Mads has recently discovered how to coordinate his hands and arms. He is great at fist bumps (solid, man) and is starting to grasp things and hold them.
He used to use his knees to activate his Rainforest Bouncer, but is starting to use his right hand as well:
Hanging out in our stroller (too hot outdoors, so we ran around the house a few times):
Wearing our “Patent Pending” t-shirt from Kahn & Michelle:
Also, looking through my photo collection makes me realize that he was so little when he first arrived, and that he’s grown so much. 
He sleeps less, smiles more and holds his head up when he wants to look at something. Just this morning he made a new, glass-shatteringly piercing sound.
Those were the days, but these are the days, too!
This morning, Mads had bath time after we got up. You can see he’s slightly confused by this change in schedule, because we usually do baths in the evenings to alleviate crazy time.
After the bath, he didn’t want to be put down in his Pack ‘n Play, but he did consent to sit in a chair. He’s not sitting up on his own yet, but soon!
You can see that he finds my company somewhat less than stimulating!
After about 5 minutes, he started looking around for food (i.e. Mom) expectantly. So, the party was over, and the chair no longer cut it. After making this clear, he had a 35 minute breakfast and now he’s snoozin’ away in his baby burrito.
Although there are always those days when it’s anyone’s bet as to what will happen, Maddox has started to follow a schedule.
Mads usually gets up around when Dad leaves for work, between 6 and 8. He has breakfast and then we have playtime and I take care of the little things, like trimming his nails or restocking his wipes.
After playtime, I bring Mads out to his Pack n Play and wrap him up for his morning nap. This morning, he’s not really into napping, so he’s making noises and watching things while Mom blasts Norah Jones and hopes that he’ll fall asleep. Today he’s going over to Grammy & Papa’s for lunch (I have a meeting) and I’ll probably have to get him up in the middle of his nap, since he’s late going down.
It is so, so wrong to wake up a sleeping baby after all the effort to get him to sleep.
On an ordinary day, Mads has lunch after his nap, and then we play some more and go out. We’ll visit Dad or Grammy & Papa, or my work. Yesterday, Auntie Kate came up and we went for a walk, which was terrific because all that good fresh air was soporific and he slept for 90 minutes.
I’m hoping that the afternoon nap will become a fixture. Usually, it’s only 30 minutes, but yesterday it cut “crazy time” down by about an hour.
What is “crazy time?” Well, between the afternoon nap and bedtime around 8, Mads likes to either move constantly or eat insatiably. After Mom and Dad are ready for the nuthouse, he then proceeds to pass out for a 4 or 5 hour stretch. I go to bed as soon as he does, since he’s up 2 or 3 times during the night. This is a vast improvement – it used to be every 2 hours.
All in all, this is a pretty good schedule. Any sort of schedule appeals to me, since I live to plan and even having a loose plan helps. Having crazy time is tough, but it’s more than balanced out with Maddox going longer between feedings and with his increasingly adorable awake times. He smiles all the time – sometimes he’ll be having a screaming fussy fit and then he’ll pause, grin at you, and then continue. It is impossible to be mad or even frustrated with someone so cute.
Here’s Mads with his new toy, courtesy of Auntie Kristy. The beginning of the video is pretty cute, but then he kind of just stares at me like, what the heck am I supposed to do with that, Mom, I’m just learning how to use my thumbs.
Our “little guy” is not so little anymore. He will be 6 weeks old on Saturday and he’s already wearing 3-6 month clothing. He met cousin Aoife (Auntie Kristy’s daughter) for the first time last weekend. Here’s Aoife holding Maddox, taken by Dad:
And a video:
Note how she’s about twice his size.
She’s 2 1/2.
Now, being his Mom, I’m ridiculously proud of him for growing. It’s great – he’ll be able to intimidate all the mean kids on the playground if they try to steal his ice cream.
I’ve been sick for the past week – temp fluctuating between 102 and 104, muscle aches, chills, you name it. I’ve been worried about Maddox getting sick, and Jon stayed home on Tuesday to take care of him.
The OB GYN, pediatrician and lactation consultants had conflicting opinions about whether I should feed Mads formula or not, so after much debate, we kept him on formula while the fever was up and then switched back to regular feeding when it returned to normal.
On a positive note, we realized how loved Maddox is and how great it is to live near a support network of family and friends. On Wednesday, Papa (my Dad) and Auntie Kate came up for shifts to help out, and Nonni (Jon’s Mom) even volunteered to fly in. Also, it’s great to know that he’ll take formula – now there’s just a little bit less pressure on Mom in case of emergencies.
Here are some quick images, before he wakes up and computer time is over:
This last photo isn’t from this morning, but it’s still cute:
