Here is Jack at 14 weeks old…
(May 3, 2012)

I decided to copy my friend Emily’s method for photographing her baby boy (also named Jack) each week. She was originally inspired by my new favorite bloggers, Sherry & John of Young House Love. I was getting less and less happy with the weekly bouncer photos, so I’m totally stealing their entire idea. Now our Jack-boy will have cuter weekly photos and I have a fun creative project. Thank you, Emily and Young House Love!

This week has been all about SLEEP, or, no sleep. Because I am heading back to work soon, we started the process of getting Jack on more of a daily routine. And by routine I simply mean as close to regular nap-eat-play times as we can manage. It has only had a modicum of success, but we’re still trying. We started a routine with the goal of passing the 4-hour mark with Jack’s night time sleep. Some nights are a total sleep disaster, with frequent wakings. Other nights are pretty good. So far, the best night we’ve had is one stretch of 4.5 hours followed by a stretch of 3 hours. This sounds great except that he goes to bed at about 8:00pm, so he woke up at 12:30am and again at 3:30am and then about every 1-2 hours after that. Most often Jack sleeps 8pm-12am, then wakes again somewhere between the hours of 2-2:30, 4-5 & 6-6:30am. Luckily the wakings are getting easier. I nurse him for about 15-30 minutes and then he usually goes right back to sleep without a lot of trouble.

What’s funny about the fact that we feel challenged in the sleep department is that when I looked back over my photos from this week, most of them were of Jack sleeping.

In the carseat, in his cradle, in my arms and on my lap…

I guess I regularly photograph him sleeping because it’s so exciting when he goes down for a long-ish nap (and by long-ish I mean over 30 minutes). Also because I think he looks like a little cherub when he sleeps.

The best sleep progress we made this week was getting him to sleep in his cradle instead of the swing. Hooray! In fact, we got so confident that he’ll sleep in his cradle that we moved the swing out of our room. Double hooray! Remember, we live in a one bedroom, so he sleeps in our room. He still likes a tight swaddle over just a diaper so he doesn’t overheat. He is also a more successful sleeper when some light white noise is playing. This helps to drown out the random and unpredictable condo building noises that often startle him awake. BUT, he’s learning to fall asleep on his own instead of being nursed, rocked or bounced to sleep. Triple hooray!

I am pleased to say that Jack is not always being soothed to sleep. We also have fun playing with him and watching him develop new skills, like grasping. Here he his grasping and playing with a little maraca…

He also likes to reach for, bat at and grab his activity mat hang toys! It’s fun to watch his determination for achieving a grip on his animals and his delight when he succeeds.

I am starting back at work on Tuesday and Jack will enjoy the company of his Grandma Jodie on Mondays and Wednesdays and his Grandpa Larry on Tuesdays. Thank goodness for family support – we are so blessed.

And finally, Jack’s cheeks…

They’re just so pinch-able and kissable, aren’t they?
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