Thumbtown

Just because it's so cute, and I totally didn't see it coming.

Why is it so cute???
(I just realized this probably means he's right-handed!)

7.5 and so alive.

7.5 weeks, that is. It will be 8 on Wednesday.

This guy continues to shatter my heart daily with cuteness and sweetness. I actually love to hear him cry...partially because he doesn't do it very much, unless he just needs something. And I like taking care of his needs, so it works out!

As of week 7, he is more generous with his smiles. Before, you had to really work to get a smile, but now he will grant them unmerited. Again: heart-shatteringly cute. He is also talking more! I LOVE it. He seems to (try to) match the volume of his environment, as I learned from our visit with his 3 busy, talkative sweet cousins in Wilmington last week. Instead of being overwhelmed by their (high) amount of activity, he merely tried matched their level (although his voice is much tinier and delicate) with little 'oohs' and 'ahs' and various gurgly sounds with random consonants thrown in.

His next cute trick came with battle wounds:

And resulted in this:

So, the past few nights he has let us sleep even longer because his thumb seems to hold him over for a while before he starts crying! Nice work son. He actually went 11 hrs last night between meals, which is REALLY good for a 7.5 week old!!

I just love him to pieces and I think he's addicting. On Saturday, I was home alone with him alllll day. After putting him to bed for the night, I was surprised that I missed him!

He and Stuart are bonding in cute ways too. I'm excited for the day they can do manly things together. Whatever that may be...

So much. Too much.

Oh boy.

How do I catch my blog up on the 1st 5 weeks of my little stud's life?

I LOVE a good milk coma

I think I'm starting to function again, but I spent a majority of the past few weeks simply staring into the sweetest blue eyes, smelling the sweetest little head, and nuzzling the sweetest little cheeks. Aaaand I'm getting all teary-eyed just thinking about it! Motherhood has been the best unexpected delight.

I say an 'unexpected' delight because I had no idea the love that would overwhelm me the moment I first laid eyes on my firstborn child. There is no way you can be prepared for that. But I'll do a birth post soon and share more about that.

It is hard work, and pretty exhausting, but we are doing well and trying to figure out what to do with ourselves now.

Here is a video of some early morning snuggles.  He was fascinated watching himself on the screen as I recorded.  I was trying to get him to realize he was seeing himself but it might not have clicked with him yet...I'll give him some time :)