So, Daniel is now five and a half weeks old. It seems an age away that I was so stressed and upset about being overdue with him. Yet these five weeks have gone in a flash! He is growing so fast, and the time is going so quickly, it feels like I barely have time to enjoy his newborn-ness. And when does he stop being a newborn?
Milestones reached.. He smiles, he lifts his head clear of the floor, he has even cooed at me a few times.
He is now in 3-6 month clothes. Yes you read that right... My almost 6 week old baby is in clothes for a 12-26 week old baby. He is my first baby in cloth, but still, some are fairly slim and the 0-3 is stretched tight in the fatter nappies, and simply snug in the slimmer ones. The 3-6 month old ones are slightly baggy, but not overly so. The majority of his 3-6 month clothes are still in the loft, but he has 5 rompers which were gifted to him that his brothers never wore that he's now wearing in the meantime until the rest of them come down.
He's getting weighed tomorrow. He was weighed 2 weeks ago at my request, and weighed 11lb 9oz then. My milk supply is still plentiful, I let down heavily from both breasts when he begins a feed, I completely soak breast pads each day, even the lanisoh ones. I have not started pumping, I will see about it once I get some storage bags. Not that I'm planning on using the milk for Daniel particularly but it can't hurt to have some in the freezer.
Daniel has two doting big brothers. The novelty has worn off somewhat but he still gets plenty of kisses and cuddles during the day. Christopher has gone from giving him about 10+ hugs and kisses a day to about 2 or 3. Robert has become more affectionate towards him as time goes on. He enjoys the responsibility of rocking him in the bouncer, and will often sit and talk to him. If he's crying, I'll often see Robert come up to him, and say soothingly "don't wowwy, Daniel, mummy will give you milk in a minute!" Robert has quickly learned that if Daniel is crying, most often this can be solved by giving him milk. ;)
Daniel is of course breastfed on demand. This is never often more than 3 hours apart, and quite often more than twice within an hour. Most often I'd say between every 1.5 and 2 hours. But as I don't clock watch, it's really hard to say.
He is mostly co-sleeping with us. If I get uncomfortable I will put him in his cot, but mostly once he wakes for the first time after we have gone to bed, he will come into bed with us after a nappy change (into the most absorbent and leak proof nappy we have to hand to avoid having to change him during the night), and stay in bed with us during the night until we get up in the morning. Lately he has been good until about 5am when he gets restless. During the night he will easily feed and then sleep, but around 5am he will wake and feed, and then whinge on and off until about 6.30 when he'll drop back off to sleep, and leave us too awake to get back to sleep in time to appreciate it before the boys gro clock turns yellow.
Unlike Christopher (and somewhat like Robert), Daniel is quite a sicky baby. He will spit up some of his feed in almost every case, sometimes straight away, sometimes after a while. Sometimes it's just a little dribble, sometimes it comes out in gushes. He often gets grumpy after a feed, until he has spit up. Although part of me is wondering if he has an intolerance because he also has some patches of rough red skin, mostly on his right cheek and ear, and behind the ear. Some on his neck, in the crease, and I noticed a small amount on the stork bite on the back of his neck. I might start giving him regular baths to try and clean off those areas more thoroughly, in case it is perhaps the sick irritating the skin? He has had about 4 baths so far. I will also mention it at my 6 week postnatal checkup on Monday. But if regular bathing doesn't help, I may see about eliminating dairy from my diet to see if that helps. At least I don't have the worry that he's not gaining weight, I can see he is gaining weight, and meeting milestones, but if I can help ease discomfort I will!
Anyway, Jonathan is getting nearer to Daniels birthday on the photos, sorting and uploading them, so hopefully I will have some photos to update with soon!
Showing posts with label updates. Show all posts
Showing posts with label updates. Show all posts
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Sunday, 12 May 2013
41 weeks 3 days
Thank you for the love and hugs for my previous post.
Something I hadn't actually mentioned here, was actually I've had various "could this be it" moments over the last few days. The first of which was Monday night, I had BH every 5 minutes on the dot from at least 8pm til 8.30pm, before they fizzled out a bit on finishing packing my labour and postnatal bag (4 days after my due date lol), and then stopped. The second of which was on Thursday night. I was actually getting pretty excited, thinking that if nothing happened overnight, then I would probably have my baby in my arms some time Friday. I've been getting dribs and drabs of my show come away since my first sweep on Wednesday (about 7 hours later), and have been having several small amounts a day since then. Usually bloody ones for about 2-3 toilet trips after each of my two (unsuccessful) sweeps, then normal coloured.
I've been reluctant to say anything, because each time I've been excited, I've been disappointed, which has all helped to culminate in the desperation and hopelessness of yesterday's entry.
However, as a little heads up for all you lovely blog reader people (NOT sharing on FB yet - they will get a Birth Announcement as first sign of anything happened), things MAY be starting up (finally). I started noticing just after lunchtime that my braxton hicks (strong ones now as most of them are) were coming quite frequently. And they have continued fairly frequently throughout the afternoon - but only on walking around the house or standing. Unfortunately bouncing on the ball is having little effect. When sitting, I am still getting them, but much less frequently. I seem to get one the instant I stand up, and every 5-10 minutes if I remain standing up. I am not deluding myself into thinking it could be VERY soon (as in, within the next few hours)... but I am hopeful that things are on the move. That maybe sometime tomorrow I will have my baby in my arms. I could of course carry on standing, walking, pottering, but my legs are so achy right now from the walking this morning, and the walking yesterday. I think right now, as eager as I am to get things MOVING, I should really listen to my body, so I will be walking around as necessary, but not more than necessary. And trying to get plenty of rest. I have a feeling I'll need to be well rested tomorrow! (oh please please - I hope this isn't my body crying wolf again - but this definitely feels more "early labour-ish" to me)
I do wonder if part of it has happened because finally we have made a start on tidying up the old study - we cleared the floor yesterday (a BIG job - took the two of us several hours!!!), and today I managed to nab a corner storage unit second hand for £25 from a local selling site. Jonathan went and collected it, and spent the afternoon setting it up in the old study - I plan on using it for craft things. But hopefully, now that job has been eaten into, and there isn't so much to do, we can have a baby!!! (please please please!)
Something I hadn't actually mentioned here, was actually I've had various "could this be it" moments over the last few days. The first of which was Monday night, I had BH every 5 minutes on the dot from at least 8pm til 8.30pm, before they fizzled out a bit on finishing packing my labour and postnatal bag (4 days after my due date lol), and then stopped. The second of which was on Thursday night. I was actually getting pretty excited, thinking that if nothing happened overnight, then I would probably have my baby in my arms some time Friday. I've been getting dribs and drabs of my show come away since my first sweep on Wednesday (about 7 hours later), and have been having several small amounts a day since then. Usually bloody ones for about 2-3 toilet trips after each of my two (unsuccessful) sweeps, then normal coloured.
I've been reluctant to say anything, because each time I've been excited, I've been disappointed, which has all helped to culminate in the desperation and hopelessness of yesterday's entry.
However, as a little heads up for all you lovely blog reader people (NOT sharing on FB yet - they will get a Birth Announcement as first sign of anything happened), things MAY be starting up (finally). I started noticing just after lunchtime that my braxton hicks (strong ones now as most of them are) were coming quite frequently. And they have continued fairly frequently throughout the afternoon - but only on walking around the house or standing. Unfortunately bouncing on the ball is having little effect. When sitting, I am still getting them, but much less frequently. I seem to get one the instant I stand up, and every 5-10 minutes if I remain standing up. I am not deluding myself into thinking it could be VERY soon (as in, within the next few hours)... but I am hopeful that things are on the move. That maybe sometime tomorrow I will have my baby in my arms. I could of course carry on standing, walking, pottering, but my legs are so achy right now from the walking this morning, and the walking yesterday. I think right now, as eager as I am to get things MOVING, I should really listen to my body, so I will be walking around as necessary, but not more than necessary. And trying to get plenty of rest. I have a feeling I'll need to be well rested tomorrow! (oh please please - I hope this isn't my body crying wolf again - but this definitely feels more "early labour-ish" to me)
I do wonder if part of it has happened because finally we have made a start on tidying up the old study - we cleared the floor yesterday (a BIG job - took the two of us several hours!!!), and today I managed to nab a corner storage unit second hand for £25 from a local selling site. Jonathan went and collected it, and spent the afternoon setting it up in the old study - I plan on using it for craft things. But hopefully, now that job has been eaten into, and there isn't so much to do, we can have a baby!!! (please please please!)
Wednesday, 11 May 2011
Big delay in update!
Well it's now May, Robert will be 2 and a half at the end of the month, and Christopher will be 8 months two days later. The boys have been lovely at times, and challenging at times, such is the job of "Mother" ;)
Christopher has begun to crawl, of a fashion anyway! He is most definitely able to move forwards to get at something he wants, and is able to get where-ever he wants to on one level. At the moment it's more of an army crawl, pulling himself along by his arms with a boost from his legs. His new trick of the last few days is getting his legs right underneath himself, and then pushing up on them, locking his legs straight, and lifting his body up so he's on his hands and his toes, and his bum is hiiiigh in the air! It's very cute, and I don't remember Robert doing it to that extent! Robert's was more of a little push up, with a fairly straight body. It won't be long at all before he is zooming around. I wonder if he'll be an early walker like his brother?
Robert is chatting away all the time now, and his sentences get more and more complex it seems. I'm struggling to think of examples though as it's just what he does now, and he talks about everything and anything around him. If he watches something on TV, he is able to talk about it afterwards, and he is able to recall things he did several hours before hand to somebody who was not there with only a little prompting, things like "When we went for a walk around the village, what animals did you see?". His pronounciation for words I notice are getting clearer, but again right now I'm struggling to recall which ones in particular. He now says our cat's name (Hazel) very clearly, exactly how it should be said. Since she has had some problems with her eye, she's had numerous visits to the vets in recent weeks, with another planned for Friday, and most likely another one some time next week. She's had a biopsy taken on a growth in her eye which may or may not be a cancerous tumour :( But she does seem to be more placid and accepting towards Robert lately.
Robert is becoming very compassionate of late. This afternoon, Christopher was over-tired, and was on the floor and moaning/crying while I rushed to get Robert's dinner ready. I came back in when it was finished, looked at him, and said "Do you want a cuddle, Christopher?" and picked him up. I hadn't even stood back up properly when Robert came over and leant his head towards Christopher's head and holding onto his shoulders (how he hugs a lot of the time), and then gave him a kiss on the head. A moment which melted my heart.
He has recently acquired the knowledge that if another child (his brother included) has a toy he wants, it is ok to thrust another toy into their hands, take the toy he wants, and call it "swapping" lol. We are working on getting him to realise that it needs to be a mutual agreement, and that the other child should want to play with the toy he's trying to give them. Even when he learns to wait for the other child to accept the toy, I'm sure that in his mind, it will very much be a selfish act on his part in that the only reason he wants to swap is because he wants that other toy.
When it gets to bath time, Robert climbs up the stairs, and I follow behind with Christopher, facing outwards. This lately has become an amusing time for all of us, but in particular, Christopher, who seems to find the ascending figure of his brother hilarious! This continues for a good while, with Christopher in fits of laughter as Robert walks around upstairs, sometimes not really doing anything funny particularly, just walking to or from him. But it quickly turns into a game where Robert will go into one of the bedrooms and then come out shouting "Air!". what the "air" means I'm not sure, maybe "here"? He is rewarded for his efforts easily as Christopher will chuckle away at his sudden appearance, and when Robert moves out of eyesight, he waits eagerly, bouncing on my knee, until Robert returns. It's really very sweet :)
Anyway I'll leave with a photo of my two boys that I got made into a canvas print for our anniversary last week.
Christopher has begun to crawl, of a fashion anyway! He is most definitely able to move forwards to get at something he wants, and is able to get where-ever he wants to on one level. At the moment it's more of an army crawl, pulling himself along by his arms with a boost from his legs. His new trick of the last few days is getting his legs right underneath himself, and then pushing up on them, locking his legs straight, and lifting his body up so he's on his hands and his toes, and his bum is hiiiigh in the air! It's very cute, and I don't remember Robert doing it to that extent! Robert's was more of a little push up, with a fairly straight body. It won't be long at all before he is zooming around. I wonder if he'll be an early walker like his brother?
Robert is chatting away all the time now, and his sentences get more and more complex it seems. I'm struggling to think of examples though as it's just what he does now, and he talks about everything and anything around him. If he watches something on TV, he is able to talk about it afterwards, and he is able to recall things he did several hours before hand to somebody who was not there with only a little prompting, things like "When we went for a walk around the village, what animals did you see?". His pronounciation for words I notice are getting clearer, but again right now I'm struggling to recall which ones in particular. He now says our cat's name (Hazel) very clearly, exactly how it should be said. Since she has had some problems with her eye, she's had numerous visits to the vets in recent weeks, with another planned for Friday, and most likely another one some time next week. She's had a biopsy taken on a growth in her eye which may or may not be a cancerous tumour :( But she does seem to be more placid and accepting towards Robert lately.
Robert is becoming very compassionate of late. This afternoon, Christopher was over-tired, and was on the floor and moaning/crying while I rushed to get Robert's dinner ready. I came back in when it was finished, looked at him, and said "Do you want a cuddle, Christopher?" and picked him up. I hadn't even stood back up properly when Robert came over and leant his head towards Christopher's head and holding onto his shoulders (how he hugs a lot of the time), and then gave him a kiss on the head. A moment which melted my heart.
He has recently acquired the knowledge that if another child (his brother included) has a toy he wants, it is ok to thrust another toy into their hands, take the toy he wants, and call it "swapping" lol. We are working on getting him to realise that it needs to be a mutual agreement, and that the other child should want to play with the toy he's trying to give them. Even when he learns to wait for the other child to accept the toy, I'm sure that in his mind, it will very much be a selfish act on his part in that the only reason he wants to swap is because he wants that other toy.
When it gets to bath time, Robert climbs up the stairs, and I follow behind with Christopher, facing outwards. This lately has become an amusing time for all of us, but in particular, Christopher, who seems to find the ascending figure of his brother hilarious! This continues for a good while, with Christopher in fits of laughter as Robert walks around upstairs, sometimes not really doing anything funny particularly, just walking to or from him. But it quickly turns into a game where Robert will go into one of the bedrooms and then come out shouting "Air!". what the "air" means I'm not sure, maybe "here"? He is rewarded for his efforts easily as Christopher will chuckle away at his sudden appearance, and when Robert moves out of eyesight, he waits eagerly, bouncing on my knee, until Robert returns. It's really very sweet :)
Anyway I'll leave with a photo of my two boys that I got made into a canvas print for our anniversary last week.
Monday, 25 October 2010
Big update
It's been ages since I posted here, and I so badly want to do a big update on my two boys! But I am guessing that it will be written in several stages!
First of all, my tiniest boy, Christopher. He was 4 weeks old on Saturday! I can't believe it! Part of me is still on my babymoon. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that tiny boy, and his big brother too of course! It is back to some sort of normality here now, with Jonathan being back at work (starting his third week back after Christopher was born), and had the majority of my family and Jonathan's come to see Christopher. My mum spent a week up here after Jonathan went back to work. I don't know whether it was because she was stressed with everything going on with HER mum, or the fact that PND so far has skipped me by (hurrah!!!), or the fact that she had hurt her thumb, has a brace on it and therefore the amount of practical help she could offer me was diminished, or what, but the week with her around got a bit wearing towards the end of it, and I can totally imagine how she felt having her mum staying with them for so long. Little things that you can put up with if you just see someone for a few hours become very annoying and less easy to ignore! But overall the week made me sure that looking after my two little boys would be completely do-able.
I had one day, the day after we got home with Christopher, where I felt that icky ball of anxiety in my stomach about the prospect of looking after two boys, but since then I have been fine! So I'm guessing I had a spate of the baby blues then, but after that day it lifted, and still thoroughly enjoying my two boys!
At 11 days old Christopher was weighed for the 3rd time, and he'd regained his birth weight. He is now 4 weeks and 2 days old, and he feels like such a little lump to me! His cheeks are puffed out, he's got an iddy biddy double chin coming on, and his legs, which were somewhat wrinkled and skinny, are now much fatter and squishy :)
He has long since outgrown the few "early" or "tiny" baby clothes he had, and is filling out newborn quite well! I'm actually panicking a bit because my mum bought him a load of newborn outfits, which it looks like he's not going to wear very much before he outgrows them!! They still feel fairly baggy on him, but the sleepsuits don't have much room left lengthwise - he seems like a very long baby! And indeed, Wednesday afternoon, Sarah and Clodagh came around (Kieran was in nursery), and we held the two babies next to each other - Clodagh, who was born 8 days before Christopher, weighing over 2lb more, and who has outgrown newborn clothes and now into 0-3 month clothes, looked the same size as Christopher, lengthwise at least! But I'm guessing she was chunkier!! I couldn't believe it!!! Christopher isn't going to be weighed again until 3rd November, which is the second Health Visitor appointment, when he'll be 5 weeks and 4 days old.
Christopher is a very calm baby still, he cries very rarely, only when he's hungry and wants a cuddle. He seems to be a baby who doesn't mind being in a wet nappy, which is good because he pees LOADS.. I change him probably 5-6 times a day, and each time his nappy is quite heavy with wee... if he was more fussy, I could imagine that I'd be changing him 10+ times a day or more! He saves all his poos for maybe 2 nappies a day, when he'll do LOADS in one go haha!
I'm very lucky to have such a good milk supply this time. I do find myself needing a cloth to put on my arm before I feed him, because he gets so much milk, he often pulls off, gulping down what must be a huge mouthful of milk in several smaller gulps, while my milk is pouring out of my nipple and onto my clothes/down his face, plus some leaking out of his mouth as well! I never had that to the same extent with Robert, but I guess tandem feeding means my supply is greater from the get go.
4 weeks on and I'm not even contemplating bottle feeding anytime soon, I think it must be going well. I remember with Robert I was on the verge of formula feeding by 2 weeks old, was pulling my hair out with the pain and the bad latch, and the cluster feeding, which must have been made worse by my PND/PTSD. This time with no pain (although I can tell his latch isn't perfect, and it could be better, and I know when he has latched on perfectly - very rare but I don't mind as he is getting plenty of milk I know, and I have no pain), the cluster feeds can be wearing, as can the lack of sleep (Christopher, unlike his brother who did 5-6 hours at night between feeds from the get-go, is good if he goes 3 hours between feeds), and the cluster feeding and night-time is when I am most likely to lose my rag, although I've never had the want to lose my rag with Christopher, again, unlike with Robert.
I do find myself thinking in a way, it's such a shame I didn't have the knowledge of Robert's breastfeeding experiences, the knowledge and experience of taking care of Robert etc, before having Robert. I almost wrote without having Robert, rather than before having Robert, but that's not true, I don't wish I didn't have Robert of course, but I know that with Robert I had the PND, from what I remember he was a needier baby than Christopher, or maybe everything's just so much easier this time because I "know babies" this time. I feel that I would be so relaxed if it were just Christopher and me, but at the same time, I love the fact that Christopher is so calm and that I CAN do things with Robert while Christopher is asleep. I hope that has made some sense and won't be mis-interpretted by anyone! I guess in a nutshell I mean that I am finding Christopher such an easy baby to take care of, despite the sleep thing and the cluster feeding, it's a shame he wasn't my first baby! But then the fact that I didn't have the experience of babies and breastfeeding might make it more difficult if that makes sense!!
Anyway! Onto the Big Brother! It's becoming easier and easier to think of Robert as such, seeing the two of them together. Every day I look at Robert now and marvel at how tall he is, how grown up his mannerisms are, how cheeky, how scrummy, how BIG he is. When he comes up to me and asks me for "gah-gee", then lays down with his head on my lap while he nurses, it boggles me how only his head and shoulders lay on my lap, and how his body fills up almost the rest of the sofa! And to think he was once a tiny baby who could fit lengthways along my thighs almost completely is just crazy... how sad in a way you don't notice that one day they are suddenly a cheeky independant TALL little boy when they were once a tiny helpless dependant baby.
I often find he has helped himself to fruit from the dining table while I've been upstairs changing Christopher's nappy, or making Robert lunch, or doing household chores... I came in today to find he'd almost demolished an apple he'd got while I was in the kitchen making him a sandwich.
One of the main challenges I will find myself trying to overcome, is spending enough time doing something fun each day with Robert. I desperately want to make sure that he is not being left to his own devices all day every day while I try and stay on top of the washing up, laundry (the only housework I really prioritise to be honest, vacuuming the carpet comes third but everything else only gets done when/if I have time), and feed/change/cuddle Christopher. At the moment it is not too difficult, as Christopher sleeps for fairly long stretches during the day, but I know as the months roll on, Christopher will become more needy, and I will need to find things to keep him entertained at the same time. Last week though I managed to do a painting session with Robert during one of Christopher's naps. He and I both thoroughly enjoyed it!
I think the trick for me not becoming stressed is to make sure I have everything I will need to hand, not only for during the painting, but afterwards, for the cleaning up as well, before we even start. While Robert watched with interest (it was pretty much an unplanned treat - Robert found his arts and crafts box, and I suddenly fancied doing painting with him!) while I set up his table (put a waterproof sheet underneath for paint splashes/dropped implements, covered his table with newspaper), got some white card from upstairs (a handful incase he wanted to do more than one sheet), got a bucket of warm soapy water and put it on the waterproof sheet next to the table, and got a plastic plate, a brush, a foam brush and a foam roller from the box, and then I went and found an old stained white t-shirt, tied it so the neck wasn't loose around Robert's, and then finally set him loose on the paint!
He really enjoyed it, loved using the brush, and in particular the roller, which he called his "car", and loved driving it across the paper!
Several sheets of paper later, I showed him (as his hands were already very mucky) that he could use his fingers and hands to make prints on the paper, which he enjoyed very much too :)
Of course it wasn't long before some got on his face! And when I said "Oh no, look at your face!" he immediately put his hand once again to his face and made it messier!! Haha!
I'm so glad that Christopher stayed asleep for the painting session. Seven sheets of card later, Robert was showing signs of getting bored with painting, picking the roller up and spinning it in mid air to watch the paint flick off, etc. So I got him to wash his hands in the bucket, (I put his "car" in there as well for him to help clean) while I washed my hands, and his face, and gave the plate, brushes and foam roller a quick rinse over as well. He objected a bit to having to stop, but was easily distracted while I cleaned up, and put everything away.
I want to try and make that a regular activity for us to do. And think of more as well! He really enjoys playdough as well, which I did with him in the week my mum spent with us. And we've bought some playdough cutters, a rolling pin, and there's a cutting implement as well in the box, as well as some rolls of "soft stuff" which I wasn't too fussed about - I like making my own playdough - but it came in with the cutters.
I want to try and do some cooking with him too - set out with easy things, like rice crispie cakes, and go on to more complicated things like fairy cakes, rock buns, etc. It's so lovely doing things with him now he's older and more appreciative of activities like that. But also lovely things to do would be nature walks, trying to find and collect things while out and about, which we could then incorporate in artwork maybe!
One thing I'm not looking forward to in the coming weeks is Robert's 2 year review at the hospital. At his 18 month one, the doctor was quite plain in that he thought Robert's speech (and therefore maybe his hearing) wasn't up to scratch. I was confident he'd improve - which he has - just not as much as I'd have hoped. He occasionally uses two word sentences, mainly out of habit though than spontenaity. Things like "tv please" - tv was once "ee-eeeee" and has now degenerated into "YAYAY" (it's usually shouted), and please is "izzzziz". His vocabulary has increased but is still mostly unrecognisable to strangers. His main recognisable words are "car" "more" "mama" "dada" "nah-nah" (for banana) and then his animal noises, most of which are surprisingly accurate!
As most two year olds are capable of saying 3 word sentences, I'm pretty sure that assuming we see the same doctor again, Robert will be referred to have his hearing checked (there's nothing wrong with his hearing that we can tell, he understands everything we say to him) and then possibly speech therapy. Oh, and co-incidentally, Alice, it's not looking good, Robert has less than a month to start saying 3 word sentences before you have to eat your hat! Here's hoping that it won't be long before he is saying more, I'm confident that it won't be too much longer before he's starting on sentences, but I am a little concerned about his pronounciations. We'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says when we see them in less than 2 weeks time.
Anyway, one last photo before I attempt to get both the boys ready and out the house for an hour or so... Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed recording it. :)
First of all, my tiniest boy, Christopher. He was 4 weeks old on Saturday! I can't believe it! Part of me is still on my babymoon. I LOVE LOVE LOVE that tiny boy, and his big brother too of course! It is back to some sort of normality here now, with Jonathan being back at work (starting his third week back after Christopher was born), and had the majority of my family and Jonathan's come to see Christopher. My mum spent a week up here after Jonathan went back to work. I don't know whether it was because she was stressed with everything going on with HER mum, or the fact that PND so far has skipped me by (hurrah!!!), or the fact that she had hurt her thumb, has a brace on it and therefore the amount of practical help she could offer me was diminished, or what, but the week with her around got a bit wearing towards the end of it, and I can totally imagine how she felt having her mum staying with them for so long. Little things that you can put up with if you just see someone for a few hours become very annoying and less easy to ignore! But overall the week made me sure that looking after my two little boys would be completely do-able.
I had one day, the day after we got home with Christopher, where I felt that icky ball of anxiety in my stomach about the prospect of looking after two boys, but since then I have been fine! So I'm guessing I had a spate of the baby blues then, but after that day it lifted, and still thoroughly enjoying my two boys!
At 11 days old Christopher was weighed for the 3rd time, and he'd regained his birth weight. He is now 4 weeks and 2 days old, and he feels like such a little lump to me! His cheeks are puffed out, he's got an iddy biddy double chin coming on, and his legs, which were somewhat wrinkled and skinny, are now much fatter and squishy :)
He has long since outgrown the few "early" or "tiny" baby clothes he had, and is filling out newborn quite well! I'm actually panicking a bit because my mum bought him a load of newborn outfits, which it looks like he's not going to wear very much before he outgrows them!! They still feel fairly baggy on him, but the sleepsuits don't have much room left lengthwise - he seems like a very long baby! And indeed, Wednesday afternoon, Sarah and Clodagh came around (Kieran was in nursery), and we held the two babies next to each other - Clodagh, who was born 8 days before Christopher, weighing over 2lb more, and who has outgrown newborn clothes and now into 0-3 month clothes, looked the same size as Christopher, lengthwise at least! But I'm guessing she was chunkier!! I couldn't believe it!!! Christopher isn't going to be weighed again until 3rd November, which is the second Health Visitor appointment, when he'll be 5 weeks and 4 days old.
Christopher is a very calm baby still, he cries very rarely, only when he's hungry and wants a cuddle. He seems to be a baby who doesn't mind being in a wet nappy, which is good because he pees LOADS.. I change him probably 5-6 times a day, and each time his nappy is quite heavy with wee... if he was more fussy, I could imagine that I'd be changing him 10+ times a day or more! He saves all his poos for maybe 2 nappies a day, when he'll do LOADS in one go haha!
I'm very lucky to have such a good milk supply this time. I do find myself needing a cloth to put on my arm before I feed him, because he gets so much milk, he often pulls off, gulping down what must be a huge mouthful of milk in several smaller gulps, while my milk is pouring out of my nipple and onto my clothes/down his face, plus some leaking out of his mouth as well! I never had that to the same extent with Robert, but I guess tandem feeding means my supply is greater from the get go.
4 weeks on and I'm not even contemplating bottle feeding anytime soon, I think it must be going well. I remember with Robert I was on the verge of formula feeding by 2 weeks old, was pulling my hair out with the pain and the bad latch, and the cluster feeding, which must have been made worse by my PND/PTSD. This time with no pain (although I can tell his latch isn't perfect, and it could be better, and I know when he has latched on perfectly - very rare but I don't mind as he is getting plenty of milk I know, and I have no pain), the cluster feeds can be wearing, as can the lack of sleep (Christopher, unlike his brother who did 5-6 hours at night between feeds from the get-go, is good if he goes 3 hours between feeds), and the cluster feeding and night-time is when I am most likely to lose my rag, although I've never had the want to lose my rag with Christopher, again, unlike with Robert.
I do find myself thinking in a way, it's such a shame I didn't have the knowledge of Robert's breastfeeding experiences, the knowledge and experience of taking care of Robert etc, before having Robert. I almost wrote without having Robert, rather than before having Robert, but that's not true, I don't wish I didn't have Robert of course, but I know that with Robert I had the PND, from what I remember he was a needier baby than Christopher, or maybe everything's just so much easier this time because I "know babies" this time. I feel that I would be so relaxed if it were just Christopher and me, but at the same time, I love the fact that Christopher is so calm and that I CAN do things with Robert while Christopher is asleep. I hope that has made some sense and won't be mis-interpretted by anyone! I guess in a nutshell I mean that I am finding Christopher such an easy baby to take care of, despite the sleep thing and the cluster feeding, it's a shame he wasn't my first baby! But then the fact that I didn't have the experience of babies and breastfeeding might make it more difficult if that makes sense!!
Anyway! Onto the Big Brother! It's becoming easier and easier to think of Robert as such, seeing the two of them together. Every day I look at Robert now and marvel at how tall he is, how grown up his mannerisms are, how cheeky, how scrummy, how BIG he is. When he comes up to me and asks me for "gah-gee", then lays down with his head on my lap while he nurses, it boggles me how only his head and shoulders lay on my lap, and how his body fills up almost the rest of the sofa! And to think he was once a tiny baby who could fit lengthways along my thighs almost completely is just crazy... how sad in a way you don't notice that one day they are suddenly a cheeky independant TALL little boy when they were once a tiny helpless dependant baby.
I often find he has helped himself to fruit from the dining table while I've been upstairs changing Christopher's nappy, or making Robert lunch, or doing household chores... I came in today to find he'd almost demolished an apple he'd got while I was in the kitchen making him a sandwich.
One of the main challenges I will find myself trying to overcome, is spending enough time doing something fun each day with Robert. I desperately want to make sure that he is not being left to his own devices all day every day while I try and stay on top of the washing up, laundry (the only housework I really prioritise to be honest, vacuuming the carpet comes third but everything else only gets done when/if I have time), and feed/change/cuddle Christopher. At the moment it is not too difficult, as Christopher sleeps for fairly long stretches during the day, but I know as the months roll on, Christopher will become more needy, and I will need to find things to keep him entertained at the same time. Last week though I managed to do a painting session with Robert during one of Christopher's naps. He and I both thoroughly enjoyed it!
I think the trick for me not becoming stressed is to make sure I have everything I will need to hand, not only for during the painting, but afterwards, for the cleaning up as well, before we even start. While Robert watched with interest (it was pretty much an unplanned treat - Robert found his arts and crafts box, and I suddenly fancied doing painting with him!) while I set up his table (put a waterproof sheet underneath for paint splashes/dropped implements, covered his table with newspaper), got some white card from upstairs (a handful incase he wanted to do more than one sheet), got a bucket of warm soapy water and put it on the waterproof sheet next to the table, and got a plastic plate, a brush, a foam brush and a foam roller from the box, and then I went and found an old stained white t-shirt, tied it so the neck wasn't loose around Robert's, and then finally set him loose on the paint!
He really enjoyed it, loved using the brush, and in particular the roller, which he called his "car", and loved driving it across the paper!
Several sheets of paper later, I showed him (as his hands were already very mucky) that he could use his fingers and hands to make prints on the paper, which he enjoyed very much too :)
Of course it wasn't long before some got on his face! And when I said "Oh no, look at your face!" he immediately put his hand once again to his face and made it messier!! Haha!
I'm so glad that Christopher stayed asleep for the painting session. Seven sheets of card later, Robert was showing signs of getting bored with painting, picking the roller up and spinning it in mid air to watch the paint flick off, etc. So I got him to wash his hands in the bucket, (I put his "car" in there as well for him to help clean) while I washed my hands, and his face, and gave the plate, brushes and foam roller a quick rinse over as well. He objected a bit to having to stop, but was easily distracted while I cleaned up, and put everything away.
I want to try and make that a regular activity for us to do. And think of more as well! He really enjoys playdough as well, which I did with him in the week my mum spent with us. And we've bought some playdough cutters, a rolling pin, and there's a cutting implement as well in the box, as well as some rolls of "soft stuff" which I wasn't too fussed about - I like making my own playdough - but it came in with the cutters.
I want to try and do some cooking with him too - set out with easy things, like rice crispie cakes, and go on to more complicated things like fairy cakes, rock buns, etc. It's so lovely doing things with him now he's older and more appreciative of activities like that. But also lovely things to do would be nature walks, trying to find and collect things while out and about, which we could then incorporate in artwork maybe!
One thing I'm not looking forward to in the coming weeks is Robert's 2 year review at the hospital. At his 18 month one, the doctor was quite plain in that he thought Robert's speech (and therefore maybe his hearing) wasn't up to scratch. I was confident he'd improve - which he has - just not as much as I'd have hoped. He occasionally uses two word sentences, mainly out of habit though than spontenaity. Things like "tv please" - tv was once "ee-eeeee" and has now degenerated into "YAYAY" (it's usually shouted), and please is "izzzziz". His vocabulary has increased but is still mostly unrecognisable to strangers. His main recognisable words are "car" "more" "mama" "dada" "nah-nah" (for banana) and then his animal noises, most of which are surprisingly accurate!
As most two year olds are capable of saying 3 word sentences, I'm pretty sure that assuming we see the same doctor again, Robert will be referred to have his hearing checked (there's nothing wrong with his hearing that we can tell, he understands everything we say to him) and then possibly speech therapy. Oh, and co-incidentally, Alice, it's not looking good, Robert has less than a month to start saying 3 word sentences before you have to eat your hat! Here's hoping that it won't be long before he is saying more, I'm confident that it won't be too much longer before he's starting on sentences, but I am a little concerned about his pronounciations. We'll just have to wait and see what the doctor says when we see them in less than 2 weeks time.
Anyway, one last photo before I attempt to get both the boys ready and out the house for an hour or so... Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed recording it. :)
Tuesday, 22 June 2010
24 weeks 5 days - update on my little monsters!
Well I'm back from holiday as you probably know. I will update about the holiday in another post, as only the first day's photos of the holiday have been sorted out and I would like to just put it all in together.
The holiday must have done Robert some good for his development, since we've been away, he has turned into such a little chatterbox! Still not many words or sentences of any kind, but his chattering has become a lot more conversational, AND he has added many more words to his vocabulary, and is using existing ones a lot more! He now says (of the top of my head) car, chair, again, blue, peas, spoon, erm... argh having a mental block.. there are at least a handful more words he's said but I can't remember them right now! Car is by far his most used word. If he sees a car go past, he exclaims "Car!" if he sees a parked car, "Car!" if he's playing with cars, "Car!" hahaha! He's also trying to count, he just says "da" but he gets the counting tone just right while he's doing it with the voice going higher at the end! Hehehe!
He will be 19 months old tomorrow. He is growing up so fast, it's almost like if I blink he will suddenly be 18 and going off to uni or getting a job or something! Some days I look at him and think "wow, he is getting so BIG" and when I see him with other children I think he does look big compared to them. And then other times I look at him (usually when he's standing next to Jonathan, where he barely seems to be a third of Jonathan's height) and he looks tiny, my little sweet boy!
I do feel guilty sometimes, if I have a bad day where Robert is being particularly demanding (I wouldn't say naughty, just inquisitive, or testing boundaries) and I've found him hard to deal with, I moan on my facebook a lot. And reading back, it does sound like I am so ungrateful for him, that I don't enjoy being a mum at all. Which isn't the case, I love him to bits, but of course sometimes I guess it doesn't come off like that, and I hate that people might think I don't love my son, so I'm trying so hard not to sound off on facebook regarding Robert. If I have a hard day for other reasons I will put it on there. I guess it's just one of those things you have to think twice about!
With regards to Squidge, well I saw the midwife yesterday afternoon. She took my blood pressure (110/65) and tested my urine which was clear, then she measured me, and Squidge is measuring a whopping 28cm! I thought she only measured me at 28 weeks with Robert but maybe she wanted to measure me earlier due to his size, or maybe I'm mis-remembering. She then told me that she wanted me to get a glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes if I was happy to do that, and she also said she'd like me to see a consultant. She basically explained that as I was thinking about a home birth they want to take as much precaution as possible to make sure that what happened with Robert doesn't happen again, so if Squidge is as big or bigger than Robert, we'll have to discuss things with the consultant and see where we go. I know I'm not a medical expert, but from the way Robert's body was born immediately when I stood up and pushed, that implies to me that it wasn't shoulder dystocia but rather bad positioning previously especially considering Robert's size.
But either way she made it clear to me that it would be very much a two sided conversation, and my opinions and feelings would be considered, and that if I decided to go ahead with the home birth that I would be supported in this decision. I told her that I hadn't 100% decided on a home birth, that I am keeping an open mind and will see what happens, but also that I expected the same from my care givers, that they would keep an open mind for me as well. I think that seeing that I wasn't just steadfastedly demanding that I have a home birth no matter what, that I was considering the views of her and that I would consider what the consultant said, has made her more open to me and my wants, which is good.
I'm pleased in a way that I am getting the GTT and seeing the consultant, because it shows they are going out of their way to try and make things easier on me, and while it still seems to me that I have a fairly uncomplicated pregnancy at the moment, it does give me comfort that I'm not just being left to my own devices like I was with Robert. If that makes sense!
Anyway! Squidge is really quite the wriggler. Last night as I laid down, he started squirming SO much it felt like arms and legs were poking out all over, if the light hadn't been off it would have been quite some viewing! lol! Sometimes when I feel Squidge move or kick it's sort of easy to imagine how someone COULD put them off as wind, or muscle twitches, or whatever. But I was laying down and feeling Squidge fight his way through my skin almost last night and wondered how anyone could possibly feel something like that and not know they were pregnant!
With Robert I commented on his 24 week bump picture as him being such a wriggler, and then on the 28 week one I said I don't know how I thought he was so active back then as he got so much more active since then! So god knows what Squidge'll be like in another 4 weeks! And will Squidge be measuring 4 weeks ahead still when I next see the midwife! I will be updating the belly gallery soon, I took some when I was 24+1 in Cornwall so when I get the photos I'll be adding them! :)
Anyway, I have a lot of sorting out, tidying, cleaning, unpacking to be getting on with, possibly another load of washing from the holiday to get in the machine. I want to rearrange the living room! I want more room!!! Arghh! I want next door to put their house up for sale so we can buy it and knock it into one big giant super house! haha! But it's unlikely as it's rented out :( Anyway, that's all for now, hope you all had a great week!
The holiday must have done Robert some good for his development, since we've been away, he has turned into such a little chatterbox! Still not many words or sentences of any kind, but his chattering has become a lot more conversational, AND he has added many more words to his vocabulary, and is using existing ones a lot more! He now says (of the top of my head) car, chair, again, blue, peas, spoon, erm... argh having a mental block.. there are at least a handful more words he's said but I can't remember them right now! Car is by far his most used word. If he sees a car go past, he exclaims "Car!" if he sees a parked car, "Car!" if he's playing with cars, "Car!" hahaha! He's also trying to count, he just says "da" but he gets the counting tone just right while he's doing it with the voice going higher at the end! Hehehe!
He will be 19 months old tomorrow. He is growing up so fast, it's almost like if I blink he will suddenly be 18 and going off to uni or getting a job or something! Some days I look at him and think "wow, he is getting so BIG" and when I see him with other children I think he does look big compared to them. And then other times I look at him (usually when he's standing next to Jonathan, where he barely seems to be a third of Jonathan's height) and he looks tiny, my little sweet boy!
I do feel guilty sometimes, if I have a bad day where Robert is being particularly demanding (I wouldn't say naughty, just inquisitive, or testing boundaries) and I've found him hard to deal with, I moan on my facebook a lot. And reading back, it does sound like I am so ungrateful for him, that I don't enjoy being a mum at all. Which isn't the case, I love him to bits, but of course sometimes I guess it doesn't come off like that, and I hate that people might think I don't love my son, so I'm trying so hard not to sound off on facebook regarding Robert. If I have a hard day for other reasons I will put it on there. I guess it's just one of those things you have to think twice about!
With regards to Squidge, well I saw the midwife yesterday afternoon. She took my blood pressure (110/65) and tested my urine which was clear, then she measured me, and Squidge is measuring a whopping 28cm! I thought she only measured me at 28 weeks with Robert but maybe she wanted to measure me earlier due to his size, or maybe I'm mis-remembering. She then told me that she wanted me to get a glucose tolerance test to check for gestational diabetes if I was happy to do that, and she also said she'd like me to see a consultant. She basically explained that as I was thinking about a home birth they want to take as much precaution as possible to make sure that what happened with Robert doesn't happen again, so if Squidge is as big or bigger than Robert, we'll have to discuss things with the consultant and see where we go. I know I'm not a medical expert, but from the way Robert's body was born immediately when I stood up and pushed, that implies to me that it wasn't shoulder dystocia but rather bad positioning previously especially considering Robert's size.
But either way she made it clear to me that it would be very much a two sided conversation, and my opinions and feelings would be considered, and that if I decided to go ahead with the home birth that I would be supported in this decision. I told her that I hadn't 100% decided on a home birth, that I am keeping an open mind and will see what happens, but also that I expected the same from my care givers, that they would keep an open mind for me as well. I think that seeing that I wasn't just steadfastedly demanding that I have a home birth no matter what, that I was considering the views of her and that I would consider what the consultant said, has made her more open to me and my wants, which is good.
I'm pleased in a way that I am getting the GTT and seeing the consultant, because it shows they are going out of their way to try and make things easier on me, and while it still seems to me that I have a fairly uncomplicated pregnancy at the moment, it does give me comfort that I'm not just being left to my own devices like I was with Robert. If that makes sense!
Anyway! Squidge is really quite the wriggler. Last night as I laid down, he started squirming SO much it felt like arms and legs were poking out all over, if the light hadn't been off it would have been quite some viewing! lol! Sometimes when I feel Squidge move or kick it's sort of easy to imagine how someone COULD put them off as wind, or muscle twitches, or whatever. But I was laying down and feeling Squidge fight his way through my skin almost last night and wondered how anyone could possibly feel something like that and not know they were pregnant!
With Robert I commented on his 24 week bump picture as him being such a wriggler, and then on the 28 week one I said I don't know how I thought he was so active back then as he got so much more active since then! So god knows what Squidge'll be like in another 4 weeks! And will Squidge be measuring 4 weeks ahead still when I next see the midwife! I will be updating the belly gallery soon, I took some when I was 24+1 in Cornwall so when I get the photos I'll be adding them! :)
Anyway, I have a lot of sorting out, tidying, cleaning, unpacking to be getting on with, possibly another load of washing from the holiday to get in the machine. I want to rearrange the living room! I want more room!!! Arghh! I want next door to put their house up for sale so we can buy it and knock it into one big giant super house! haha! But it's unlikely as it's rented out :( Anyway, that's all for now, hope you all had a great week!
Thursday, 10 June 2010
23 weeks - updates.
Well I wanted to do a pregnancy update today, but also a mini Robert update plus photos. I am supposed to be sorting out clean washing and putting about 3 loads away but oh well, shhhh don't tell Jonathan lol ;)
I know compared to some people, my two pregnancies so far have been very close together, but I am still having trouble remembering aspects of Robert's pregnancy. Specifically just how active he was. I remember saying that he was soooo active, but him being my first I had no benchmark to set it against! Plus I suspect his placenta was at the front, whereas Squidge's is at the back, perfectly positioned.
Squidge is SUCH an active baby so far. I think I will only be able to compare him to Robert when I am furthur along, but for now, I think he is definitely far more active than I remember Robert being at this stage. Yesterday I think I felt no less than 7 or 8 kicking SESSIONS where he would also do flips around in my belly and poke his legs and arms about. I felt soft pokey/brushy sensations yesterday at one point right down by my pelvis which I think were his arms and hands. He definitely wakes up a bit when I lay down for bed, which I love because it's dark and still and quiet (and since I go to bed before Jonathan I get these movements and kicks all to myself!). I am currently feeling yet more kicks and wriggles. Development sites say that around now babies have a set awake/sleep patterns, and are asleep for over 90% of the time, maybe as much as 95% of the time, which just boggles me the amount I'm getting my insides booted around! It's nice at this stage because Squidge isn't quite big enough to be kicking uncomfortable places, unless he's in the position to be kicking my bladder! But I do so look forward to feeling even STRONGER kicks! I love watching my belly when he's particularly active and seeing my belly blip out! Given my size I do find it amazing how much I can feel with my hand, and see at this relatively early stage!
I am also in the early stages of heartburn again. It's not distractingly bad at the moment, but I do notice it when I get it, but it generally goes away by itself. I am using up my rennies I bought when pregnant with Robert, and will get a prescription when I next see the midwife for gaviscon (shudder) when they run out. I am also getting up generally at least twice in the night for a pee, which is a bit of a pain, combined with Jonathan's snoring, means I don't get as much sleep as I generally need.
Ahem, well I saved this entry at this point 4 days ago, and forgot all about it *blush* so I might as well finish it off! I changed the title, it said 22 weeks 3 days but I'm not 23 weeks exactly! Oopsy!
Anyway, Robert is gradually becoming a little chatterbox, he's constantly saying "stuff", mainly babbling but he has now started saying "car" again with a vengeance! He has added "chair" to his vocabulary, and re-added car which he hadn't said in a couple of months after he first said it! ;)
I'm pretty certain he is starting being able to distinguish colours and knows what we mean when we ask him for the "blue one" or the "red one". :)
We bought Robert new shoes from Clarks the other weekend. He was in a pair of size 4 trainers from matalan, and anyway, we took him, and he measured as a size 5.. ahem, oops! And he's actually in size 6 for growth room!!! Oh well! Anyway we decided to get him a pair of shoes and a pair of sandles, which set us back almost £60.. ouch! Anyway, he love love LOVES his sandles, which are these ones...
And we also got him a pair of normal shoes.. which are these ones...
Yesterday he looked around the lounge, spotted his shoes and picked them up, but kept looking around, and seemed to be getting more and more distressed. I figured he was looking for his sandles, which were upstairs, so I asked him if he was looking for his sandles, and he immediately looked less distressed. I told him they were upstairs and that I'd go and get them, and he immediately got up and ran to the stairs, so I went upstairs, brought them down. He grabbed them off me immediately, then as I sat down, he ran up to me, sat on my lap, and proceeded to open my hands and put the sandles in them! Then lifted his feet to try and get his feet in my hands! Hehe! Funny boy! So I put his sandles on and he was so pleased, and spent the next 5 minutes running backwards and forwards in the room ;)
I've got him a pair of crocs style sandles as well, as anyone on facebook can probably tell we're going on holiday next week (well, leaving this Saturday) so we thought we'd get him some sandles we don't mind getting ruined! We're going to north Cornwall, to the same town we went to for our 1 year "being together" anniversary, over 8 years ago now! Jonathan was going to propose to me there but I somehow managed to get him to propose 6 months earlier hahaha!
I am thoroughly looking forward to this holiday, we've not been on holiday since September 2006, which was 2 years before I was even pregnant with Robert!!! I am a little nervous about the sheer amount of things we will need (and just SO thankful we don't need to take our travel cot or highchair with us as the cottage will provide them!) and whether we will be able to fit it all in Jonathan's tiny 2 door Toyota Yaris! I've started packing already which I'm pleased about, Robert's things are mostly done we just need to get the last minute things like the plates and bowls, shampoo and bubble bath packed for him. Then the toys we'll want to take with us, plus some others for the journey, and our clothes and things too. Hopefully we won't need all three suitcases, but we'll need an extra bag for the toys!!! And then trying to squeeze in the pushchair! Still, at least we will be the last holiday with a small car, we're going to upgrade to a bigger car before Squidge is here.
I am surprised that none of my dreams have been related to Squidge as such, I've had no true baby dreams, or maybe one or two but ages ago! I still have no inkling as to Squidge's gender within me if you know what I mean, but I'm still maintaining that it's a boy. But to me there still feels like there's a 50/50 chance. I don't know if that makes any sense at all!
Anyway here are some photos of my little boy :)
Enjoying a toddler ride at Wicksteed :)
Lots of climbing frames and toddler playgrounds there! He really enjoyed it!
Playing with his train track in the garden! :)
Cuddling up with his bunny on the beanbag :)
Hello?
Enjoying bath time :)
Fast asleep cuddling his polar bear! He loves to snuggle up holding a cuddly toy when he sleeps, we found him fast asleep still at 8am a week ago or so, and Jonathan went in to take photos :)
Robert enjoying the nice weather in his paddling pool :)
And drinking the water... which had sun cream all in it where it had washed off Robert a little!! Nice!
Going down the slide all wet... shooting off the end and giving himself a slide phobia... argh!
Helping Mummy sweep the pebbles back up - really need to lay paving slabs there instead of those damned pebbles!!
Anyway that's about it!
If I don't update before, then I probably won't until the 20th at least, possibly 21st. I have my 24 (+4) week appointment on the 21st so will probably update then.
I'll try and get my 24 week photo taken on holiday if I remember! I think it's grown loads since 20 weeks already! I just love having a bump! Makes me feel just so much more attractive than when I'm just fat! (But still, once the bump goes, I'm definitely going to get rid of the fat!!!) I'm doing quite well lately on not gaining much weight, the last two weeks I've gained no weight at all to speak of, there's been less than 1lb fluctuation each week which I'm really pleased about, I don't particularly want to lose weight, I just don't want to gain much!! So despite gaining about a stone in 3-4 weeks previously I've tried to be sensible and so far it's working. Although I bet I'll have gained when I step on the scales after the holiday! lol! Right, back to business! Hope you have a great week and a half (or so!)
I know compared to some people, my two pregnancies so far have been very close together, but I am still having trouble remembering aspects of Robert's pregnancy. Specifically just how active he was. I remember saying that he was soooo active, but him being my first I had no benchmark to set it against! Plus I suspect his placenta was at the front, whereas Squidge's is at the back, perfectly positioned.
Squidge is SUCH an active baby so far. I think I will only be able to compare him to Robert when I am furthur along, but for now, I think he is definitely far more active than I remember Robert being at this stage. Yesterday I think I felt no less than 7 or 8 kicking SESSIONS where he would also do flips around in my belly and poke his legs and arms about. I felt soft pokey/brushy sensations yesterday at one point right down by my pelvis which I think were his arms and hands. He definitely wakes up a bit when I lay down for bed, which I love because it's dark and still and quiet (and since I go to bed before Jonathan I get these movements and kicks all to myself!). I am currently feeling yet more kicks and wriggles. Development sites say that around now babies have a set awake/sleep patterns, and are asleep for over 90% of the time, maybe as much as 95% of the time, which just boggles me the amount I'm getting my insides booted around! It's nice at this stage because Squidge isn't quite big enough to be kicking uncomfortable places, unless he's in the position to be kicking my bladder! But I do so look forward to feeling even STRONGER kicks! I love watching my belly when he's particularly active and seeing my belly blip out! Given my size I do find it amazing how much I can feel with my hand, and see at this relatively early stage!
I am also in the early stages of heartburn again. It's not distractingly bad at the moment, but I do notice it when I get it, but it generally goes away by itself. I am using up my rennies I bought when pregnant with Robert, and will get a prescription when I next see the midwife for gaviscon (shudder) when they run out. I am also getting up generally at least twice in the night for a pee, which is a bit of a pain, combined with Jonathan's snoring, means I don't get as much sleep as I generally need.
Ahem, well I saved this entry at this point 4 days ago, and forgot all about it *blush* so I might as well finish it off! I changed the title, it said 22 weeks 3 days but I'm not 23 weeks exactly! Oopsy!
Anyway, Robert is gradually becoming a little chatterbox, he's constantly saying "stuff", mainly babbling but he has now started saying "car" again with a vengeance! He has added "chair" to his vocabulary, and re-added car which he hadn't said in a couple of months after he first said it! ;)
I'm pretty certain he is starting being able to distinguish colours and knows what we mean when we ask him for the "blue one" or the "red one". :)
We bought Robert new shoes from Clarks the other weekend. He was in a pair of size 4 trainers from matalan, and anyway, we took him, and he measured as a size 5.. ahem, oops! And he's actually in size 6 for growth room!!! Oh well! Anyway we decided to get him a pair of shoes and a pair of sandles, which set us back almost £60.. ouch! Anyway, he love love LOVES his sandles, which are these ones...
And we also got him a pair of normal shoes.. which are these ones...
Yesterday he looked around the lounge, spotted his shoes and picked them up, but kept looking around, and seemed to be getting more and more distressed. I figured he was looking for his sandles, which were upstairs, so I asked him if he was looking for his sandles, and he immediately looked less distressed. I told him they were upstairs and that I'd go and get them, and he immediately got up and ran to the stairs, so I went upstairs, brought them down. He grabbed them off me immediately, then as I sat down, he ran up to me, sat on my lap, and proceeded to open my hands and put the sandles in them! Then lifted his feet to try and get his feet in my hands! Hehe! Funny boy! So I put his sandles on and he was so pleased, and spent the next 5 minutes running backwards and forwards in the room ;)
I've got him a pair of crocs style sandles as well, as anyone on facebook can probably tell we're going on holiday next week (well, leaving this Saturday) so we thought we'd get him some sandles we don't mind getting ruined! We're going to north Cornwall, to the same town we went to for our 1 year "being together" anniversary, over 8 years ago now! Jonathan was going to propose to me there but I somehow managed to get him to propose 6 months earlier hahaha!
I am thoroughly looking forward to this holiday, we've not been on holiday since September 2006, which was 2 years before I was even pregnant with Robert!!! I am a little nervous about the sheer amount of things we will need (and just SO thankful we don't need to take our travel cot or highchair with us as the cottage will provide them!) and whether we will be able to fit it all in Jonathan's tiny 2 door Toyota Yaris! I've started packing already which I'm pleased about, Robert's things are mostly done we just need to get the last minute things like the plates and bowls, shampoo and bubble bath packed for him. Then the toys we'll want to take with us, plus some others for the journey, and our clothes and things too. Hopefully we won't need all three suitcases, but we'll need an extra bag for the toys!!! And then trying to squeeze in the pushchair! Still, at least we will be the last holiday with a small car, we're going to upgrade to a bigger car before Squidge is here.
I am surprised that none of my dreams have been related to Squidge as such, I've had no true baby dreams, or maybe one or two but ages ago! I still have no inkling as to Squidge's gender within me if you know what I mean, but I'm still maintaining that it's a boy. But to me there still feels like there's a 50/50 chance. I don't know if that makes any sense at all!
Anyway here are some photos of my little boy :)
Enjoying a toddler ride at Wicksteed :)
Lots of climbing frames and toddler playgrounds there! He really enjoyed it!
Playing with his train track in the garden! :)
Cuddling up with his bunny on the beanbag :)
Hello?
Enjoying bath time :)
Fast asleep cuddling his polar bear! He loves to snuggle up holding a cuddly toy when he sleeps, we found him fast asleep still at 8am a week ago or so, and Jonathan went in to take photos :)
Robert enjoying the nice weather in his paddling pool :)
And drinking the water... which had sun cream all in it where it had washed off Robert a little!! Nice!
Going down the slide all wet... shooting off the end and giving himself a slide phobia... argh!
Helping Mummy sweep the pebbles back up - really need to lay paving slabs there instead of those damned pebbles!!
Anyway that's about it!
If I don't update before, then I probably won't until the 20th at least, possibly 21st. I have my 24 (+4) week appointment on the 21st so will probably update then.
I'll try and get my 24 week photo taken on holiday if I remember! I think it's grown loads since 20 weeks already! I just love having a bump! Makes me feel just so much more attractive than when I'm just fat! (But still, once the bump goes, I'm definitely going to get rid of the fat!!!) I'm doing quite well lately on not gaining much weight, the last two weeks I've gained no weight at all to speak of, there's been less than 1lb fluctuation each week which I'm really pleased about, I don't particularly want to lose weight, I just don't want to gain much!! So despite gaining about a stone in 3-4 weeks previously I've tried to be sensible and so far it's working. Although I bet I'll have gained when I step on the scales after the holiday! lol! Right, back to business! Hope you have a great week and a half (or so!)
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