well it's christmas eve...I'm getting very excited! we bought eden a jolly jumper for christmas, which he won't be able to use until february... i considered wrapping it but decided to buy it and wrap it and then open it myself, without him having any idea of anything, was a bit too silly.

christmas day will be mostly the same as  it has been the last few years. we have pan au chocolate and smoothies for breakfast (oh so festive and season appropriate, i know!) and hang out by ourselves in the morning...and then off to phil's parents for the afternoon and probably part of the evening (it's the only place we can get some christmas tv!)

eden is still pretty excited about his movement causing reactions - such as his toys moving on his chair... he also has discovered that he can move his head about. so whenever i carry him around his head is going from side to side and up and around looking at all that he can see, with a bit of a 'wonder' face on. it also means that when i try to feed him he leans his head really far back away from me but then gets frustrated that there's no food... silly rabbit.

the crisp frosty weather has been replaced by miserable rain, unfortunately...so we're not expecting any snow or even sun. i think the next few days will be spent in doors.

the countdown to christmas...

(eden asleep on my arm)
i have to say, life is so much better with phil having time off to just be around. 

eden is starting to learn things and it's super fun to watch. like he now knows that if he kicks about whilst on his chair, his toys move.... and a few times he has been successful shoving his dummy back in his mouth! it is a whole bunch of madly waving his hands about, but it all seems to be with intent!

the colief seems to be helping loads with his wind. it's not all gone but its not dominating our lives like it was. i'm getting used to having to express a few tablespoons before each feed...not that eden is getting used to waiting for me to get it all ready...

last night we finally had a good night after 3 or 4 progressively worse ones. we put him down at 10, he woke for a feed at 4, with wind at half 6 (but i mostly settled him quite quickly) and for a feed at 8. thank goodness!!!!

anyway, a nappy needs to be changed...

to the doctor and back again

well eden's 6 week check up was yesterday. it was pretty anticlimactic actually. i expected them to do way more. they basically poked him a little bit, put his nappy back on and sent us on our way.

he now weighs 10lb 14! they're very happy with his size, and says he looks well. he measures 56cm, which is his birth length... the health visitor said it's quite normal for babies to appear statistically as though they have shrunk, as at birth they are measured along their curves, and after that they are laid flat... 

and then we had to return to the doctor today because when i went to pick up his prescription (they've given us something else to try for his wind, called 'colief'), the chemist told us to go about some white spots in his mouth,...which the doctor said was milk... and because at 3am this morning i awoke to him snorting and kind of gagging on mucus. lovely. the doctor was very nice but basically informed me that babies get colds and to just sit it through. oh well. least i know not to get paranoid (anymore)

so we have a poorly baby who isn't very happy about it, but getting lots of cuddles as a result... hopefully it'll pass quickly. we have some nose drops which are supposed to help him breath.

A post from the daddy man

Well, Shirah is all tied up with a piggy duck, so I'm posting. 

I've got a cold so I'm trying not to sneeze all over him, but he doesn't seem to have caught it yet, which is nice. He's been starting to smile a bit, and we're pretty sure it's not completely accidental now. He's still suffering from wind quite badly, but at the moment he's in a semi-sleep with us in bed. Today we're taking him into uni to meet my friends from my course - everyone is excited to see him ... maybe a bit too excited. Another development is that he's starting to enjoy being played with - but the flip side of that is he's starting to get bored too when we spend too long in our room. Here is a list of his current pseudonyms:

Piggy duck

Mr Piggy Duck

Mr PD

Mr Cadbury's Parrot

Schmumpalump

Buggalug

Little Duck

Eden

today has been a really nice day, although nothing specifically happened to make it that way.  in fact, other than some morning grumbles, yesterday was nice too. i'm feeling a lot more able to deal with the grumbles...1 of 3 things will be wrong: wet nappy, hunger or wind. and fortunately changing his nappy or feeding him generally settles him even if wind was the problem. not always though.

we've returned, mostly, to the reusables. i'm definitely a big fan and i've got a system going... i may need to buy one or two more outer wraps though as that seems to be where we're falling short. they do mean that he notices when his nappy is wet but i think it's a good thing. particularly now that he seems to like having his nappy changed... i also have started being brave and leaving his nappy off for a few minutes between changes, which he seems to appreciate. i know that reusables can be more prone to causing nappy rash so i'm trying to be proactive!

eden recently has begun to realise that he doesn't have to be quite so curled up anymore. often he'll be sitting in his chair, or lying down and suddenly fling his arms in the air and keep them there. often this is followed by something similar happening with his legs. i think he always seems quite happy with himself that he can do it! 

we're DEFINITELY buying a cot mattress this week and beginning the transition. he's just too big for the cradle and likes grunting too much to be that close to our bed!

anyway, there's a dirty nappy to be changed!

getting festive

well the christmas tree is up and decorated, but currently light-less. i cannot remember

where our fairy lights are!!! we went out promising ourselves we were getting a little tree and came home with an 8 footer. Oops. it was because the place we went to only had REALLY big trees and it was the smallest we could find...

oh well. i'm not surprised really. we have decided that next year we're going to buy a christmas tree in a pot, because we're not really happy about cutting trees down...despite liking having a real tree.

eden is struggling ALL the time with wind. it really sucks. it makes him miserable. the infacol does seem to help get burps up but it's not preventing the farts... last night he was grunting and moaning and we tried moving the cradle into the other room...but then it turned to crying. so i took him into bed for an hour and then put him in his vibrating chair. (the things we'll do for another few minutes of sleep!)  i understand why parents let their kids sleep in bed with them, but i definitely don't want to get into that... 

hopefully the weather will be better tomorrow so we can get out and about.

tummy time with grunt-a-lot

well today is yet another duvet day for mummy and eden, thanks to a night of very little sleep. i had given up milk in an effort to help reduce the wind, but yesterday i decided that it was pointless and had cereal... and last night he had awful wind. he does better now - he'll just grunt and groan, rather than cry and demand attention... but in the middle of the night grunting and groaning does require attention when phil has to get up the next morning... so i'm back off milk to see if that really was the cause or just a coincidence.

so we're playing in his room this afternoon. i put him on his tummy, but in the way that the nursery nurse suggested (with something under him so he doesn't just face plant and get uncomfortable)... and it was freaking hilarious. i  wish i had of remembered then that we have a video camera. i did take photos.  i'll get the video camera out next time.

each time i started him out so that his chest was on the blanket and his head no where near the ground...he was almost kneeling... and this is what would happen each time!

as time flies

eden is 1 month old today! time seems to be flying, but i am trying my best to enjoy this time, this phase of his development. today was brews with the other mums. eden is the baby of the group and at this point it is very obvious. they all interact and play and cry...while he stays curled up and sleeps, with the occasional grunt. once again i've come away realising how chilled out he is.

i seem to be quite busy these days, and getting busier. i don't know how people have babies and clean houses... no matter how much cleaning i attempt it's so messy! i don't really mind except when people come  in... and i realise that we're slobs! it's just difficult to slot in cleaning as its not really a baby friendly activity. oh well. i prefer spending my time with eden and friends... 

tomorrow has no concrete plans but i have no doubt that the day will pass before i even notice that it began.

oh and 2 things to note:

last night eden went 6 hours between feeds!!! (although we weren't asleep for 2 of the hours)

he's taken a bottle without noticing it wasn't me!!!

and one without the dummy:

I feel slightly foolish for putting him in this outfit, but even I have to admit that it's pretty freaking cute! And it feels so warm and cozy, which is important these days...I keep noticing our room thermometer saying 13!!! It's so good we got that room heater.

Well, the exciting news is that Eden is starting to smile... accidental as it may be, it still has happened more than once! Last night he gave me 2 smiles, so I ran upstairs so he could 'perform' again for daddy... but I wasn't successful. I sat in the room for ages trying to get another smile, but no luck!!

Eden is having more awake time all the time, which now means that I'm struggling to know what to do with him! He is more content being on his own (provided his belly is nice and full) and will spend time lying on the activity mat...although i do think he stares more at the wall than the toys. 

He's also getting noticeably bigger. For me I can tell when I hold him post feed...he's getting longer than my torso!!!

Tomorrow morning the Longridge Nursery Nurse is coming to show me how to do some baby massage that will help with all his wind. That's exciting. I think touch is a super important form of communication and so I'm excited to be able to this in a way that can help him.

That's all for now...sorry addicts.

So this is probably our birth announcement... the girl who did it is going to do a few more, but we really like this one. So soon I'll print some off and send them to all the relatives I'm expected to send such things to!

Well yesterday was a very long day. The hospital rang at 7:30am inviting us to have Eden's tongue tie appointment at 12, due to a cancellation. So we slept a few more hours, bundled him into the car (it was awful weather) and then into the hospital. We sat with 2 other couples with tiny babies waiting for the appointments... the first child went in, came back crying (as to be expected) and then it was our turn. We went in, both of us nervous but Eden was fast asleep...and they decided there was no point!!! The surgeon looked in his mouth, which Eden didn't like at all, and said that although there is a tongue tie, his tongue is extremely mobile and it's actually just the thick base of his tongue that makes it look more tied down. She said there was simply no point in doing the procedure. And that was a-ok with us!

So then we decided, since phil had the day off anyway, we may as well go to the Trafford Centre for some Christmas shopping. Except there was some incident on the motorway and what should have been a 40 minute drive took over 2 hours... We eventually got there though and had a nice time...Eden was in the sling (being admired constantly), we took turns wearing it, fast asleep!!!

Last night when we got home he started making happy noises. This is a first. Quite exciting. It was before we even gave him his new and improved dummies... i also got an expresser which is oh so exciting...and weird.

I'm starting to wonder if we need to move him into the cot...as whenever I let him sleep on the bed during the day while I play on the computer, he spreads his arms out as far as they will go (kind of like a starfish). That's no so possible in the cradle. We'll see though, as it's SO convenient having him next to me.

little boys and their toys

today we went to the 1st tongue tie appointment. it's down to what we want really. they say that it could affect speech, but that if it does he would require a full on surgery in a few years rather than a simple procedure done on my knee now. i think we're going to go for it as that would be a lot more traumatic... especially if he has trouble speaking and has to learn speech all over again! So the procedure (which involves a surgeon simply using scissors) will most likely take place in the next fortnight.

they weighed and measured him: 9lb 10 (so the rapid weight gain has petered off for the moment!) and 54.9cm long. I think he was 52 cm at birth but I cannot quite remember. 

here are a few videos from his birth...

Mr Chilled Out Returns

Well this past weekend, Eden learned how to scream. I have to say, it was a very unfortunate discovery! After a night and a day of grumbling (and occasional screaming) it has finally ended. He just had ridiculous amounts of wind it turns out.



Now he's just lying on our bed staring at the pattern on our duvet... apparently it is very exciting...he keeps gurgling at it. in fact, i can get up and go all over the house doing stuff and so long as his dummy is in, he and the duvet are fine!

We have finally mastered the bathing situation by taking him in the bath with one of us... we're also going to try and push forward with the skin-to-skin business. I think because he had to be checked over and heated immediately after birth instead of the usual skin to skin bonding time, he struggled with being out of his clothing... but now as long as the room is warm he is fine with no nappy and no clothes!

And I think he's beginning to learn to smile! Now it's not only a passing movement of the mouth but he can hold it and keep looking at you...

who knows.

it's time to get some fresh air.

Two Weeks In

The health visitor came today, for the 1st time. Eden now weighs... 9lb 6!!!! I seriously am feeding up a monster.
His head has expanded 2 inches, but she didn't measure his length. She did, however, keep telling me that although she sees
babies all the time, he is very beautiful. (obviously).



Life is quickly getting interesting with phil being really busy with his placement (the busy levels are going to last at least until christmas apparently) and with Eden & I learning all about how our lives are going to work out. Once again, thank goodness we have an easy going baby. I think the key is to have something small planned for every day, so that I don't lose my mind but also so it's not overwhelming.  Saying this, we do seem to be absolutely fine. I feel like I did pre-pregnancy and am really enjoying getting out and about. Tomorrow we're going to venture into Preston city centre. That'll be our 1st adventure.

the weekend is FINALLY here... and it resembles blue skies outside! we went out for a lovely long walk today. throughout my pregnancy i said that i was going to go walking every day - ha! although i still want to, but this week just doing the basics was enough. I think, however, this upcoming week is going to be filled with my attempts to create a life I am content with... well at least working towards that. I won't be happy simply being a feeding/changing machine... so I'm going to have to look for things to incorporate into this new space of mine.



the last couple days have been mostly easy - thankfully because we have a relatively easy going baby! - however he's started to super struggle with wind.. everytime he starts to whinge i am taken by surprise. but it never lasts long, thank goodness. i don't know how people cope with colicky babies. eden only really cries to get our attention and once we deal with it, peace returns.

11 days late & 6 days in

eden is asleep on me right now. we're alone for the 1st time as phil has taken the grandparents to asda.

i should probably put him down, but i can't find his dummy and i don't really want to. that dummy...i so wish it wasn't the answer! i am paranoid of the consequences, but although i'm occasionally struggling with him latching on, this isn't a new problem! we're still learning. especially since the midwife threw a spanner in the works today by showing me a new and more effective way of feeding! a new skill to master...when will i ever be able to feed in public? i almost had it...



we so badly want to buy a digital slr so that we can start taking really good photos of eden...but we missed our opportunity to buy it in canada (for way cheaper) so now we need to figure out how to go about getting the most for our money... but who wants to miss a moment of this gorgeous boy??!