Thank God that Mom came to visit, because we couldn’t have gotten ready for guests without her help. Samantha has been awake now since 4:45 am with brief periods of rest, and when I say brief, I mean, no more than 15 minutes at a time. I think this means that she is getting to the point where she can sleep longer too, but she hasn’t quite done that cycle at night yet. Mom held her for quite a while which soothed her, and I held her this morning after Matt tried to get some sleep. He had the 4:45 to 6:30 shift, which is the really tough one I think because you feel particularly tired during the day.

Her acne isn’t any better today, but it is no worse, either. She does seem to track things better now. Mom was waving a red metallic bag in front of her face, and she followed that. She also followed her own face in the mirror that Matt held in front of her while she was in the swing chair. She is finally settling in for a bit in her cradle after I wrapped her like a mummy in the waffle stretchy blanket. She looks adorable in her pink blanket with her newly washed strawberry blonde hair in soft tufts around her face. She smells really sweet. Oops. Yep, 15 minutes and she is yelling again. Give me strength. How long can one infant hold out against sleep? Evidently quite a while. J