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Yesterday, not only was it Mother's Day but also the day that Little Snicker turned 12 weeks old. As such, this will be my last weekly update on him. Lets face it, it wouldn't be cool to still be posting about him on his 1096th week (which would be his 21st birthday).
So, today I thought I would show you this terribly cute photo of him that we captured on Friday:
Adorable, hey. So sad, so sad.
Anyway, the things I have learned this week are:
"Sleeping Through the Night" can mean many things - We had a discussion about this last week at Mother's Group. Basically, the Health Nurse said that if your baby is sleeping from 11pm through to 5am, that's 'sleeping through'. I was a bit disappointed as Little Snicker doesn't look to be doing anything of the sort....but then when I explained what Little Snicker does, the Health Nurse advised that he actually IS sleeping through the night... just not the right part of the night lol.
You see, we feed him at 5.30pm and have him in bed asleep by 6.30pm. The last couple of nights he hasn't woken up until between 12.30am and 1.30am, which means that he is getting his 6 or 7 hours of full sleep. The bad side to the fact that he sleeps earlier than most other babies, is that he is awake a LOT earlier too. None the less, he is technically 'sleeping through'.
And finally...
There are very few things more rewarding than being a mum - When we start the day at 4.30am, my eyes are generally hanging out of my head and I wonder what on earth we got ourselves in to. But all I have to do is look at Little Snicker playing on the floor, smiling at his Sock Owl Mobile, to know that I wouldn't change anything for the world.
I have a very career orientated friend (you know who you are!) who can't really understand why the mum's in our group of friends have put their career on the backburner for a couple of years. I don't think you can possibly understand until you've had your own child. The joy they bring is simply indescribable.
Just because this is my last weekly update, doesn't mean that I won't still be posting pictures of Little Snicker as he learns new things. He will, of course, also be my model for anything I make that requires a demonstration.
Well, I hope you all had a great Mothers Day. I best go and do some washing while the weather is nice!
Well today our son (who from now on, for the purpose of this blog, will be known as Little Snicker) turned 11 weeks old. He no longer has that look of a newborn and is definitely beginning to show us little snippets of his personality.
Here is a picture of him taken this morning while looking at the sock owl mobile:
The things I have learned this week are:
It is important to keep taking your vitamins - I stopped taking mine for a week, only due to the fact that I ran out and I couldn't be bothered going to get any more. Within 3 days I was feeling a little rough around the edges, but I couldn't work out why. By the end of the week I felt terrible.. like I was about to come down with the mother load of all illnesses. So, naturally, I went and got some vitamins. Within 2 days I was back to normal. Lesson learned.
You pass on the bad as well as the good - For the past week Little Snicker has been stropping out a lot during feed times. During one of these little strops I found myself saying "Wow, he reminds me of myself right now". It's a hard, cold truth that you don't just pass your good traits through to your offspring, but also some of the bad.
When you need it most you are rewarded - I have been feeling a bit flat of late. Today I felt particularly *blergh* and had a major meltdown over something stupid. Not 10 minutes later, I heard Little Snicker stirring in his cot so I went in to get him before he started screaming the house down. Imagine my surprise when he didn't cry, but instead gave me the biggest grin I have ever seen. It simply melted my heart.
Another thing that melted my heart today... seeing Little Snicker holding onto his daddy's finger for dear life while they were playing:
Ahh too cute for words!
On Sunday, our 'not-so-little' boy turned 10 weeks old. Here is a picture:
The things I have learned this week are:
All of a sudden YOU'RE the expert (WTF?!?!): We have a couple of friends who are due soon, so we knew to expect to talk about our baby a bit when we caught up with them on the weekend.
What we didn't expect, was that Matty and I are now deemed 'experts' amongst these friends lol. Well experts we certainly are not, but on the way home Matty and I were discussing it and realised that compared to when our little man was 1 week old, we now knew a LOT more than we did back then.
We now know that even the leading brand disposable nappies leak, we know that cloth nappying really isn't that hard, we know that in order to keep the baby swaddled you need to be a little 'tough' and we know that there are other alternatives to the 'cabbage leaves' to relieve your poor aching nipples.
One thing I am thankful for is that we will never again be where these friends are...poor buggers lol!
Expect fluff in weird places: I would have expected someone to tell me about this when our baby was born, but nope... we had to figure it out ourselves. Let me tell you that there are SO many crevices where fluff gets stuck. The most common places we have found fluff is in the creases of his hands, in between his fingers and in between his toes.
For a fluff gold-mine, make sure you check between the neck rolls. There is an added benefit of removing the fluff from the neck rolls regularly... if you don't, your baby will develop what has been coined in our household as 'stinky neck'. Let me tell you, no one wants stinky neck!
Another place to check, especially if your baby is wearing something made out of fleece, is the tiny fat creases at the back of the thighs. We found so much fluff in there one day that we could almost build our own firelighters.
It's ok if your baby isn't doing the same as everyone else's - Nothing irks me more than when a mother says "Oh, MY baby was doing *this* at 8 weeks old.. Is he not doing that?" .
It really isn't a competition. Just because your baby is doing something that another baby isn't, doesn't mean that baby is a dunce. Babies are only small for such a short time, I wonder why mother's seem to want them to grow up so much faster.
Chances are if you're feeling crap, someone else is too - One of the things I was worried about when joining a Mother's Group, was that everyone would be pretending everything was hunky-dory all the time. Thank goodness they aren't like that!
We had a pretty crappy week last week, with reflux appearing to be the main contributor. When asked if we all had a good week at the Mother's Group, I said "Nope" straight away and about 75% of the group admitted they'd had a crap time of it too. It really helped to talk about it all and to hear that we weren't the only ones with some problems.
Well, since I was slack with the 10 week update, here is another photo we took this morning:
Oh isn't he adorable laying there with his Ugg Boots on and his belly hanging out! lol
The weeks are flying by in a blur. I knew they would, but didn't think they would pass by quite so quick. Our little boy is 9 weeks old today and his personality is really starting to show through.
Here is a picture of him all rugged up and ready to go outside:
This week he had his first lot of immunisations and it was really nowhere near as bad as I thought it would be. Sure he cried, which was to be expected, but he settled down quickly and then just went to sleep.
We didn't see any real effects of the immunisations until Saturday morning when we noticed he was exceptionally 'spewy'. He was off his tucker all day yesterday and slept a lot. He seems a bit better this morning though!
The things I have learned this week are:
Your friends disappear - You know it's bound to happen, but it still comes as a bit of a shock! Everyone wants to see you in the first couple of weeks and then all of a sudden no one does! It's funny, because you haven't changed as a person, but just about every mum I've talked to says it has happened to them too - crazy! This leads me to my next point.
You start doing things out of your comfort zone - I am not one to really talk to people I don't know, but this week I have been having conversations with everyone I come into contact with! I've also looked up people I've met in the past few months on facebook, as a way to feel a little more connected.
Even at 3am, smiles melt your heart - We have a bit of a 'rule' in our house that between the 5pm feed and the 6am feed, it's all business. That means that we make limited eye contact with our son, barely talk to him and certainly don't encourage any form of play. I have nearly caved in a couple of times when he is laying on the change table grinning from ear to ear. Even at 3am he's a happy little chappy!
Absence makes the heart grow fonder - As I said above, this week has been a bit rough for us. Because of this Matty and I decided that I should have a bit of 'me' time and go and do some shopping by myself. I simply could not believe how much I missed our little guy. I had spent all morning looking forward to going out in the afternoon, only to want to get home to see him again!Mother's group starts up this week and while I'm a little bit excited, I am also a little bit nervous. I'm not sure whether it's going to be for me or not or whether I will even connect with the people in the group, but I am willing to give it a shot and will let you know how we go!
Have a great week!
First things first....
Our little man turned 2 months old today (going by the calendar), so we took some more photos for his 12 month collection (here is the first photo):
I couldn't get him to smile at all, possibly due to the fact that he had his first lot of immunisations today, which all went fine.
Anyway, I am going to post again today with a craft item I've been working on. Stay tuned
As promised I am back! I am excited to be blogging again and am hoping to be able to update you all on the projects I have been undertaking over the last two weeks. Today though (as with all Sunday posts) it's all about the boy!
During my hiatus, my little man turned 6, 7 AND 8 weeks old (well, he is 8 weeks today). Here is a picture of him at 6 weeks old (how cool is his 'super hero' onesie)!
We had a fantastic Easter on our first holiday as a family over in Murray Bridge and as a special treat for us, our son started smiling at us - yay! He was an absolute dream on the 7 hour trip, only waking for feeds and a bit of a play.
Here is a picture of him on Easter Sunday at 7 weeks old. As you can see he quite likes being dressed up as a bunny (not that he had much of a choice):
And here is a picture taken today at 8 weeks old:
The things I have learned over the past two weeks are as follows:
Keep a spare change of clothes in the boot of the car - I know I've mentioned about having enough clothes for yourself for times when you are poo'd, wee'd or spewed on, but I strongly recommend keeping some of these clothes in the boot of the car too.
Earlier this week I went our for morning tea with some friends. I got out of the car, started unpacking the pram and then realised my boob had sprung a leak. As a result, half of my t-shirt was wet with 'boobie juice' *sigh*. I didn't have a spare change of clothes, so I had to stand in the toilets for a good 10 minutes under the hand dryer lol. I was hoping that everyone else's perfume was making the sweet smell of breast milk!
Don't expect too much of yourself - It's a good day if your only accomplishment is getting out of bed, showering and getting dressed. Enough said.Be flexible - I have a friend who has a small baby and she is not flexible in the slightest. She has a list of things to do for that day and they all get done, no matter what. Putting it nicely, she is a wreck. She is stressed to the max and doesn't seem to know why.
Sure there are things that may need to be done in a day, appointments to be kept etc., but if you are having a bad day it helps if you are flexible enough to shuffle things around.
This week we are off to get the first lot of immunisations done. It doesn't bother me that he has to have the needles as I know that it is doing him good. The part I think I will struggle with is if he is miserable for a day or two as a result. I'm sure it's nothing that lots of cuddles on the couch can't fix though!
This last week has passed a little slower. I'm guessing that is because there is only 2 hours between each feed at the moment. I am hoping that this is just a growth spurt and it will pass, because it is positively exhausting.
Here is the 5 week photo of our son wearing the romper I made for Matty, who is an avid gamer:
The things I have learned this week:
White is great when you have children! - Yes, I might be mad saying this and I certainly thought my step mother was mad when she bought me a white dressing gown for Christmas knowing that there was a baby on the way, but seriously, the amount of times I've looked at myself in the mirror and said "OMG.. I have dried poo on me!" is bordering on ridiculous. If my dressing gown were any other colour, who knows how much dried poo I'd have on me and how long it would be there for!
It would be so easy to become, well, a 'slob' - There are times that I would rather stay in bed than get up and have a shower before Matty goes to work, but I know that if that happens it could be a while until I get a shower (If at all). So I force myself to get up and have one rather than stay in bed getting the 10 minutes of interrupted sleep I'll have if I don't.
I also try to make sure that I only wear tracksuit pants once a week and try to dress nice for the rest of the time. Just because I'm at home, it doesn't mean that I can stop looking after myself. If I feel good (by showering and dressing nice) then the whole day seems to flow a lot better. I also find that I don't eat nearly as much crap!
It would be so easy to sit around all day in my trackies, unshowered and eating bad, but I hope that never happens to me.
Feeding doesn't have to dictate your life - Two hourly, three hourly, four hourly or five hourly.. it's definitely going to have to happen. I was finding that I was timing things to occur between feeds, which meant that I could only go out for a maximum of an hour and a half before I had to head home to feed again. It doesn't have to be that way... which leads me to my next point.
Parents Rooms are a fantastic invention - I have fed in a couple of parents rooms this week and they have been great, offering up to date facilities and private quarters for feeding. It also means that I can stay out for the whole day, yet still feed the baby.This week is weigh-in week, so it will be great to see how much he has put on. He is a real little porker and is growing right before our very eyes. If only there were some way to slow it down just a tad!
Our little man is one month old today and what a month it has been! I may be a bit biased, but we have one of the most adorable babies ever. The only issue we had had is with the feeding and even that seems to have resolved itself somewhat over the past couple of days. Our baby appears to be incredibly happy and content which is SUCH a blessing!
I wanted to do something special to commemorate each month of his life, so I did a bit of a search on the internet and stumbled across a blog (which of course I forgot to bookmark), where the blogger took a photo of her baby with a sign showing the date (she had the template on her blog).
She did it for the first twelve months and the results were really quite cute, so I decided we would do it also. Here is the first photo in the 12 part series:
This week I have learned:
You can never have enough clothes - I mean for YOU, not the baby! On Friday morning I was going to have morning tea with a very good friend of mine and I ended up changing my top 3 times in a half-hour period before I could leave the house! One more mishap and I wouldn't have had a jumper to wear! I also recommend keeping a change of clothes for yourself in the boot of the car... which leads me to my next point...
Breast pads are not leak-free - You guessed it. I went out and I leaked... right through my bra and through my jumper. Luckily I was at my mum's and it was hot so it dried pretty quick, but still - it wasn't cool! lol
Perseverance pays off - A lot of people give up on breastfeeding and I can't say I blame them. It is stressful and exhausting if it doesn't work naturally. I have been eating oats, taking alfalfa capsules and expressing every two hours for a month now. I am pleased to report that my milk supply looks to have increased to a stage where I can feed the baby and still express some out. Thank goodness (I thought I was going to throw in the towel too for a while there).
Using cloth isn't as time consuming as they say it is - Every time I mentioned that we planned on using cloth nappies rather than disposables, I was met with frowns and the words "oooh it's a lot of work". Well, actually, I'm finding that it really isn't.
Cloth has come a long way and so now you can use a process called 'dry pailing'. It means, you simply dispose of any poo (which isn't solid at the moment anyway as I'm breastfeeding), put the nappy in your bucket (without any water) and put the lid on. Each morning you then pop your nappies (and cloth wipes if you're using them too) into the washing machine, put in your nappy soak and set the washing machine to the soak cycle on a hot wash. Done. It's as easy as that.
It is important to remember who you are - It would be so easy to become someone who doesn't have anything to talk about other than the baby and lets face it... that's really a bit boring lol! So I make sure I keep up with the news (did you hear about the guy who married his pillow?!?), continue with my craft endeavours and catch up with my friends regularly.
On Friday night Matty and I went out to dinner with our friends while mum looked after the baby. It was great! It reminded me that I am still my own person and that having a baby doesn't necessarily have to mean that you lose your identity.Anyway, our little man is looking to be fed again so I best away!
Our son is now 3 weeks old and has brought so much joy into our lives in the short time he has been in this world. It is scary how much he has changed over the past three weeks though and it has made me realise that children really do grow up too fast and so it is important to cherish every moment.
Here is a picture of him from this morning:
Earlier this week we attended a baby settling class run by our local, private Hospital and it was fantastic. It armed us with some more tools to assist in settling our baby and also confirmed that we were doing some things correctly (like putting him in his cot while he is still awake so that he can learn to settle himself). We are very fortunate to have a very content little baby who only cries when he is hungry or has a pain in his belly.
Anyway, the things I have learned from my experience as a mother this week are as follows:
I need to toughen up - I need to learn how to either say "no" to visitors coming or be tough enough to tell them to leave. Don't get me wrong, I do like visitors... but it seems that everyone wants to come on the same day! To make it worse, we don't see anyone all week and then everyone wants to come and visit us on the weekend and it is exhausting!
Breastfeeding is hard... so very, very hard - Anyone that has issues with breastfeeding and perseveres deserves a medal. I have been very close to throwing in the towel this week due to under supply issues and I have to say that breastfeeding has been the most stressful thing I have EVER had to deal with. When you're holding your baby who is screaming because you can't supply him with enough milk, you can't help but feel like you're failing. But, we are persevering and we are getting there... slowly. Which brings me to my next point.
Don't underestimate the importance of having a supportive husband - If I wasn't married to the most beautiful, supportive person in the world then I would have given up breastfeeding this week for sure. But Matty has sat by my side for hours, holding my hand and telling me that it will all be ok. Together we have brainstormed different techniques to try to increase my supply and I am beginning to think that we might be ok. I honestly couldn't have gotten through this feeding issue without him.
This coming week I am trying to build up my confidence with going out alone with the baby and also with breastfeeding in public. I am not sure that I'll ever whip out the boobs at the local McDonalds, but I am hoping to be able to breastfeed at places we frequent a lot - like my parents house.
Anyway, I am going to go and have some cuddles with my little man before tucking him into bed for the night.
It is hard to believe that this time two weeks ago I was in labour. My world has turned upside down since the birth of our son and I simply can't believe how absolutely delightful he is... or the fact that I am actually, finally a mum!
Here is a picture taken this morning:
This week has been a fairly steep learning curve, during which I learned that:
So called 'professionals' aren't always right - We had a home visit from the midwife on Wednesday this week and she growled at us for using a dummy and for allowing Matty to feed expressed milk from a bottle for one feed of a night time. She believes that it causes 'nipple confusion' and that it would be the reason why the baby feeds fine some times and not other times.
After she left, Matty and I discussed what she'd said and decided that I would do two days worth of feeds myself from the breast and see whether there was any difference. We also decided to limit the dummy use too, again to see if there was any change in his feeding.
I am pleased to report that there was NO change in his feeding. Sometimes he feeds like a dream, other time he just stuffs around a bit before he settles into a rhythm. So, I guess the moral of this story is that while we need to try new things, ultimately we need to do what works best for us as a family!
There is no such thing as breastfeeding 'friendly' clothes - The tops and bra's with the breastfeeding clips are, to say the least, down-right frustrating! I am not sure whether the fact I have tendinitis plays a part or not, but I am simply unable to un-clip or re-clip these things with a single hand. That means I have to put the baby down to un-clip them when I need to change sides during feeding *sigh*. This leads me to my next point.
I am a lot more confident in my body - After getting frustrated with the breastfeeding bra clips, I decided that I just wouldn't wear a bra at all for a lot of the feeds lol. If you had have told me a couple of weeks ago that I'd be sitting half naked in the nursery feeding our baby I would have laughed given how modest I am!
Sure, I have a little bit of baby weight to get rid of, but overall I am pretty pleased with how I look. It is a nice feeling to actually feel confident in my body rather than worrying that I need to lose weight or work out more. I hope this new-found confidence lasts!
It is important to laugh - Twice this week I have had poo on me, as our son has a 'knack' for projectile pooing at exactly the right time. Yesterday's projectile poo landed right on the leg of my jeans, half an hour into our neice's birthday party! Matty has been pooed on too. So has our couch, our couch cushion and our carpet. Matty's parents bed wasn't spared either!
A while ago Matty and I decided that we were going to try not to stress out as parents. When your kid poo's like ours does, there is only one thing you can do - laugh about it.
This coming week we are going to be attending a baby settling class, so I will be sure to tell you all how that goes at next weeks update. Until then, we're just going to be enjoying our little boy!
I simply cannot believe how fast this first week has gone! My little boy is 1 week old already and has changed so much it is hard to believe.
Here is a picture of him taken this morning:
This week has been full of many more highs than I expected and a lot less lows than I expected. In fact the only lows I've had this week have been with regards to feeding, as we have had a lot of problems in that area. We are almost sorted though I think, which is a great feeling.
The thing I realised this week, is that there is a LOT to learn. Here are some things I have learned so far:Breastfeeding doesn't come as naturally as they say it does - There are a lot of factors that contribute to whether or not it works. Lucky for me, technique was not a problem so I skipped most of the nipple problems that most new mum's have. I mean, I got sore, but no grazes or pinching or anything. The biggest problem for us, was that my milk didn't come in until day 5 *sigh* - and they say breastfeeding is 'natural'.
I was discussing the fact that breastfeeding doesn't come as naturally as we're all lead to believe with a midwife at the hospital and she agreed saying "It is natural, but it is a learned art". I wish someone had have said that to me earlier on as it made me realise that my son and I are BOTH trying to learn something simultaneously, with no prior training, so of course it is going to be testing - for both of us!There is something worse than poo explosions - My word there is... it's called the poo volcano, or projectile poo. Yesterday my delightful little boy managed to squirt poo to about 1/2 a metre over the end of the change table. Luckily I happened to be standing at the side at the time so I avoided getting covered, but the carpet was a mess.
When we went to the hospital yesterday to have him weighed, I mentioned what happened to the midwife. Her eyes lit up and she clapped her hands together claiming that it was great news. Maybe for her! She didn't have to clean it up!
Apparently there is no etiquette that people stay away on the day after a baby is born - We had SO many visitors on the first day that it was ridiculous! As a result, Matty put a message up on facebook asking for everyone to give us some space. I mean, we love the fact that everyone wanted to meet our little man but seriously... on the first day?
The thing that you tend to forget too, is that even when there are no visitors you have nurses, physio's, obstetricians and the tea lady coming in and out too. It felt like it was an endless stream of people. By the time we got through the first two days I felt as though I wasn't as close to my son as I wanted to be, so we spent a lot of time on the third day having skin to skin contact and just enjoying each other. I will certainly be putting some visiting restrictions in place the next time we have a child!
It is important to keep on cuddling - You think I'm talking about cuddling the baby, don't you? Well nope... After the first day being full of visitors and the second day being full of trying to get the breastfeeding happening, I realised I felt like I hadn't had a decent cuddle with Matty since the birth. Sure, we'd kissed and cuddled and stuff, but only in passing.
At the end of the day, doing the dishes instead of having a cuddle isn't going to make your marriage great, so I've made it my motto to remember to keep on cuddling the husband.
I am sure I will continue learning as the weeks go by, but I am really looking forward to it as it has been a long time since I've been challenged!
Our first (and only) customer enjoyed browsing all of the hats on display from the comfort of a reclining chair:
but had to admit that he wasn't overly impressed with our range of sombrero's:
and since there was nothing else in the store that caught his eye, he decided he'd settle on that one. I couldn't help but feel though, that he was a little disappointed:
