Cooper at 6 weeks

Cooper is 6 weeks old today!

This week is so much different from last week. Last week, I was in tears every day because I was so frustrated and couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong. I was trying so hard to get him on a schedule to start sleep training, but he wasn't cooperating and I couldn't figure out why. I had done with 2 babies, why couldn't I do it with one?

 Well, I think I figured it out that he wasn't getting enough to eat at each feeding. So he was waking before the 3 hour mark every single time. I was exhausted. But once I figured out how to fix this, it's gotten so much easier.

He sleeps so good at night. I'm still waking him to feed on his 3 hour schedule, so I'm not really sure how long he would be able to sleep, but I'm going to work on merging 2 feedings next week, so we'll see if all of my hard work is paying off. But he has his days and nights figured out, thank goodness. I feel like he did that on his own. And what I mean by this is that he will go right back to sleep after each feeding during the night without me having to rock him or having him cry it out. He usually grunts a few times after I put him in his crib and he falls asleep.

 

The naps during the day are a little different story, but are starting to get better. He cries for less than 5 minutes when I put him down for a nap now and he's starting to stay asleep for a full nap time. That's huge compared to a few days ago where he was waking about every 20 minutes and I was having to resettle him or I had to just let him cry it out over and over (which is so hard, but I knew he was fine). I know this isn't for everyone, but this worked so well for me with the twins that I knew I was going to do it again with Cooper. The twins were sleeping at least 10 hours at night by the time I went back to work, so that's my goal here. Also, the twins were/are able to nap pretty much everywhere easily because of this training and are good sleepers at night and to this day they sit and play in their beds when they wake up and wait for us to come get them, even Connor who is in a big boy bed and can easily get out if he wants.

 

  His looks are changing so much. When he was first born, he looked exactly like Connor. And having him in all of Connor's old clothes has been like seeing Connor as a baby all over again. But I think he's starting to go in a different direction and look like a completely different child.

  Here's a comparison:

Cooper:

Connor in the same sleeper around the same age:

 

I feel like the hard part of getting adjusted to a newborn is pretty much over and I'm getting to enjoy our time together now. I feel like I've found a good balance between my time and attention with him and with the twins, where in the beginning, I didn't know if this was going to be possible.

 

 I also haven't mentioned how much David has been helping out with the twins. Before the baby, the twins wanted Mommy to do everything and wouldn't let Daddy do anything. This had me really worried. But it quickly worked itself out and David stepped up big time with EVERYTHING. They now love having Daddy do things with them and are strongly attached to both of us instead of just me. I know David is loving this!

 

The beginnings of a little person is starting to come out in him. I even got my first intentional smiles from him today! I tried to get it on video but of course he stopped as soon as I pulled the camera out!