Sam at 10 weeks

Sam turned 10 weeks old yesterday so I thought I would do a short update on her life and activities since she has seemed to enter into a new developmental stage in life.

1) Samantha has found her hands...and she can't get enough of them. She licks them and clasps them together. She doesn't have good control over them yet so she has to use both hands to hold them steady in her midline (little prayer hands!) so that she can lick them more effectively. Then all of a sudden they get unlocked and go flying around out of control. Each day though she is getting a little bit more control of them.

2) The absolute cutest thing she is doing now is her very exaggerated "marching" arms. When she gets excited and happy about something, especially mommy's breasts, she pumps her arms up and down and puffs up her chest like a proud peacock. Sometimes her legs get into the action too and she does some bicicyle kicks. It is hilarious!

3) Her eating habits have changed rapidly and drastically. She is taking 3-4 oz of breastmilk at each bottle feed now, rather than 2-3 oz. She is now feeding 6-7 times daily and in the late afternoon/early evening she does some rapid cluster feeding every 1-1.5 hours. This little cluster time took us initially by surprise because she had never done it. She was screaming and inconsolable a few days ago and we had no idea why. Then we realized it was just hunger (silly first time parents!) She has continued on this pattern for a few days so I think it is established, at least for now. The good news is that this cluster pattern has led to...

3) ...Sleeping through the night. For the past week, Sam has gone to bed at 9:30ish and slept straight through until 5am. It has been a very nice change for her mommy to avoid that 2-3am feeding. Jen finds her at 5am in her bed sucking on her hands, preparing herself to get her first am snack. Hopefully this routine will continue. We also enjoy this routine because we bring her into bed with us at 5 and get some very quality snuggle time until we all get up for good at 7ish. She seems to enjoy the warmth of our bed as much as we love having that time with her.

4) As you may have noticed from some previous pics, Samantha has become quite the bowling girl. She comes to our Friday night league each week to cheer us on. She usually sleeps through the first half but then wakes up to be held by all of our friends. She gets passed around and just loves all the sights and sounds at the lanes. She can't even concentrate on eating she gets so busy looking and listening! We are taking a picture each week of the Thompson family so that we can document her changes over the course of the 16 week league. We will put up some of those pics as well. Maybe she will turn into a great female bowler like her Nani Domanowski!

That's the news from Ventura. I will try to get a video of her hand and arm action to post very soon so check back in.