5 Weeks Old!

Happy 5 weeks of life, Nolan! We're having so much fun watching you grow and change every day! 

Nolan is so much more awake and alert now. I shot these pics of him looking around while sitting in his bouncy seat. He's figured out there are cute little birds hanging from his seat and swing now and likes to watch them move. 

5 weeks old! He just figured out there are stuffed birds hanging from the top of his bouncy seat :)

So much more alert!

Nolan loves his gym and tummy time! He can stay there and occupy himself for 30 minutes+ easily! He definitely responds when the music is playing, and he loves watching the lights flicker in his gym. He is quite strong, lifting his head and turning it from side to side on his belly. He also displays crawling-like positioning and movements, and can even scoot himself a bit, but the mat is pretty slick not allowing much traction. Crazy! On his back, he loves to look at the dangling toys and has starting batting them more often with both his hands and feet. Dean loves to join him during gymtime :)

Deaner helping Nolan with Tummy time.

We had Nolan's 1 month doctor's appointment yesterday and he's doing fantastic! He is now weighing in at a hefty 8lbs 10oz (16th%) and is 21 inches in length (21st%). His growth is right on track on the growth charts. This is so awesome to hear as a reward for all those late night feeding sessions - it's all worth it to see my little boy grow and flourish! 

Big cheeks. Taken after his Dr's appointment where he weighed in at 8lbs 10oz!

We still are functioning on keeping everything on an "on demand" schedule - feeding/sleeping etc. While we are noticing more periods of activeness/alertness, Nolan is still eating every 2-3hrs around the clock. The doctor assured us this is still normal behavior and hopefully by 2months we'll be more like 3-4hrs with it just getting better from there. We're hanging tight and i'm learning his natural periods of alertness and sleepiness so I can anticipate when to sneak in a nap during the day. Otherwise, he spends a lot of time in his gym, swing, and riding around in the Moby wrap with Mommy. He immediately falls asleep in the Moby, Ergo carrier (using it for walks with Dean), carseat, and stroller. This boy likes to move! He's been known to complain if the stroller stops moving for a long period of time... ;)

Evenings are spent with lots of cuddles from mommy and daddy!

Bonding with Daddy

Hanging with Mommy

Every few days he gets a bath before bedtime, which he tolerates very well. It'll be fun when we can start incorporating some bath toys!

So clean and sleepy post bath.

We had a few more visitors this week - Penn State friends Mike and Nicole got to meet Nolan! Mike is home all summer with his 2 year old daughter Abby, so we hope to make more plans with them soon. It's nice reconnecting with college friends now that we're up here!

Still waiting for that elusive first real smile. I feel like he's getting close, giving us lots of sleepy smiles. My heart melts just with those so I can't imagine how it will feel to get one actually directed at me!

Sleepy smile - still waiting for a REAL one!

Life is good! Looking forward to spending some time with my mom this week and celebrating my first mother's day this weekend.