and the almost-rolling-over, diaper changes have become exponentially more difficult. And her new propensity to reach for anything that's in front of her is making it harder to do things with her in my lap - like read the newspaper or eat lunch. But it's so much fun to watch as she soaks up everything about her surroundings, knowing that it's all new to her.