Week 8 - taking it easy (and no, I don't mean e.a.s.y!)

Week 8 - taking it easy (and no I don't mean e.a.s.y!!!)

Our boy is 2 months old. How did that happen?!! Its been one heck of a journey already and I can hardly remember the first couple of weeks anymore (lucky I wrote it all down to go back to then!). Our little guy has grown so much in these past 8 weeks and not just in length (and the beginnings of some deliciously chubby thighs at last!) but as a little dude too. 

He is way more alert and smiley now and just loves taking in the ever changing world around him. He is definitely following me around the room with his beautiful baby blues now and heartbreakingly, when he cries there are now sometimes actual tears to wipe away. He loves new faces at the moment and is sharing his winning smile with everyone he meets, and if you've been lucky enough to recieve one of these smiles so far, you know how awesome they are and how they make you feel like everything is right with the world.  

 This week has been pretty low key as we've had an enforced, yet much needed and appreciated, rest together after a really busy few weeks of visits, new milestones and learning and evolving as new parents and a new son. It has been a gorgeous and very special week of bonding and togetherness, despite me being under the weather, which I am so grateful to have been able to experience.

Here's what we've been up to this week.  

  1. Womb friends. We have been lucky to have 2 of my favourite people, and now 2 of Paddington's favs too, visit us on consecutive weekends, the always lovely Bridget and ever fabulous Nikki (aka Aunty Bakery), accompanied by her cracking man, Sam. Pads absolutely loved them all straight off (he has impeccable taste) and was full of smiles and cwtches for them in an almost familiar 'I know these guys already' kind of way. I used to work with both ladies until recently and saw them almost every day of my pregnancy. Could it be that he recognised their voices from when he was in the womb which is why he felt so comfortable and at ease with them?! Who really knows, but I like to think so! Thanks for the visits ladies, it was fab to hang out almost like old times, and you were the perfect house guests making cups of tea and helping out which was massively appreciated.  

 
2. Baby yoga.  During Bridget's stay, Pads experienced his first foray into baby yoga. He was a natural. Bridge is a bendy yogi goddess and partnered up with our little Paddington to assume the warrior one/ Lion King pose in the glorious sunny Welsh outdoors. I do want to get back into yoga and pilates myself so perhaps baby-wearing yoga is the way forward - where can I sign up?! (Bridge - fancy doing some online videos we can follow?!!!) 

 
3. Snot and sneezes. Being ill and caring for a newborn around the clock do not mix (to anyone who has done this with another child/children on top, you are my heroes! And I don't now how you did it!!). 

I was fortunate enough to have a super immune system during my pregnancy and actually wasn't ill at all for almost a full year (which, as anyone who knows me well will attest, is not like me! I am the tonsillitis/laryngitis and cold catching queen usually). I felt like Pads was helping me stay healthy and well during pregnancy, even when all around me were getting sick and stressed out at work, I somehow managed to avoid getting ill.

Well that glory spell is now over sadly. I have never been more tired or run down and its been a pretty full-on and intense 8 weeks so far so it is really no surprise that I managed to pick up a stinking cold and chest infection, (perhaps due to the fact I've hardly slept in over 2 months and am 'on' all day everyday with little to no chance of rest or recuperation anymore). It started off as chills and a sore throat and I thought I had a handle on it with extra vitamins, more layers of clothes and some ibruprofen, alas no, it turned into a full-on eyes streaming and constant nose blowing cold and chesty cough situation within two days. Flippin' great.  

 We had great plans this week for more baby massage, popping back into the breastfeeding support group and a few catch ups with pals arranged and had to cancel all of it to stay home and blow our noses (well mine mainly), sneeze and feel sorry for ourselves (a sort of self-enforced quarantine if you will as I didn't want to spread my germs to other mums and babies). I became obsessed with either washing my hands or slathering them with non-alcoholic hand sanitizer after every nose blow/sneeze session, which was pretty much constantly, to try and minimise the chances of Pads picking up my germs - pretty much impossible not to with the amount of time he has spent with me and my lurgy though I would imagine! He has had a few snottier noses than normal - and just how are you supposed to blow a newborn's nose by the way?! I have been using the putting the tip of my pinky up the nostril gently or using the thinly rolled edge of a tissue technique! - but other than that he seems, touch wood, as healthy as normal. For now. 

 We had 3 days of 'bed ins' (if its good enough for John and Yoko...) as I was so exhausted and feeling very crappy, where we just concentrated on feeding, resting & trying to get as much sleep as is possible with a new bairn, and although it sucked to be ill and forced to stay in, in another way it was also lush that it was just me and my boy cwtching and spending so much time just being together and being still. We've been pretty busy lately, out most days and rushing around so it was good to just calm everything down and re-focus on being just a new mother and son.

 

We did manage to get some good daytime naps in too, despite the fact that my sneezes and noisy nose blowing kept startling the little guy, especially when he was about to drop off which was very annoying as we lost out on a few extra naps because of me I think, but we made up for them with lots of gorgeous snuggle time instead. Pads was an absolute star on the 2nd night when I felt at my worst (and most snotty) by giving me over 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep followed by a gentle hour of feeding and winding, then another 2 hours of straight sleep. Boy did I need that sleep, so thank you my gorgeous little man! 

I'm hoping my boobs pump him with immunity milk, so far, he seems mostly unscathed so fingers crossed. However, we have had a few projectile milky vom incidents over me or the bed in the night which isn't his usual style so am hoping that isn't a precursor to him getting sick.  

 
4. Expressing update. Perhaps because I haven't been well this week, I have been pumping even more pathetic amounts than last week. I am now pumping daily but only managed 30mls in total over 2 sessions on one day, plus 2 very achey pumping hands, which was mightily disheartening. I have also come to view expressing as the same as doing maths homework, i.e I hate it and don't want to do it. (However, I do acknowledge that unlike maths homework, I will actually be using this expressed breast milk in my day to day life!). I think the only way forward is to go electric with the pump to make the process easier so thanks for the ladies who have offered to lend me theirs - I will be taking you up on that! My wise pal Laura also gave me a tip to do 5 minutes a boob then switch and repeat for 30 minutes so I tried this and it did seem to generate a bit more supply. Just when I thought I'd gotten the hang of the whole breast feeding with a baby thing, I now have to master expressing too, hardly fair is it ladies?! 

 
5.Too young to teeth - right?!! Pads may be teething already. The health visitor said it is possible this early on (lord help me if this is so!) and he has started displaying some of the tell-tale signs. Often after a good feed he wants to suck his hand or thumb (we definitely have a future thumb sucker on our hands here - his dad was also a thumb sucker until he was 10 years old so it clearly runs in the family) and really enjoys sucking on a bit of my clothing, edge of a towel/bib etc...We tried to tempt him with a teething ring the other day but it seems too big and hard for him so he wasn't interested. Soft things are what he wants to suck at the moment.  

 He's also started blowing lots of spit bubbles * and dribbling a lot as well (thanks to the gorgeous Sophia for his baby shower bandana bibs - they are coming in super handy to keep him dry at the moment. We are going through 2 a day with all the dribble and posset!) He's also crying more in what sounds like pain when he's sucking his thumb/fists and surely can't be hungry (can he?!) as he's just finished a double boob feed, so watch this space. I am not looking forward to the arrival of his chompers but it can take months for them to show up so also hoping he doesn't teeth for months on end either! 

(* I heard a brilliant old wives tale behind the spit bubbles, apparently it means he has an itch that he just can't scratch! Ha! If that were the case then he'd be really, really itchy several times a day! I did give him a little all over body scratch just in case which he enjoyed, but he's continued blowing spit bubbles so guess that puts that old wives tale to bed. Another possible reason behind the bubbles and drool could just simply be that he has just learnt how to do it and is practising his new found skill, in which case spit away dear son { I will not be saying this when you are older so take advantage of this now.}

 
6. Chatterbox.  Pads has been doing cute little effort grunts this week, exploring a new range in his vocal abilities. We have also been having more 'chats' of a morning and afternoon usually where he makes 'eeh', 'gagaga' and 'aah' type sounds, along with gurgles and the occasional jolly shout.  I make the noises back at him and encourage him to reply to me to hopefully start him understanding the 2 way nature of conversations and practice the building blocks of speech. It is beyond adorable and one of the moments I most look forward to in our day. He's definitely smiling more now as well which is so rewarding and makes him a pretty fun guy to be around (most of the time!).  

 
7. FOMO. My good pal Bridget called this during her visit when she got to witness the little man's aversion and active resistance of daytime napping first hand. He has a 'fear of missing out' and that's why he doesn't want to sleep in the day ** as who knows what fun and games he may miss out on if he does? I totally get this as I have the same thing. Like Mother like Son. 

**Having said this, for the last 2 days he has had an impeccable daytime nap routine, greatly surpassing our nap goal of 3 hours a day that we set for ourselves last week. If only he would keep this up or if I knew why he has suddenly started to nap so well we would be laughing (and my work here would be done!). However, I am fully aware that this is probably just a good phase so I am just enjoying it while it lasts!  

 
8. Old soul. We were having an early evening drink in our local pub with our boy when a slightly inebriated old man leaned over to us to say that Paddington 'had been here before, its clear to see in his face'. I politely replied something like 'yes, we have been in a couple of times for a drink since he was born!' and the man shook his head and said 'no, he's been here before', meaning the earth. Spooky. Some babies do seem to have old souls so who knows? Perhaps Pads has one and perhaps he does know more than he's letting on. What I do know is that since having him, people talk to us everywhere. He is quite the little attraction and conversation starter. In the same pub that same evening, another couple commented on how very handsome he was (they are absolutely right) and told us that these were apparently the 'easy months' as it gets harder as they get older. Thought it was the other way around!! 

 
9. Scenic breast feeding. In a bid to dose up on vitamin D, blast away this pesky cold and get out of the house for a bit, we visited the Sugar Loaf vineyard for a spot of scenic breast feeding (I think I should compile a book of the best scenic spots for mother and baby breast picnics - Sugar Loaf, Llantony Priory and the fields around White Castle would be high on the list!). We got a glimpse into the future as the place was awash with kids merrily playing in the stream and running around the vines. The spot was stunning and the scene was so idyllic. I think Pads is going to really enjoy growing up around here, as we both did.  We made the right move coming back home to start our family. 

 
10. Stretch it out! Pads is of course learning from us every day, but we are also learning from him. He has reminded me of the simple pleasure and relief of stretching, especially in the morning and at night before bed. He stretches all the time and I started copying him, you know, for a laugh (you have to find your own amusement at times when spending each and every day with a newborn!) and it actually feels fantastic to stretch it all out. These babies are really on to something. I am also thinking of adopting his reaction to good milk whenever I eat something I like: one arm stretched up with fingers splayed wide then into a sort of celebratory fist pump, the other hand making a small pulsing fist, whole body wriggling in satisfaction all whilst making contented little murmurs and grunts. That's the way to show appreciation for your food. 

 
11. Keepin' it Country.  Whilst pregnant I listened to a lot of country music, partly due to the fact I worked on an American food show. The Pioneer Woman, set on a ranch in Oklahoma that was awash with Country style library music (sorry you had to hear the same few tracks over and over again son whilst I was working in the edit!), but also because I am a sucker for a good Country song (especially if the lyrics mention trucks, beer, fried chicken, creeks, crickets, blankets or all of the above).  We went to the Country 2 Country music festival at the 02 when I was almost 6 months pregnant and Pads kicked like crazy during the Bradley Gilbert and Luke Bryan sets.  It seems his  indoctrination into country music has stuck, as we had a bit of a sing-a-long session to Kip Moore (who he also heard live in the womb at the afore mentioned festival and who I played a lot to him when he was in utero) and he bloody loved it! He was 'dancing' (o.k, maybe just moving around a lot), smiling, making cute little happy yelps and I swear he looked like he was even playing air guitar at one point...That's my little Country boy. 

 12. Daddy's birthday. It was Jon's birthday yesterday - his first as a father. We marked the occasion with a really lovely family day, but it was clear things have changed for good with the addition of our little boy now, and our plans didn't work out exactly as we had hoped as Pads comes first now - and definitely rules this roost. I baked Jon a cake, which was a feat in itself from going to buy the ingredients (and guess which ingredient I forgot thanks to baby brain- only the flaming flour!), to actually making the cake, in between breast feeding and watching the little guy, so thanks to grandma T for looking after Pads for a bit to allow me to bake with 2 hands! 

 We had planned to go for our first drink out together in the eve 'sans' Paddington, but we left it too late in the day and the little man started fussing and nursing distractedly so we had to call it off to give Pads the patience, attention and milk he needed! He seemed to acknowledge this later and demonstrated his gratitude by giving us his longest stretch of night sleep yet - just under 6 hours straight people! *** That was the best pressie his dad (and I) could've wished for so ta very much Pads! 

 (***Sleepyhead update - I can now proudly say that our dude sleeps every night in his Sleepyhead for a minimum of 3 hours usually so its been a real life/sleep saver for us.  I doubt we would have gotten nearly as much rest and sleep without it, especially as we have chosen to co-sleep for these early months.  Soon we are going to make the transition to the crib, as even if he would sleep in the moses basket - which he firmly won't! - he is almost too long for it now anyway.  We are hoping/praying that the Sleepyhead will make this transition easier as it can go in the cot and he's already used to it. I will report back when the time comes!)

We are going to try again to get out for an hour on our own this eve by settling him a bit earlier for bed, so wish us luck!