Monday, November 09, 2009
Eating like a lady
Saturday, November 07, 2009
10 months and counting...
You are certainly a water baby and love to swim, and the evening bathtime which is your new routine (rather than the morning shower you used to have with Daddy). At swimming lessons your favourite activity is doing "humpty dumpties" where we sing the song and you jump in. So at home in the bath (also known as the laundry sink - the perfect size and height to bath you in!) you like to get the towelling finger puppets and bounce them on the edge, and sing "Dumdudahdumdumdada" until I sing "Humpty Dumpty" for you and you splash them into the water. So very cute.
I am missing the feeding to sleep as we teach you to fall asleep all on your own. I have always loved watching as your eyes closed, you snuggled in and became suddenly heavy and I'd gaze at you for a few minutes before I put you in your cot. You are not too keen on going into the cot awake, so I need to sit with you for a little while before you decide to go to sleep, but we are getting there (I hope). You blessed us with about a week of sleeping through and I felt amazing as it was the most sleep I had had in months, but unfortunately it didn't last so we are still working hard at getting you to feel safe and happy to fall asleep and stay asleep on your own.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
The sleep saga continues... hopefully the worst is over
I read a couple of chapters out of a few of the books to get a broader knowledge and then had a think about my own situation since I wanted to tailor a routine to suit us rather than just follow the books and feel stuck to the rigid instructions. I realised that Madelyn's best sleep is usually the morning one, straight after her shower with Dad (if I can get her down and don't have anywhere to run off to with Austin) so I thought perhaps the water play is one of her sleep cues at present and I should work with it.
We have always showered the kids with us in the mornings - me with Austy and Andrew with Maddy (she's too heavy for me and I'm always scared I'll drop her with the soap and water). Most do baths in the evening and I know that is the "normal" way of doing things, but with Andrew at work in the evenings it's always a mad rush to get dinner on the table with tired children who need extra attention at that time, and to get them both changed into PJ's and read stories and into bed by their respective bed times so they aren't over tired. Austin especially needs to go to bed at 7:30 on the dot as his behaviour gets out of hand if he's up later, and he never sleeps in longer the next day so it has a flow on effect when he's late to bed. So a bath in the evening was just another thing to make me run around in a panic watching the clock. We also figured that after a whole night in the same nappy, a shower in the mornings cleans the nappy area, and it's easy - since we are having showers anyway the kids just play on the shower floor while we wash (being careful not to get soap or shampoo from us onto their faces).
But since I want Maddy's best sleep to be at night, not after her morning shower, I decided to give just her a bath in the evening. She's in nappies all day and all night so the nappy thing really isn't an issue like it is with Austin who only wears them at night and quite often soaks through it and gets his PJ top wet and needs a thorough wash. The only trick was to make it fit into what is already a rushed and busy time, and keep Austy happy at the same time. I can't bath her in the big bath or he'd want to hop in too and he takes a LOT of coaxing to get out knowing bed is not far away which often makes him late to bed with all the mucking around a night time bath causes. So I decided that she can have her bath in the laundry trough - it's a perfect size for her, and Austy can stand on his step and help. We did that last night - just a quick bath, a little play and then I got to give her a proper massage, something I used to do nightly for Austin as a baby but never have time to do for her as Austy is usually up to mischief at that time. Austy loved it as he got to play in her bath water while I massaged her and we sang songs together to make it even more relaxing for everyone. I kept the bath short so it didn't really add a lot of time into the night time routine, and hopefully I will still be able to keep it up when I am back at work and have to start dinner etc. a bit later. Austin was very pleased with the new routine and wanted to call Andrew straight away to tell him about it and how he's going to help me bath Maddy each night. It was really nice to see how much he enjoyed helping.
Then, after I let both kids pick a book and read them to both of them tucked into Austy's bed, I said goodnight to Austy and took Maddy out for her feed. I managed to get away with a quick 20min feed instead of the 1-2hr one she has been having, as I took her off the breast every time she stopped sucking and closed her eyes. My first step is to not let her fall asleep at the breast anymore! Then I popped her in her cot awake and the controlled comforting began, but I stayed with her for the first 5 minutes rather than just leaving her immediately and then didn't leave her crying longer than the 6 minute mark rather than letting it build up to 10mins. She was asleep within 45 minutes which was better than how long the breatsfeed to sleep has been taking but she had quite a protest and each time I went back to her she was clinging to the bars of her cot screaming "Mumumumum!" - quite heartbreaking to hear since I've never really left her to cry like that in her life.
I thought we'd had success since she was asleep so quickly but she woke every 40-60mins the whole night through. One to Maddy. None to Mum! The good thing was that the crying sessions got shorter as the night went on and for her morning nap today she was asleep in that first 5 minutes while I stayed in her room (hands on, patting or stroking while she cried, hands off when she was calm so she can learn to sleep without me patting her).
The other thing I have introduced is a snuggle toy - she has always had a little bear in her cot while she slept but since she's now going to be left in there awake more (I have always gone to her moments after she has awoken so there has been no danger in the past) I decided that the bear really isn't safe as it has beans that could come out if she bites it, and she has already chewed off half his nose! She likes to hold my thumb when she falls asleep on the breast so I am now switching the thumb for the bunny blankie's ear or paw. I think I might make her a few simple, washable, identical snuggle toys (quite soon so she doesn't get too attached to the bunny one that I can't replace so easily). With three identical toys, we can have one for the nappy bag to use in the car or pram when out, one for her cot, and one to rotate through the wash.
Hoping for a better night tonight.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
It's time for sleep
I am showing every sign of sleep deprivation, especially since she can take anywhere from 20mins to 3hrs to resettle at night. My body aches, I get dizzy spells, headaches, can't remember something I did five minutes ago let alone what on earth it was I was trying to say... getting stuck midsentence plenty of times. I don't like the person I am becoming, I don't like the way I talk to Andrew, I don't like the way I deal with Austy's temper tantrums on a particularly bad day when I am literally a walking zombie. My patience is wearing VERY thin (and when you've got two little ones patience is the most important thing in the world!), my body aches and I feel like the biggest failure of all. Many days I'm on the verge of tears, other days I hear myself yelling at Austin and cringe, especially as parents that take their frustrations out on their kids is something I really hate, and he is, afterall, only 3. There will be times when he does crazy things like bringing the hose inside and squirting water all over the floor. There will be times when he wants to pour his own milk and his own cereal and doesn't seem to understand what my issues are with the mess he creates. There will be times he wants to do things his own way. There is nothing wrong with him - perhaps he is a little more head strong than most and his clever little brain is always ticking away so he always knows exactly how to push my buttons and answer back. I just have to deal with it better. And believe me I try. We don't smack in this house, we TRY not to yell, and always apologise if we loose our cool, and practice positive parenting as much as possible. But on little sleep, those things take oh so much effort and it's very easy to let out frustrations with a short temper.
Even though I am usually the one to get up in the night, I sometimes lose sight of the fact Andrew is waking up too. It frustrates me when he complains of exhaustion when I have been up ten times the night before while he stayed warm in bed or when I let him sleep in after such a night and I deal with the kids on my own and Austy is being particularly challenging. I envy his time out - his 4hr golf sessions (or the whole weekend away a couple of times) when I have always had at least one of the children with me and hardly even get time to eat let alone have some relaxation time. I don't want to stop him having his time out - he is right, my time out is sewing and I get to do that when the kids are in bed at night (but often get interrupted with Madelyn's bad sleep habits), and his time out is golf. We promised when we got married that we'd make sure we kept our hobbies and not hold each other back. So what needs to change is sleep. We all need more.
With Austin we had a particularly good night sleeper but hardly a good nap during the day. He never slept anywhere but his own cot (not even the car on a rather harrowing trip to the snow and back when he was 18m old and slept all of 20mins for the whole 12hr drive!). He'd lose the plot quite easily in the daytime once he was overtired, and it wasn't until he was 6m old that I started to go with the flow a bit more and feed him when he wanted it (even if it was straight before a sleep) and stop with the rigid feed, play, sleep thing that had been drummed into me from books, advice givers, child and youth health nurses. I threw out the "no closer than 2hrly feeds" rule CYH had told me, and if he wanted a feed sooner, I gave it to him. He was a big baby and seemed to need the extra milk. As a result we got a happier baby who slept at least one good nap in the day and all night long.
So when we had Madelyn, I decided right from the start I would feed her whenever and however long she wanted. This worked fabulously for the first 5 months. She was the happiest baby I had ever known, never cried (except those early weeks with colic), and was very content and easy going which worked in so well with all the running around I had to do with Austy. She slept in the car, in the pram, in the baby carrier (and still does if she needs to when we are out) and slept for a miraculous 12hrs straight at night, from 8pm till 8am. What changed at 5m was that we had just got back from America, with us all feeling the heavy effects of jetlag, including her, and from then on she hasn't been clear of some illness or another (or teething) for longer than a week or two. She still fed to sleep as she always had done and I never thought feeding to sleep would be a problem for us as it was clear that she could resettle since she was sleeping so well at night before then. When Austin was this age, I'd feed him directly before bed, a half an hour rocking in the rocking chair by his cot and he'd finish the feed awake and I'd pop him into his cot and wouldn't hear a peep until morning. With Madelyn - she ALWAYS falls asleep during the feed and when I try to take her off before she falls asleep, the walls almost crumble with her screams.
They say the sleep cycle changes at 5m and separation anxiety comes in at around 8m which may be why for us, the issue has been getting progressively worse not better. We tried leaving her for 10mins before going to her, and when I go in at night I now try to sing, pat her chest or stroke her head back to sleep in the cot but she gets histerical and then I pick her up. I hold her and walk around for a bit but she struggles with all her might. I try to rock her in the chair but the screaming continues and I worry that she'll wake Austin too so I eventually give in and feed her. She's not really hungry, just looking for comfort, and after a quick 10 minute feed, and tiny little sucks, she's back to sleep in my arms. Or is she? I put her in the cot and the screaming starts all over again and we are right back where we started.
In the day time, she generally has two good naps of at least an hour long, but is fed to sleep for both of those too, in her room though rather than in front of the TV where I do her ultra-long feed for bed (I'd go crazy sitting in her room for up to two hours staring at the walls waiting for her to go to sleep at night). But there's another mistake - letting her fall asleep where I don't want her to spend her whole sleep. When she wakes up she is histerical and so hard to resettle.
Last night was one of those particularly bad ones. I have been dreading going to bed at night as it's the start of another torture session for me, so I have been staying up later than my body really can cope with. Then when I get into bed, I just can't settle down to sleep so I toss and turn until her next wake up, or worse, just nod off in time for her to wake me up. Last night the next wake up was at 1:28am (after I went to bed, far too late at 12:30am). I was still trying to resettle her at 3am having been in and out what seemed a hundred times. Now, remember this isn't just one bad night I am talking about, but several... for months... with no outlook of improvement and my return to work date fast approaching. At 3:30am I was back in bed but she was still screaming her little head off and I knew I had to go in there again as it was certainly not just a grizzle. I rolled over and in a plea for help sighed with an exghasperated voice to Andrew "What else can I try? I really DON'T know what else to do?". He said the wrong thing in reply. "You can turn the monitor off and let me get some sleep!" So in my sleep deprived, exhausted, frustrated state, as I threw back the covers and got out of bed I grabbed the @#%$% monitor and threw it at him (intended to hit the quilt in the bed next to him - not him) and then I stormed off to resettle the terrified and screaming baby.
See what I mean? Not a nice wife. Not a nice Mum. Not a nice person. It's time I did something about it.
So today after Austin's storytime and craft session at the library, I sat him at the computer to play his favourite "chicken game" I wandered over to the Family Information Zone (just a few metres away where I could still see Austy) and picked up 4 different books on baby sleeping in the hope that one of them would have something valuable to offer. Of course who has time to read though when you are so tired? I thought perhaps that I'd get some reading time during Madelyn's feeds today, but then I saw that one of the books had a DVD. So I went straight for that one. The book it came with was quite small, not a huge marathon reading session at all, and the DVD was fabulous at showing me how much crying is okay. The book and DVD set is called Time to Sleep by Maree Viotto for anyone out there with babies in similar situations who is interested.
I nearly skipped over the birth to 6m part since Madelyn is almost 10m now, but I thought it might have some insight for me and watched it too. I was surprised at how short the DVD was, and how easy it looked to follow. As Madelyn has been so upset by the fact I had left her crying for 10 minutes at night each time between comforting, I decided not to go straight to the "controlled comforting" the DVD suggests for her age, but try the settling techniques that I should have used in the first 6m. Remember this baby has always been fed to sleep and has no idea how to fall asleep on her own unless she's in the motion of a car, pram or baby carrier. I also know how distressed she gets when I leave the room so I knew I'd probably pack it in before it worked if I did the older baby techniques. I will quickly move onto the older baby techniques - just not sure I'm quite ready for that yet since I think she needs to know I will be there for her to get over her super clinginess of late.
I decided to get to work on it straight away since Austy was out of the house (and part of the reason I've fed her to sleep is that it's easier with another one to worry about, since I don't have the time to go back and forth in the day time when I'm also watching him, but lately the feed is taking far too long and poor Austin is left to stare at the TV, or get up to mischief only to be told off when it's my fault for not having time for him). Also I figured it would be easier during the day when I'm not trying to sleep too and I could put everything else aside for her. She was due for a feed though... so we had to do that first rather than going back to the whole feed,play, sleep thing the DVD recommends, that I used strictly with Austin. This time though, as soon as she stopped sucking strongly and started her little comfort sucks (allbeit closing her eyes and no doubt ready to nod off at any second) I took her off the breast, took her to her room and tried the settling techniques recommended for under 6m olds. I expected that she would scream for the whole 15mins as she was beside herself the moment I extracted the human dummy from her mouth! Surprise, surprise she was quiet within 8 mins and fell asleep by herself. Instead of her good two hour nap though that she normally has at this time of the day, she woke after 40 mins - exactly one sleep cycle just as the book said. So I went in and resettled - this time it took almost 15 minutes of her struggling and screaming but I persisted and she slept another 40 mins.
She is now happily playing in her playpen, something she hasn't done for a couple of weeks without grizzling and wanting to cling to me. I know this is just the beginning but I'm going to give it a good shot and see what happens. I decided to write it all down here, get it all off my chest and also have it to refer back to when things got tough to remind myself why I am doing this. Hopefully she is one to respond quickly to the change rather than one of those that can take up to a month - especially since I now have to switch her feed routine so that she feeds when she wakes and not when she sleeps. It's going to be a challenge but it needs to happen. Lets see how I go. Tonight is going to be a tough one!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
9 months update
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Goodbye Gryffin
Monday, August 10, 2009
Look who's rolling now!
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
7 month old Maddy
You may have read in my last post that our adorable boy was under the weather. We thought he was getting better, but then he got worse again and was falling asleep on the couch, and lucky Andrew got a rare afternoon with him snuggled up on his lap at the computer for a few hours while Austy lay there sleeping as he used to do as a baby. It turned out the poor kid had developed a chest infection, and I had too, having caught his bug off him and having "severe asthma" while I am breastfeeding (something to do with the hormones) it quickly developed into an infection. Just as we were both at our worst and awaiting the doctors appointment (it seems so hard to get in to see a GP these days, and especially with it being winter ad all manner of colds and flus going around), I was feeling rather exhausted one night when Maddy awoke quite upset and burning up. We thought perhaps she had the same bug that gave Austy and I our chest infections as that's how ours started, but when I managed to squeeze her into our appointment with the doctor the next day (after we had several failed attempts to keep panadol in her which we promised her we would never do to her again!) we discovered she had quite a nasty ear infection. It took two weeks to clear up, with some antibiotics, an just as I ditched the bottle, the temp came back this weekend. She was liek a glow worm, you know those cuddly toys that you squeeze and their head lights up? Yep, that was her, poor chicken. Not even teh dymadon that had worked miracles withher fever before, could bring the temp down so off to the GP again. We were told it is just viral and tehy took a wee sample to test to make sure as she was also starting to break out in a horrid rash, that is now blothcy all over her very puffy eyes and nose and can be seen under her fine blonde hair. She can't keep food down so has gone back to just breastmilk for a couple of days and is super clingy and not sleeping well at all. It's not nice to have a sick baby, she never cries normally, so to see her this upset is heartbreaking and Ireally don't quite know what to do with her twhen not even an offering of her favourite boobie juice will calm her down. It took ages to get her to sleep tonight despite her rubbing her eyes all afternoon. I just want her to get better again quickly and I think we've had our fair share of lurgies!
So that's why there hasn't been a 7 month update until now.
Weight: 9.3kg
Length ??
Teeth: 4 - two bootom ones and two "vampire fangs" (no top middle ones yet!)
Mobillity: Launching to tummy from a sitting position to reach things
Dear Madelyn, at 7 months you sit up sooooo well, you have a beautiful posture and love to be on your bottom 99% of your wake time. You are starting to want to move as you have discovered that not everything will automatically be handed to you by your big brother, and quite often he will play with his toys just out of reach and if you do manage to launch yourself forward from sitting to your tummy and grab something of his, he quickly removes it from your grasp. This results in you pushing up on your hands and kicking your legs, as if you are about to crawl, but alas just kicking those legs does nothingto propell you forwards. Sorry darling, that only works in the pool as you have perfected so well as you paddle and kick frantically in your swim ring or in my arms and zoom forwards.
You really enjoy solids and have taken to them much better than your brother did, and Daddy and I are secretly hoping some of your good eating habits will rub off on him someday. So far, we have had no luck with the "Look Austy, Maddy likes [insert vegetable here]" comments. One of your new favourites is parsnip, peas and potato puree. And we are so glad we havefound something vegetable that you will eat happily that doesn't contain any apple or pair. I am steering clear of commercial baby foods just as I did withAusty, mainly because it's cheaper and I know exactly what's in the food I make, but also because so many of them have fruit in everything and I am afraid if we don't ween you off fruit sweeteners you will take after Austy with the eating habits. (Austy has only JUST started eating cereal for breakfast, starting with the milo cereal I wasn't too keen on but bought because he picked it, it was a cereal, and he promised he would eat it, and now moving onto miniwheats that I am MUCH happier with!)
Blocks, stacking cups/boxes and shakers and things that you can have an obvious effect on (especially things that you can crash down when I stack them for you!) are the toys of the moment and you are really taking notice of toys that you can make noises with by yourself. I caught you picking up different rattles and shaking them by your ear just the other day.
You still don't say anything but "Dadadad", much to your Daddy's delight although with all this illness, you have made some cross faces and some unique sounds as if you are trying to tell us something in yur frustration for being tired and sick. Don't worry sweetheart, we're tired too and doing everything we can to get you better. Your sleeping has been attrocious - a real shock as Austy didn't warm us up to bad sleeping patterns and it s a completely new thing to us. We understand though- that ear has been bothering you and you need lots of cuddles when you feel this rotten. The worst night was this past Saturday night when you had us taking turns in the rocking chair as you'd only sleep in our arms.... yawn!
You're still very cute though and when we are shopping and I am carrying you in your homemade sling, you always fall asleep and we get so many comments about how precious you are (we know!). You have started to imitate kissing sounds in addition to your little sniffy trick where you scrunch up your face and breathe quickly in and out through your nose just for a laugh. As you were copying my kissing sounds I thought it was time to teach you how to give kisses. You give me and Austy kisses (normal open mouth baby ones - the kissy lips are reserved for showing off) and even Grandpa scored one the otehr day but poor Daddy has been missing out (well I guess we're even since you still won't say Mum!). You had us in fits of laughter the first few times he asked fro a kiss and you leaned for his face with open mouth, got within about 2cm then flicked your head away and giggled your cute little chuckle. Funny girl. We have a feeling you are going to be a cheeky one like your big brother!
Love Mummy
Now what is Austy up to? He is so glad that school holidays are over as kindermusik, playgroup and storytime/crafting have all resumed to keep hi busy during the weekdays. We have had a lot of rain here lately, so activities like these break up the housebound boredom that sets in when you have a tired Mummy who doesn't want to take the baby out in the rain. He has taken to the new music songs quickly and tonight sat there with his guitar for about an hour singing them as he strumed away. Then he asked me to sing them too and told me off every time I got the words wrong - looks like I have some homework to do to learn them all myself! He's been asking me to teach him to read as he'll often pick up a book and tell a story with it's pictures. That works fine when he's heard teh story a thousand times (he doesn't skimp on detail either!) but I think he knows he's just making it up when the book is one he's never seen before like one he's just plucked from a libray shelf. So I made up some letter cue cards and then some simple word cards for words that are in his everyday life or appeal to him in some way (like "monkey" since his best friend is a stuffed monkey named Montgomery who has to do everything with him lately, including have his own bowl of cereal for breakfast). after just a few days Austy was getting about 90% of the letters correct when shown in random order, and quite often can tell me what sound they make and a few words that start with that letter. He loves it and always reminds me to cuddle and kiss him if e gets it right and I just move onto the next one. When I show him the words, he looks at the first letter and if he remembers the words on the cards that start with that lettter he will take a guess. Otherwise he looks at the other letters on the card, so he seems to be getting that letters make up words, and when we read books he seems to understand that the words are what make up the story, so I think he's more than ready for kindy now. He likes to trac the letters with his fingers and sometimes will attemt to draw a letter by copying, but I am just happy when he tries to copy a shape or scribble that I draw as it is the start to learning to write. Prekindy starts next term, and I think he is looking forward to it.
No pics tonight - too tired, but I may come back and pop some in later.
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Halfway through
Madelyn is nearly seven months old now, a perfect, happy and placid little girl who loves to laugh and watch the world around her as everything seems to be entertainment to her. Andrew and I can clearly see the contrasts between our two beautiful children, who at times look so similar, as if they were twins born three years apart. Austin, at the same age was a real little joker. He’d try to do anything to get our attention, and when he got it (how could we not look at him when he did funny things like poking out his tongue or chatted nonsensically to himself for hours) he’d giggle and beam with pride at his own cleverness. Madelyn, just fits in perfectly to our little family by adoring everything her big brother does, and just happy to sit and watch and enjoy the smiles we all give her. She doesn’t “chat” as much as Austin did at this age, in fact the only sounds she makes are cute attempts at raspberries, squeals of delight and the usual “dadadadad” baby chatter, that really only just started a few weeks ago. I remember Austy saying all sorts of sounds by now. It’s almost as if Austy was the sort of baby who wanted to make everything happen for him, just the way he wanted it, whereas Maddy is the type to just be amused by what everyone else is doing that she doesn’t need to try and get our attention, we have hers instead! Their personalities compliment each other so well, Austy dotes on her, she adores him, and we know that they will grow up with the best friend they could possibly have in each other. And for that we feel lucky. Our two perfect kids.
I never did get to give you Maddy’s 6 month update, things are always so busy here, and without the laptop working I am spending much less time on the net because I don’t like to be in a separate room when Austy is playing (he doesn’t like it much either – very much a Mummy’s boy, which I am soaking up while I can!). So here are her 6 month stats:
Length: 76cm (90th percentile)
Teeth: Two (bottom middle)
Latest trick: Sitting up unaided
Mobility: Still no rolling, crawling or walking (thank goodness!) but she can squirm around in a 360 on the floor and hold herself up well on her tummy.
Today, a third tooth cut, much to our surprise, the top eye tooth on her right. I can see a little hole where it’s matching left tooth is trying to pop out, but she has no sign of those two middle top teeth, so we joked that she is a little vampire. The tooth is well and truly out of the gum, which caught me quite off guard when I spotted it as I was trying to settle her for her morning nap and she was crying. She had a cold over last weekend and was very unsettled by it, waking 2hrly and sometimes 1hrly (lucky bleary eyed me). We suspected the 6 month immunisations had a role to play in that too, as the rotavirus vaccine is meant to hit its peak reaction at 7-10 days post dose. Her cheeks had glowed on the odd occasion but other than that, the teething signs were pretty minimal. She had been a bit grumpy this morning, trying to chew her toys, which is what made me think to look while she was crying in her cot as I patted her tummy. I expected to see a slight redness, not the sharp little tooth that sparkled at me in all its white glory! We are very pleased that she doesn’t get as upset about teeth emerging as Austy used to.
I have been teaching him to write his name and he loves how I tell him a little sentence to help with each one, like A is “up and down and across the middle” and he recites it every time he tries to draw an A or sees an A on a sign. I am encouraging him to draw using the blackboard as he never has been much of a colour in or scribble type of kid. At the 2.5yr check up CYH said his pencil grip was “immature” and had to be corrected by kindy, so I am glad I have found something that he likes to do with drawing. I draw a snail on the blackboard and he will draw over it and decorate the shell, and he loves to draw over the letters and numbers I draw on the board for him. He loves craft at the library after story time, and is now starting to colour in chunks rather than just scribbles all over the page.
Yesterday Austy came down with a virus of some kind and spiked a fever, but he is the best patient, as long as I sit and cuddle him. Just a little tricky today with Maddy wanting cuddles today too with her 4th tooth on the way. It seems the worst of it is over though and he’ll be back to his normal energetic self in no time.
Monday, June 08, 2009
4 & 5 months
{Pics to add - they are on the other computer}
At four months old Madelyn weighed a hefty 8.3kgs. We didn't get a chance to weigh her properly at the CYH centre as we normally do, so I don't have a height measurement, but believe me when I say she's also quite tall. She started teething symptoms like mad, but for the whole month had no teeth to show - just lots of dribble and a few more upchucks than normal. The patchy dry skin on her forehead that she'd had since she was born dissapeared and now is as smooth an luscious as every other patch of her squishy soft baby skin. She discovered a love for chewy toys she can put in her mouth, and became even more obsessed with her older brother, only he can make her laugh just by saying "Madelyn, laugh!". It's a delight to see her cackling at him as he chats away. She loves library time and has been going with just me on Mondays for a few weeks now, having special Mummy & Maddy time. She also had her first stint in the baby bouncer (similar to the jolly jumper) just before we left for the US.
At 5 months, we're not sure what she weighed (second baby syndrome coupled with jetlag....) as we didn't get a chance to weigh and measure her. No real concern though as she certainly isn't underweight and is absolutely thriving on Mummy milk. Her newest trick is to pull her socks off with her teeth, and she can roll onto her side but not all the way over to her tummy yet. Most of the month was spent being carried around in the baby carrier, spending alot of time sleeping, so not much really to report on new developments, but she has discovered leaves and is fascinated by them. And still fascinated by her big brother, evben though he gets a bit too close and smothery at times. She's such an easy going little girl, quite happy to go with the flow, loves to squeal and giggle, and only started crying more this month due to not being able to be fed whenever she wanted it (the US isn't as breastfeeding friendly as Australia and it wasn't easy to find somewhere discreet to feed), and perhaps teething added to her unsettledness. But still an absolute delight. Oh and she's started to grow some hair, although noone believes us, and it's so blonde it's hard to see in photographs. Trust us - the bald patch is gone and a heathy littl blonde swirl has sprouted on the back of her darling little head.
That's all for now, as it's not too long before the 6 month update.