Check out my new crib!

We’ve got one of those swinging cribs which rocks from side to side, but with a dodgy locking system. Nowadays Baby A moves about so much that he keeps dislodging the lock – and then tipping the crib to one side. If he ever tipped it anymore he would fall out. Good think he only ever leans over to the side where the wall is.

He also keeps trapping himself in odd positions nowadays – he’ll stick his hands between the bars, push himself all the way to the top or trap himself in the corner. Every now and again we’ll hear him crying and have to extricating him from the new weird position he’d manage to put himself in. Yep, that’s right….that crib ain’t big enough for him no more.

So….it was now time to set up his cot. Oh yeah, and it gave me a chance to test out the impact driver I had just bought. Mmm, power tools…..drool…..

We didn’t have any instructions for the cot, but luckily it was fairly straightforward – took me a half hour or so. I packed the crib away into the loft (don’t expect to be seeing that again……ever) and stuck the new mattress into the cot. I’ve got to say the cot was bigger than I expected. You could comfortably fit two Baby A’s in there, head to foot.

We put Baby A in and left him to it for a while, to get acquainted with his new luxury suite. Shortly after – surprise, surprise – I heard him crying in there. Didn’t take long did it…he always has something to complain about. I came up to check him and….obviously there is such a thing as too much space. He had managed to turn his body fully 180 degrees (so his feet were the opposite way) and rolled over on to his stomach. I found him doing what looked like half press ups. As I’ve mentioned before, he can’t roll back and got himself into a panic.

I think he’ll settle in there quite well. He’s already marked his territory, judging by all the farts he did in there last night.

PS My impact driver worked great…

A new routine

Following the visit to the hospital, we’ve been trying to change his feeding routine, just to see if it makes a difference. I think we came away from the hospital with the impression that perhaps we were trying to feed him too much.

Part of the problem is the “recommended” amounts on the side of the milk packet and trying to compare our kid to other babies. Always a bad idea. As everyone keeps saying “all babies are different”.

The new routine’s only been going for the last five days, so can’t comment yet on whether it’s working – I’ll give it a while longer before I say anything.

One thing that has generally improved is his sleeping  – he does tend to get through the night now. Let’s hope it lasts…..

It’s getting hot in here!

The unusual April weather has reminded me of something I never mentioned before.

I can’t quite remember what the weather was like in February (my memory is like Swiss cheese!), but don’t remember it being incredibly cold. However, when we first returned from the hospital, we knew very little about how to take care of him.

Not surprisingly, we looked to the hospital for advice, and noticed that the temperature in the ward was probably more suitable for a furnace. Obviously this meant we had to keep Baby A warm at all times. As in, really warm.

So, in the first couple of weeks we made sure he was well insulated with his vest, sleepsuit, mittens, hat, two blankets and a duvet. And we turned up the thermostat to 24 degrees, to make sure he was nice and toasty….if you like your toast slightly burnt that is.

Then we were surprised when he kept turning as bright as tomato. He probably would have been cooler inside the microwave.

It took us a week or so to realise we were probably roasting him alive, but if there was one thing I would complain about hospitals, it’s the lack of initial advice they give you.

After all, this is my first baby. Help!

I had 6 hours sleep!

What a coincidence – I talked about lack of sleep yesterday, and guess what? I got a solid 6 hours sleep last night! I didn’t wake up until about 7am, and that was only because my alarm went off.

How did I achieve this, you might ask? Was it because Baby A slept through the night? Or did Mummy A feel sympathy for me and let me sleep? As if.

Nope…..it was much simpler than that – we left him at his grandparents last night! We decided we’d have an evening to ourselves and arranged for him to stay there. Didn’t go to bed as early as planned as we had a friend come round for a while. We also watched The Apprentice (very addictive – we’re hooked), so by the time we went to bed it was 12.30.

From recently becoming a deep sleeper, I suddenly found myself struggling to sleep (maybe I was missing him?) and it wasn’t until after 1 that I finally nodded off. But – I slept solidly for 6 whole hours and didn’t wake up once.

I did feel a bit guilty for leaving him – it felt like we were abandoning him. Ok, I’m not telling the whole truth. I did feel guilty….for about ten minutes. Once my head hit the pillow though….I’m sure he wouldn’t want me to feel guilty!

Ps did I mention I slept for 6 whole hours?

Sleepless in Seattle? Try having a baby!

I always wondered whether these “sleepless nights” were just a myth. After all, how much noise can a little thing like that make?

 

 

 

 

Answer: a lot. A lot lot lot. Yes guys, it’s all true I’m afraid. During the day you can deal with it and he’s still cute and adorable. At night though…he’s the baby from Hell! I mentioned before how exhausting it was when I had a week off, and since we’ve moved back home the most sleep I’ve had in a single stretch is 3 hours. Baby A seems to time waking up just when we’ve entered a deep sleep, and boy can he scream when he wants to! Right now, a solid 6 hours would be a godsend.

I’ve noticed our sleeping habits have changed ever since he was born. I’ve mentioned this before, but literally a few months ago I was a bit of an insomniac – it could take me hours to fall asleep. Now my head hits the pillow and I’m out like a light. It would take an earthquake (or Baby A screaming) to get me up now. Maybe it’s my defence mechanism.

Mummy A, unfortunately, has gone the other way. She used to fall asleep in 10 minutes, but it’s much harder now. She’s also incredibly sensitive to every little sound he makes, be it the slightest whimper, which wakes her up instantly.

That was a nightmare for the first couple of weeks. She would wake up at every sound and then wake me up to check on him. If I didn’t get up I was “heartless” and “don’t care about our son!”. C’mon, is it wrong to want a bit of sleep?

I hear babies sleep better once they reach about 3 months. Well…..it’s 9 weeks now, so not long to go.

My week at home

The day after we returned home (March 10th – I’m a bit behind on posts) I took the rest of the week as holiday. Well…if you can call it that. It was a tiring week, I’ve got to say. Actually, “tiring” doesn’t really do it justice….”exhausting” is a far better word.

 

We haven’t really settled into a good enough routine yet and we are feeding him every 3 hours. The problem is that he takes ages to feed, and before you know it, it’s feeding time again!

I definitely need to be going to sleep earlier though – never realised I needed that much sleep. I used to be quite a light sleeper and suffered from a bit of insomnia. Now, when my head hits the pillow I’m completely conked out! That’s what babies do to you.

I tell you what, after just that one week, I could never criticise stay-at-home mums. The stress levels are through the roof! You need to have the patience of a saint – and that’s just to deal with me.

As I mentioned previously though, maybe it’s not a bad thing going back to work….

Homecoming

Not much to say here. Mummy A and baby were kept overnight on the 29th and Baby A came home the next day.

There were a few worries and niggles for us and Mummy A didn’t enjoy the night at the hospital, so she was relieved to get home. We didn’t get out of the hospital until 5.30pm and I drove the slowest I have ever driven in my life! Think he enjoyed the journey, although he fell asleep the instance the car started!