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!
Sunday, 21 March 2010
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.
Monday, 22 February 2010
Day 16-17
Didn't get much time to write over the weekend. We were pretty busy trying to get stuff finished before my return to work. Saturday saw us heading out to the hospital. As seems to be common with new babies the bes laid plans of how the morning should pan out so that we arrive at the hospital on time went down the tubes quickly. We did make it on time but it did involve a lot of rushing around. We managed to head to Starbucks for a hot chocolate and a cake after the visit as the baby was still sleeping. The checkup went fine and the baby is gaining weight quite rapidly. Mommy has decided that we should up the amount of formula that we're giving the baby now. This has pros and cons. On the plus side she sleeps much better at the moment as she's a bit bloated. The con is that because she's a bit bloated she's more likely to be sick while being burped. This only seems to happen when I burp her so either I'm being more aggressive or she's still got trapped wind from not being burped sufficiently on the previous feeding. Either way, we had a bit of a mishap on Sunday with this. We were settling down in the evening to watch a film and I was feeding the baby to try and get her back to sleep. I was burping her just at the end of the feeding and she was sick all over my legs and on the sofa. So instead of watching the film we had the joy of stripping off the sofa covers and trying to get them clean. I think they're OK but I guess I'll find out when I get home tonight.
Aside from that nothing much of note over the weekend. Much work was done to the house and the downstairs is all but finished.
Aside from that nothing much of note over the weekend. Much work was done to the house and the downstairs is all but finished.
Thursday, 18 February 2010
Day 13
Today we took the baby into town to be registered. She was very well behaved giving mommy another chance to try out the pram before I go back to work. As it was raining we had a chance to get the pram in and out of the car as well which was a bit of a struggle. Given our car isn't exactly small the boot space does leave something to be desired. Anyway we managed it and the baby only woke up when we put her in the car to come home. I had to stop to register with the local doctors on the way home so I had to leave mommy in the car trying to keep the hungry baby amused whilst I filled in endless forms.
Mommy has been reading a book which suggests that formula fed babies are easy to overfeed. It's difficult to know if we're falling into this trap as we've been advised to just feed her whenever she asks for it as she's so small. We've been doing that but we tried her with a dummy yesterday evening and she actually seemed just as happy to have that instead of being fed an hour after her last feed. I think the dummy may be the way to go before we fall into the trap of overfeeding. She is gaining weight nicely and as long as that continues we won't worry too much one way or the other I think.
Meanwhile, work on the house is getting near to completion. I've emptied all of the boxes in my study and I just need to build some storage to put it all in now. Otherwise I think it's just getting the snagging bits of painting done and the odd curtain pole or two and I can call it a day until the weather picks up and I can start doing stuff outdoors.
Mommy has been reading a book which suggests that formula fed babies are easy to overfeed. It's difficult to know if we're falling into this trap as we've been advised to just feed her whenever she asks for it as she's so small. We've been doing that but we tried her with a dummy yesterday evening and she actually seemed just as happy to have that instead of being fed an hour after her last feed. I think the dummy may be the way to go before we fall into the trap of overfeeding. She is gaining weight nicely and as long as that continues we won't worry too much one way or the other I think.
Meanwhile, work on the house is getting near to completion. I've emptied all of the boxes in my study and I just need to build some storage to put it all in now. Otherwise I think it's just getting the snagging bits of painting done and the odd curtain pole or two and I can call it a day until the weather picks up and I can start doing stuff outdoors.
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