To Sleep or Not to Sleep...

Monday began my first week home with Colin, doing the stay-at-home mommy thing, all on my own!  Mom and Dave left on Sunday morning, and I was sad to see them go.  The help and support that they gave us in the first few weeks made our transition so smooth, and we are forever grateful to them!  Marshall and Dave also managed to finish the half-bath remodeling project, and it looks amazing!  Dave hung the wallpaper, and Marshall used all of his new tools to cut and install the wainscoting and chair rail.  I, of course, was in charge of decorating, and found some cute towels, a mirror, wall cabinet, and accent pieces to tie it all together.  We still need to get the cabinet hung, put the crown molding up, so I'll post some before and after photos next time.  Mom also helped me to take down all the Christmas decorations, which is always a huge project.  But at least life feels as though it's starting to get back to normal.  This week, I'm working on developing a loose routine with Colin that revolves around eating, activity, sleeping, and my time.  He seems to be comfortable with our nighttime routine...he wakes up about every 3 hours to eat, then falls back to sleep pretty easily (on most nights).  Nap time seems to be more of a struggle.  Yesterday, Colin was particularly fussy, a result of being overtired for much of the day.  So, after consulting a few books on sleep strategies, and countless articles and forums on the subject, I decided to try a timed schedule to help Colin establish more regular daytime sleep patterns.  As today is the first day of this, I would consider it mostly a success, seeing as how I am able to update my blog now as he snoozes peacefully upstairs!  I think the biggest difference has been to put him down for a nap in his bassinet, where he sleeps at night in our bedroom.  The shades are down, and the environment is dark and quiet.  He takes a bit to get calm and settled, but so far I'm happy with the progress he's making, especially for being only 3 weeks old!  We'll plan to transition him to his crib once his schedule is more constant. Since I function so much better with a predictable schedule and routine, I'm hoping Colin will learn to do the same :)  For now, we're both still learning the ropes.

Here's a photo of Colin snoozing in his bassinet:

Colin's favorite toy is his Gloworm, which was also his very first toy, sent to him buy his Aunt Adrienne.  Gloworm has made changing diapers much more pleasant, as Colin studies the lights and enjoys the songs it plays. 

He also found his thumb this week! (But he still prefers his paci!)