Sleepy, Squirmy and Smiley Sean

This may be a short or long post, depending on how still the sleeping babe is in the sling on my front. Speaking of: he loves napping in the sling (and I love it too, since I then have my hands free!) but doesn't like it quite so much when awake. When we walk him in the sling or the Ergo carrier, or take him for a walk in the stroller (which we use less often than our carriers, but it's handy for when we will be stopping for a meal somewhere to have the car seat for him), the motion lulls him. My typing on the computer while bouncing on an exercise ball is not quite the same, but close. I think he and I both needed to rest after some fun and vigorous dancing to some great Putamayo CDs.
A momentous announcement for this post: we believe that Sean officially smiles at us (rather than experiencing gas and accidentally making faces). We were so excited when we noticed it on Friday afternoon that we took a lot of pictures and had a great time! He is a gorgeous guy no matter what-- I admit I find his pouty, about-to-cry because I want a diaper changed or I'm hungry face also beautiful, but try not to let myself get distracted from the urgent matter at hand! Sean keeps on wondering who pees in his diaper (since this is the most aggregious condition for him-- and he lets us know it!), so if anyone has seen the culprit, please let us know!
He's not just smiley Sean... he's also sleepy, and mostly in a good way. About half of recent nights, he's been in a pattern like this: big feed followed by sleeping 10-2 or even 10-3 or so, up for usually just 30-45 minutes to feed and snuggle a bit, then asleep for another 2.5-3 hours (or two chunks of longer sleeps with some play time in between). The end result: most nights we are now getting 6-7 hours of sleep with maybe just one short break (which Chris has the option to sleep through-- but he often hears Sean and brings him to the bed to feed before I wake up). This is progress! I (Merrie) feels less exhausted than a few weeks ago, which means I am not quite so tired and therefore inarticulate in the late afternoon as before-- my apologies to those who had the experience of talking to me during that window when I couldn't get the right words to come out of my mouth I was so tired. It is probably not a big surprise to anyone that I kept trying to talk despite the fact I often didn't make any sense! :)
And, he's squirmy... wiggling around, waving his growing arms and legs, and being more playful all the time. He's found certain things great to look at and happily wave around at-- his father's hair, the lighthouse in the gorgeous Maine-inspired wall hanging made by Graunt (the new nickname for Great Aunt) Lynne above his sleeping area/changing table, lights on the Metro, sometimes his Gramma on our now daily webcam "dates", and the shades and trees beyond the window behind our futon. It's my understanding that his best range of vision is still 8-15 inches, and he's attracted to sharp contrasts between light and dark. I find the BabyCenter site and weekly emails, which were often the "hook" for my pregnancy update emails that are now the earlier blog posts here, very helpful and interesting still-- according to their Week 3 summary, for example, he has a real interest in sucking on something and that is true in our case (though we, as of now, have no plans to introduce a pacifier).
And, he's social-- off to sushi with my girlfriends as we celebrated Mandy's engagement, hanging in hipster coffeeshops, goodbye dinner because Lea, Wes and Charlie are moving to Florida, and now hosting a few folks to play some Sunday afternoon board games and drink tea. Speaking of... we've got some (Cooking Light, so somewhat healthy) macaroni and cheese to stick in the oven so this post comes to an end...
For those of you up in New England, we leave early tomorrow to head up north and will be there for 8+ days... call Merrie's cell if you want to concoct some Sean-visiting schemes (which probably involve you traveling to/near Westford). And, Happy Thanksgiving to all!!!!