So I think I'll switch to weeks now unless I post in between in which case maybe day of week. It's too much hassle to keep track of days at this stage!
This was an interesting week as it was mommys birthday. We decided to go and see Dirty Dancing in town which meant that the baby had to stay with my mother in law. It's just as well because I got a call at work in the morning asking what to do if the shower was cold. It turned out that the boiler was broken. I presumed that I'd be able to do something when I got home in the evening but as we were going out that wasn't going to be until very late. It was a shame because I'd been looking forward to a full nights sleep. When we got home I spent about 30 minutes taking the covers off the boiler to discover that the fan was dead. so it was just as well the baby was already spending the night away from home because it was too cold for her to have stayed with us. I did work from home the next day which sort of made up for having a very late night but I had to be around, in the cold house, waiting for the plumber to get a part and he eventually repaired it about 6pm.
Apart from that it's been a normal sort of week really. The baby has started to sleep until 5 regularly which is great except that it creates a bit of a dilemma about who has to do the feed. Mommy normally does the 3-4am feed and then I feed the baby at 6 when I get up for work. With the baby being fed at 5 it means that I can't really feed her at 6. So we had one morning where we made her wait until 6 but the rest of the time it's been 5. This week the clocks went forwards so I imagine that she might possibly sleep until 6 for a few days. I think it won't be long until she's sleeping until then anyway but we shall see.
Today I've been pretty busy trying to get things done around the house ready for the housewarming/meet the baby party next weekend. This of course meant that the baby was going to be restless. She decided to throwup all the time and scream if we weren't holding her. She fell asleep when I held her but as soon as I went to put her down she woke up and started to scream again. Somehow I did manage to get a lot of stuff done without too much trauma.
Otherwise a normal week. Mommy didn't go out on Friday so we spent every evening together. I've been trying to get my study straight, which looks like a losing battle at the moment so I wasn't around as much in the evenings for the baby as I could have been but hopefully after this week the indoors will be ready to roll.
Sunday, 28 March 2010
Sunday, 21 March 2010
Day 38-44
These weeks are flying by now as we get settled into a routine, although I can hear screaming so I guess someones hungry or craving attention! I don't seem to have been around much this weekend, Saturday I was busy putting together furniture for my study and Sunday I was out at diving lectures and busy putting together furniture for my office. It's all done now which is nice but it does mean that I haven't been around as much as I should have been and I've had to leave mommy to deal with everything.
Only a couple of events to note this week really, firstly the baby went for a checkup with the health visitor this week. Everything was fine, mommy just wanted to make sure that we're ok to leave her if she's screaming in the night after being fed. The only trouble was that the weighed her and she's a bit porky. It seems that over the last couple of weeks she's gained a bit more weight than she was supposed to so they've advised us to give her water if she seems hungry between feeds and to not increase the amount in her feed any further. We've also switched to hungry baby formula for the night feeds which should help with the first problem as well.
The other event was that we bought a new video camera this week so I'm expecting to have to sift through hours of video footage to find the few gems that we can screen on her 21st birthday for maximum embarassement! Otherwise we continue to struggle with getting the baby to sleep through the night. I've abandoned the idea for now, she was just teasing us with that one-off a few weeks ago. We're trying to get her to go consistently until 4am now which would be good if it happens. We're not doing too badly on that score at the moment so fingers crossed.
This week is mommys birthday so we're going out for the evening. Nanny D is going to be looking after the little one and has even volunteered to keep her overnight, the fool, so we should get one good nights sleep this week!
Only a couple of events to note this week really, firstly the baby went for a checkup with the health visitor this week. Everything was fine, mommy just wanted to make sure that we're ok to leave her if she's screaming in the night after being fed. The only trouble was that the weighed her and she's a bit porky. It seems that over the last couple of weeks she's gained a bit more weight than she was supposed to so they've advised us to give her water if she seems hungry between feeds and to not increase the amount in her feed any further. We've also switched to hungry baby formula for the night feeds which should help with the first problem as well.
The other event was that we bought a new video camera this week so I'm expecting to have to sift through hours of video footage to find the few gems that we can screen on her 21st birthday for maximum embarassement! Otherwise we continue to struggle with getting the baby to sleep through the night. I've abandoned the idea for now, she was just teasing us with that one-off a few weeks ago. We're trying to get her to go consistently until 4am now which would be good if it happens. We're not doing too badly on that score at the moment so fingers crossed.
This week is mommys birthday so we're going out for the evening. Nanny D is going to be looking after the little one and has even volunteered to keep her overnight, the fool, so we should get one good nights sleep this week!
Sunday, 14 March 2010
Day 32 - 37
So another week down. This week we had a red letter day on Monday night/Tuesday morning as the baby slept all the way through the night. She was starting to stir from about 5am but managed to go until 6 before properly waking up and wanting her feed. We were pretty stunned I have to say and hoped this might be a sign of things to come. Sadly this seems to have only been a teaser as it hasn't happened since. Part of the problem seems to be that we can't keep the baby awake during the evening so going through the night really means sleeping from about 7:30 through to 6 the next morning with a brief feeding break in the middle. We need to break that habit especially as she seems to be very awake for the 3-4 am slot and doesn't really want to go back to sleep.
We had another go at the baby moulds with much more success. The secret is to get containers that are suitable size. She hated having it done but we managed to get several reasonably good moulds. They need a little work like some sanding and some more plaster to fill some small air holes but they're pretty good.
Otherwise the baby has been pretty good this week. There's been the usual quota of baths which she's getting used to. I wouldn't say that she enjoys them but she just about tolerates them. That's more than can be said for being made to drink water though. From the fuss she makes you would think that it would be an effective torture device!
The baby also started to play on her play mat which is nice. She gets upset after about 10 minutes but during that time she'll lie there and kick about and occasionally punch the animals dangling at her. She's not very interested in the colours, noises or textures at the moment so she still has all of that to discover.
Today was mothers day and the baby got mommy a nice card and a CD. She has very neat handwriting. We had both sets of granparents and Uncle over and cooked them some moroccan lamb which went down well. The baby thoroughly enjoyed herself getting passed around everyone and generally being made a fuss over all day. It has, however, been a long day for me and I've got to go back to work tomorrow. Thankfully I still have that hours commute to catch some extra shut-eye!
Mommys had me helping her with her audition piece for a local musical today so I think the audition for that is next week. If that all goes through I guess it means I'll be spending more evenings on my own with the baby which will be nice.
We had another go at the baby moulds with much more success. The secret is to get containers that are suitable size. She hated having it done but we managed to get several reasonably good moulds. They need a little work like some sanding and some more plaster to fill some small air holes but they're pretty good.
Otherwise the baby has been pretty good this week. There's been the usual quota of baths which she's getting used to. I wouldn't say that she enjoys them but she just about tolerates them. That's more than can be said for being made to drink water though. From the fuss she makes you would think that it would be an effective torture device!
The baby also started to play on her play mat which is nice. She gets upset after about 10 minutes but during that time she'll lie there and kick about and occasionally punch the animals dangling at her. She's not very interested in the colours, noises or textures at the moment so she still has all of that to discover.
Today was mothers day and the baby got mommy a nice card and a CD. She has very neat handwriting. We had both sets of granparents and Uncle over and cooked them some moroccan lamb which went down well. The baby thoroughly enjoyed herself getting passed around everyone and generally being made a fuss over all day. It has, however, been a long day for me and I've got to go back to work tomorrow. Thankfully I still have that hours commute to catch some extra shut-eye!
Mommys had me helping her with her audition piece for a local musical today so I think the audition for that is next week. If that all goes through I guess it means I'll be spending more evenings on my own with the baby which will be nice.
Sunday, 7 March 2010
Day 29-32
So life continues to get back to normal. Or perhaps a better way to say that is to say that we continue to adjust to life with a new member of the family. The baby is getting bigger and developing very rapidly. She's just barely a month old but already there's been a huge change in her. She's up to 150ml in each feed now although the time between feeds is pretty variable. Sometimes she only manages one hour. Right now she's been asleep for about 3 hours. Last night she managed a little over 5. So I think she can manage the full 150ml but we need to get her on a better timing schedule.
Saturday we abandoned the baby with one of mommys friends for the day so we could get out. We went into town and managed to get to the cinema. She was a good girl for her babysitter, eating and sleeping and being generally content. That was good because the cinema was very busy and we were a bit late getting home. We got some more casting stuff to have another go at the and and feet moulds. The plan was to do it on Saturday but because we'd been out we decided we were a bit too tired for that.
The baby does seem to suffer with some constipation which we understand is caused by the formula. We've been giving her water, which she hates, and sugar water, which she loves. That seems to work fine but we were hoping she would go whilst she was with the babysitter on Saturday. No such luck. No sooner had we got home, I was cooking, mommy was taking off her makeup and when we next went into the bedroom it smelled like a sewer. Fortunately I had the excuse of cooking so mommy had to deel with it.
Sunday I went out to do some diving lectures in the morning. I managed to feed the baby in the middle of the night and in the morning before I went out which helped mommy who hadn't slept too well during the night. I also went to get some furniture wood to build some cupboards with while I was out but I couldn't fit it in the car so it's being delivered next weekend. Now it's evening on Sunday and mommys gone out to do some drama/theatre stuff so I'm left in charge but babys been asleep soundly all evening. Hopefully she'll wake up for a feed in an hour or so and then go back to sleep.
So the moulds/torture will be left for during the week I think as next weekend will be busy as well with mothers day and grandparents birthdays.
Saturday we abandoned the baby with one of mommys friends for the day so we could get out. We went into town and managed to get to the cinema. She was a good girl for her babysitter, eating and sleeping and being generally content. That was good because the cinema was very busy and we were a bit late getting home. We got some more casting stuff to have another go at the and and feet moulds. The plan was to do it on Saturday but because we'd been out we decided we were a bit too tired for that.
The baby does seem to suffer with some constipation which we understand is caused by the formula. We've been giving her water, which she hates, and sugar water, which she loves. That seems to work fine but we were hoping she would go whilst she was with the babysitter on Saturday. No such luck. No sooner had we got home, I was cooking, mommy was taking off her makeup and when we next went into the bedroom it smelled like a sewer. Fortunately I had the excuse of cooking so mommy had to deel with it.
Sunday I went out to do some diving lectures in the morning. I managed to feed the baby in the middle of the night and in the morning before I went out which helped mommy who hadn't slept too well during the night. I also went to get some furniture wood to build some cupboards with while I was out but I couldn't fit it in the car so it's being delivered next weekend. Now it's evening on Sunday and mommys gone out to do some drama/theatre stuff so I'm left in charge but babys been asleep soundly all evening. Hopefully she'll wake up for a feed in an hour or so and then go back to sleep.
So the moulds/torture will be left for during the week I think as next weekend will be busy as well with mothers day and grandparents birthdays.
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Day 25-28
So I think that posting just once for the whole work week is probably not going to work for my memory so I'll try and post more regularly if possible. This week I've been designing some shelves and storage for my study so I get home from work, eat and then disappear up to the study to measure, think and draw. This has worked pretty well so far and I think I'm more or less ready to build. It does mean that I don't see much of baby in the evening though. I always come downstairs to feed her in the evening once she's woken up but that might mean that I spend an hour or two with her a night. Anyway, that's finished for now so tonight it should be back to business as usual.
Wednesday was the first time I gave the baby a bath rather than being the assistant. It went reasonably well with no casualties on either side. I was a bit unpopular with the baby for a little while but once I started to feed her she was ok with me again. On that note, we've been giving her water to help prevent constipation. She really hates the water which is quite funny to watch. She greedily takes the bottle in and sucks a few times before she realises that this isn't formula. Then she tries to squirm away from it but even while she's squirming she's so greedy that she can't stop herself from sucking on the bottle. We have been advised to add some sugar to the water if she has continued trouble in that direction. When we do add sugar then she seems much happier to drink it so I guess she's got a sweet tooth or a sweet gum at the moment.
On Tuesday we sat down to watch the TV and whilst I was feeding the baby she managed to throw up over the sofa again so we had to pause it so we could strip the sofa down again and get it clean. Maybe we should just use a tarpaulin when we feed her instead of the muslin squares?
It seems that the 3am feeding is getting more difficult for mommy. The last couple of mornings it's taken over an hour each time which is difficult to cope with when you just want to go back to sleep.
We got some more moulding stuff yesterday so we just need to find a chance to put that to use and see if we can get hand and foot moulds of the baby. She'll be a month old on Friday and she's getting big so it would be nice to do it very soon before she gets too big.
Wednesday was the first time I gave the baby a bath rather than being the assistant. It went reasonably well with no casualties on either side. I was a bit unpopular with the baby for a little while but once I started to feed her she was ok with me again. On that note, we've been giving her water to help prevent constipation. She really hates the water which is quite funny to watch. She greedily takes the bottle in and sucks a few times before she realises that this isn't formula. Then she tries to squirm away from it but even while she's squirming she's so greedy that she can't stop herself from sucking on the bottle. We have been advised to add some sugar to the water if she has continued trouble in that direction. When we do add sugar then she seems much happier to drink it so I guess she's got a sweet tooth or a sweet gum at the moment.
On Tuesday we sat down to watch the TV and whilst I was feeding the baby she managed to throw up over the sofa again so we had to pause it so we could strip the sofa down again and get it clean. Maybe we should just use a tarpaulin when we feed her instead of the muslin squares?
It seems that the 3am feeding is getting more difficult for mommy. The last couple of mornings it's taken over an hour each time which is difficult to cope with when you just want to go back to sleep.
We got some more moulding stuff yesterday so we just need to find a chance to put that to use and see if we can get hand and foot moulds of the baby. She'll be a month old on Friday and she's getting big so it would be nice to do it very soon before she gets too big.
Monday, 1 March 2010
Day 18-24
It's been a while since the last update. The first week back at work is over and the associated weekend. I think the pattern for posting now is going to be once a week for the week days and then daily for the weekends, unless there's something significant to post about.
So the week itself was quite unevenful from my perspective. I was out on Monday night with my parents which left mummy alone with the baby all day and all evening. She coped though. In general she's finding it gradually easier to cope I think. There were some difficult days to begin with and it's getting better all the time. We're starting to get into a routine whereby I feed the baby at 6am before leaving for work and then when I get home the baby should be fed and asleep. So far she's been fed but awake when I get home. So I have to settle her before we eat and then I can feed her in the evening and the last one of the day. Baths currently happen before I get home as they're timed to be convenient for mummy rather than for me. No major dramas during the week this week to report on.
For the weekend though we slept until about midday on Saturday. I could have slept longer but eventually we decided we had to eat. Of course when I say we slept I mean in between feeding the baby who was very good about letting us have a lie in. In the evening we tried to do some baby mould casts of hands and feed. We'd got a kit of alginate and plaster but this turned out to be a lot more difficult that expected. Baby really did not enjoy the experience. There was much screaming and thrashing of limbs. We managed to get one reasonable hand and a couple of nearly there feet before we ran out of powder. We'll give it one more go before handing over to the professionals, if we can find someone reasonably priced.
Sunday we went to visit my parents. Baby was very well behaved and enjoyed getting lots of attention from her grandparents who sat holding her for most of the afternoon. When we got home though she didn't want to settle without being held which meant that it was difficult to get anything done. We did manage to order some more torture powder/alginate and order some photos to be printed though so that wasn't too bad. It did mean getting to bed about midnight, but then I slept most of the way in on the train this morning and I don't feel too bad for it!
As a measure of how tired I was last night/this morning I managed to not only sleep through the baby waking up for her 3am feed, being changed, fed and put back to bed but I only managed to switch off the 3:30 alarm after a couple of minutes of mommy kicking me to let me know that the alarm was sounding. Somehow I did manage to get up at 6 for work though.
So the week itself was quite unevenful from my perspective. I was out on Monday night with my parents which left mummy alone with the baby all day and all evening. She coped though. In general she's finding it gradually easier to cope I think. There were some difficult days to begin with and it's getting better all the time. We're starting to get into a routine whereby I feed the baby at 6am before leaving for work and then when I get home the baby should be fed and asleep. So far she's been fed but awake when I get home. So I have to settle her before we eat and then I can feed her in the evening and the last one of the day. Baths currently happen before I get home as they're timed to be convenient for mummy rather than for me. No major dramas during the week this week to report on.
For the weekend though we slept until about midday on Saturday. I could have slept longer but eventually we decided we had to eat. Of course when I say we slept I mean in between feeding the baby who was very good about letting us have a lie in. In the evening we tried to do some baby mould casts of hands and feed. We'd got a kit of alginate and plaster but this turned out to be a lot more difficult that expected. Baby really did not enjoy the experience. There was much screaming and thrashing of limbs. We managed to get one reasonable hand and a couple of nearly there feet before we ran out of powder. We'll give it one more go before handing over to the professionals, if we can find someone reasonably priced.
Sunday we went to visit my parents. Baby was very well behaved and enjoyed getting lots of attention from her grandparents who sat holding her for most of the afternoon. When we got home though she didn't want to settle without being held which meant that it was difficult to get anything done. We did manage to order some more torture powder/alginate and order some photos to be printed though so that wasn't too bad. It did mean getting to bed about midnight, but then I slept most of the way in on the train this morning and I don't feel too bad for it!
As a measure of how tired I was last night/this morning I managed to not only sleep through the baby waking up for her 3am feed, being changed, fed and put back to bed but I only managed to switch off the 3:30 alarm after a couple of minutes of mommy kicking me to let me know that the alarm was sounding. Somehow I did manage to get up at 6 for work though.
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