Week 9-10

Wow 2 and a bit weeks without posting. Time has been flying by. I think that part of the problem was that everythign was going so well and then we had some friends over for a meal on the Sunday at the start of week 10 when I would have written the week 9 post and the baby was a little out of sorts. The only thing that would console her was being walked around and rocked in her pram. As it was a nice day we had lunch outside with the baby in the shade. This was ok as she sort of slept on and off but she did get a bit upset from time to time. after our friends had gone we decided to take the baby for a walk through town. This usually settles her quickly but on this occasion she was a bit upset all the way and was starting to sneeze. So we did wonder if she was suffering with hayfever. Anyway it became clear that she'd got her first cold. Poor thing.


We did eventually manage to settle her in the evening and then had to start pandering to her for a few days. This generally involved earlier morning feeds and letting her sleep as much as possible. On the Sunday night she was snoring so badly that mummy insisted that we move her out of the bedroom into the hall. This did help and we all slept for a few hours more although moving the baby monitor and everything else out of the bedroom was a bit of a chore in the middle of the night!


We discovered teh joys of Calpol that night although I don't think the baby was too impressed but it does help her sleep. So over a few days she got over it. We also discovered that putting something under her matress to elevate her head helps to stopthe snoring so that helped her to move back into the bedroom. So now we're equipped to handle colds and minor ailments. What was surprising was that it didn't really bother the baby all that much. It did from time to time but not in general.


So that week was sort of spent sleep deprived. Although we only really lost sleep on that first night it took a while to catch up. Last weekend I snuck out to go and do some diving training which was nice but mommy got me back by going out in the evening to see a show with her friend and leaving me in charge. I think this is going to be a pattern as she's now involved in two local shows so I'm going to be left in charge a few evenings a week.


Last time I was left in charge I had to bathe the baby. This is normally ok but on this occasion we had a bit of a disaster. We have  seat to put in the bath which helps to keep the baby stable and you can almost let go of her for a second without her slipping too much. We moved on to use the baby bath instead of the sink a few weeks ago and we now wedge that on the rim of the normal bath. That's also fine as it means thatI don't have to lean over so far. Sadly, on this occasion whilst holding the baby in the bath seat I leaned on the edge of the baby bath which knocked it off the top of the normal bath. It dropped to the bath with the baby still in the seat. Everything was OK but I think she was a bit upset, at least judging by the scream!


Aside from all that we've increased her feed. She was ok on the previous amount but was starting to insist on being fed earlier between feeds which is bad for sleeping patterns. The next amount up was an extra 60ml which is a little excessive and did result in a  lot of throwing up as she wouldn't leave the bottle. She's started to get used to it now and we can make her leave some which has stopped the sickness. The upside is that she can go longer between feeds but the downsides are that it takes longer to warm up and she's full of energy after each feed most of the time which isn't very convenient in the mornings or at night. On the plus side of that though she's increasingly happy to be left on her playmat and talk to the animals. She's also getting very close to rolling onto her front. She can get right up onto her shoulder at the moment. A strong gust of wind and she'll be over so any day now I guess.

Weeks 8 and 9

Missed a post last week because the weekend was so busy. Week 8 ended with Easter and a four day weekend. Godd Friday was spent preparing the house for a small party on Saturday. This involved completing all of the minor jobs around the house like changing the door handle on the hatch to the loft, minor touchup painting etc. Saturday was the party so we spent the morning preparing some food. That of course meant that the oven took the opportunity to break so we were left with just the top oven. It turned out that we had cooked about twice as much food as necessary so there were plenty of leftovers.
The party was reasonably successful. It the first chance for a few friends and family to meet the baby and our first opportunity to meet the new Nephew as my brother and his wife and baby were down for the weekend. The baby was thoroughly spoiled for the day of course with lots of attention.
Sunday was easter so we went to my parents to have  family meal with Great granny in attendance and the new Nephew. So again the babies had lots of attention with lots of photographs and camcorder footage which needs to be edited down.
Monday was a rest day which involved cutting the leftover chicken off the bone and cooking a weeks worth of caserole and curry.
So the rest of the week went as normal really except that I was charged with doing the middle of the night feeding on Thursday night/Friday morning which had typically been at about 4am. Baby decided to be nice to me and slept through until 6.30 for me which upset mummy. Since then the baby has started sleeping through more and more often. During week 9 there were only one or two occasions when mommy had to do the middle of the night feed because she was sleeping until I had to get up for work. That did mean that I was getting a little less sleep because I have to get up at 6 instead of 6.30 to get the early feed done.
So week 9 was characterised by trying to encourage a good sleeping pattern so she'll go through the night. It's been fairly successful but it has been difficult to keep her awake in the evening on a few occasions. Those occasions have generally been followed by the baby waking up early for her feed though so it's definately worth the extra effort.
Right now it's Sunday night and I'm keeping the baby awake for another hour or so before she gets fed again and is then allowed to go to bed. She has been very sleepy today so she should be a bit more active right now. She's been quite happy for us to get on and do our stuff today and just sleep through it all which was quite nice. This morning she didn't sleep through but I think it's because we were too tired last night to keep her awake in the evening.
Today I've been able to get on and mow the lawn and fix the oven from last weekend.

Don't go to sleep yet baby bear!