The Christmas decorations are up and I'm taking every opportunity to show our little boy the delights of the warm golden fairy lights on the tree and the multi-coloured lights adorning our bushes outside. He is already growing out of the festive onesies family and friends have kindly given him . He's not even 4 months old yet and the feet of the 3-6 month suits are too small for him. This is one long boy!
Rolling over?
Not yet and does not seem have any inclination to.
Crawling?
His legs move in the right motion when he's having tummy time, but he doesn't lift himself up enough to move, although his head is always fully up. He's got the right moves instinctually, but not enough strength to push his stomach up off the floor.
Sounds
Noooo, wooooahhhhh, uhh, ahhhh, elloo (pretty sure this last one is hello - we say the word to him often enough!)
Actions
Holding on to teddies/dummies and able to lift and move them around. Grabs onto my fingers when I put my hand in front of him, fingers splayed. He grabs onto areas of my skin, like my arms and really digs his nails in - reminding me he needs his nails cut often! Holds his head up fully now. Does not need to be supported. He's a calm soul and happy to spend time with other people.
Teething?
He stuffs both his hands into his mouth and rubs his gums, but he hasn't shown signs of pain or discomfort yet. Blows lots of bubbles.
Feeding
Normally fully breast-fed but last night my husband and I had our first date-night (to see the new Star Wars movie) so the little one was bottle fed pre-made formula. It definitely affects his stomach. I should have expressed, but didn't plan it in properly and ended up going from 5.30pm - 2.30am without feeding/expressing...they were like rocks!! On a typical night he'll feed before he sleeps, then wake around 2.30am and 6.30am.
Facial Expressions
Lots of smiling, looking directly in your eyes and cocked eyebrows. His face is so expressive I don't really need to know what he's thinking...his face says it all!He loves looking at faces and will smile unprompted.
Routine
He's building his own routine, waking at 6.30am for a feed, change and quick play, before going back to sleep for between an hour and three. Then it's always feed, change and play (not necessarily in that order) before another nap. He tends to stay awake longer between naps in the evening, when he's most vocal, but we get most smiles in the morning. He normally wants to be in his crib by about 9.30pm and falls asleep without much fuss.
Me
I still feel like me. I went into work this week and it was great to see old colleagues to wish them a Merry Christmas and take in cards, but I'm not ready to go back yet. I've never been in this situation before, so I'd like to take off as much time as I can, after all, I'll never get this time back with my son again. I'm fully intending to go back though, after all, I worked hard for my career and I'm not ready to give it up just yet. I just need to make sure I find a great person to look after my son, I'll let you know how that search goes.
Sunday, 20 December 2015
Wednesday, 9 December 2015
The Early Weeks
It had been my intention to blog on each week in turn - but being a new mum got in the way of that. I can honestly say I've marveled at every change over the last three months - becoming a mum for the first time has made me question why I didn't do it sooner. But I realise, now was absolutely the best time for us. We're not rich, but we're happy and in love and I hope our little one realises that. I think he does, he certainly seems content.
It was challenging at first. Breastfeeding took a while to establish - I kept moving myself to him rather than bringing him to me, which was starting to severely hurt my back. But I kept at it, found good positions (for me and the many pillows I employ for this purpose) and eventually it got easier. I used the rugby ball position at first, but as he's grown, lying across me works best. We can now manage 5 hours between feeds at night, but I still wake up regularly if I hear him rooting for his dummy - giving it to him quick sharp always soothes him back to a deep sleep. In the beginning he woke to feed every one to two hours which was exhausting, but I learnt how to feed lying down and that helped me to relax a bit.
Our first trips out were always with the help of friends and family, but now I'm confident to go out with him on my own.
The hardest thing was feeling I should be doing things around the house - cleaning, cooking and the like but some days I forgot to eat and drink, or rather, couldn't leave the sofa as I had thought the little one would hate it if I left him alone and I couldn't bear to hear him cry for more than a couple of minutes. I bored myself silly with daytime TV until I realised -this time wouldn't last forever - so I might as well enjoy it and watch DVDs I'd been meaning to. Taking a couple of minutes to prepare the DVD player the night before helped. I knew I'd be glued to the sofa feeding and comforting the little one all day (especially during cluster feeds), so I might as well entertain myself with things on my 'yet to see' list.
Over time (by about week 8) I managed to place him in the crib downstairs long enough to make a cup of tea or do the washing up. It felt incredibly liberating but also lonely at the same time - but soon enough he'd cry for me to pick him up again and I must confess it felt good to be needed. However, quickly (we're now on week 14) he got used to being put down, either in the crib, in a triangular (L-shaped) pillow or in the old-fashioned sling chair that my husband used to be in when he was a baby, and now I can spend decent stretches of time having a tidy up, cooking, or organising the paper work (been meaning to do that for years) - always singing to him, making sure he's ok, chatting with him, or making sure he's comfortable when sleeping of course. He's a happy and contented baby so I figure I must be doing something right.
We have a good routine - sleep, feed, change, play, sleep and it works really well. He has time lying on a blanket on the floor so he can kick about. He also has tummy time and I swear he's pushing himself around just through sheer will. He can hold his head up off the floor for long stretches and he adores it when I sing to him and he'll sing along with me - especially when there's a 'woaaahh woaaahhh' in the chorus. The first time he realised he could sing in tune was a cracker and yesterday he surprised himself by actually laughing. He was so shocked he hasn't done it since! But I know it's only a matter of time.
I'm fitting a lot into one blog, but I'll try to specify new things that happen each week now that I may actually have time to write, considering I'm not needed to be constantly at his side, but I'm never far away. I physically couldn't have managed this sooner - it's been exhausting but so wonderful. But I'm determined to get my life in order before I go back to work, so when I'm back and my home time is limited, I'll have established bullet-proof routines so I can have maximum quality time with my little boy. I'm not looking forward to being away from him, but needs must. At least I have a few months left to get things in order, so I'll document his growth, and my progress on organisation and de-cluttering here, to achieve as much of a stress-free home life as possible.
It was challenging at first. Breastfeeding took a while to establish - I kept moving myself to him rather than bringing him to me, which was starting to severely hurt my back. But I kept at it, found good positions (for me and the many pillows I employ for this purpose) and eventually it got easier. I used the rugby ball position at first, but as he's grown, lying across me works best. We can now manage 5 hours between feeds at night, but I still wake up regularly if I hear him rooting for his dummy - giving it to him quick sharp always soothes him back to a deep sleep. In the beginning he woke to feed every one to two hours which was exhausting, but I learnt how to feed lying down and that helped me to relax a bit.
Our first trips out were always with the help of friends and family, but now I'm confident to go out with him on my own.
The hardest thing was feeling I should be doing things around the house - cleaning, cooking and the like but some days I forgot to eat and drink, or rather, couldn't leave the sofa as I had thought the little one would hate it if I left him alone and I couldn't bear to hear him cry for more than a couple of minutes. I bored myself silly with daytime TV until I realised -this time wouldn't last forever - so I might as well enjoy it and watch DVDs I'd been meaning to. Taking a couple of minutes to prepare the DVD player the night before helped. I knew I'd be glued to the sofa feeding and comforting the little one all day (especially during cluster feeds), so I might as well entertain myself with things on my 'yet to see' list.
Over time (by about week 8) I managed to place him in the crib downstairs long enough to make a cup of tea or do the washing up. It felt incredibly liberating but also lonely at the same time - but soon enough he'd cry for me to pick him up again and I must confess it felt good to be needed. However, quickly (we're now on week 14) he got used to being put down, either in the crib, in a triangular (L-shaped) pillow or in the old-fashioned sling chair that my husband used to be in when he was a baby, and now I can spend decent stretches of time having a tidy up, cooking, or organising the paper work (been meaning to do that for years) - always singing to him, making sure he's ok, chatting with him, or making sure he's comfortable when sleeping of course. He's a happy and contented baby so I figure I must be doing something right.
We have a good routine - sleep, feed, change, play, sleep and it works really well. He has time lying on a blanket on the floor so he can kick about. He also has tummy time and I swear he's pushing himself around just through sheer will. He can hold his head up off the floor for long stretches and he adores it when I sing to him and he'll sing along with me - especially when there's a 'woaaahh woaaahhh' in the chorus. The first time he realised he could sing in tune was a cracker and yesterday he surprised himself by actually laughing. He was so shocked he hasn't done it since! But I know it's only a matter of time.
I'm fitting a lot into one blog, but I'll try to specify new things that happen each week now that I may actually have time to write, considering I'm not needed to be constantly at his side, but I'm never far away. I physically couldn't have managed this sooner - it's been exhausting but so wonderful. But I'm determined to get my life in order before I go back to work, so when I'm back and my home time is limited, I'll have established bullet-proof routines so I can have maximum quality time with my little boy. I'm not looking forward to being away from him, but needs must. At least I have a few months left to get things in order, so I'll document his growth, and my progress on organisation and de-cluttering here, to achieve as much of a stress-free home life as possible.
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