Starting on Solids

I've been thinking about the "hows & whats" of starting solids. We talked about this at my new mum's group. I realised I didn't really know anything about it, other than you start your baby on solids at 6 months. I always thought you started your baby on pureed foods, but then I read about an interesting idea, 'baby led weaning', where you give your baby finger foods straight away. Now, I don't know what to think.

Any thoughts?

Daddy Love

Playing With Daddy

Fun With Daddy

Dave & Jack have a lot of fun playing together. Here they are blowing raspberries at each other.

Jack Rolls!!

This morning when I went to get Jack up after his morning nap, I found him laying on his tummy. He rolled over!! He looked like he couldn't figure out what he just did, but I was very excited!

Reflections of Week 17

Things have been going pretty smoothly. There haven't really been any major changes or events. I feel like things have finally become "normal".

Sleeping
Jack has continued to sleep well and he has even been sleeping through til 7am, which has been good. During the week I have been cutting down on his dreamfeed. As the feed got shorter, he would wake up and want to keep feeding, but I would take him off and put him back to bed. He wasn't very happy about that, but once he found his thumb, he settled - I love the thumb! Last night, I dropped the dreamfeed completely and he slept through! I didn't hear him wake up at all. I think that having his thumb has been a real benefit (I may not be thinking that later!).

Jack's day naps are going well. Over the last few days, he has consistently had a 2 - 2 1/2 hour nap in the morning, but his other naps are shorter.

Wake Time
A few times I've extended his wake time to 2 hours and he's coped well with it. He's a real joy to play with. More and more when we play with him he giggles and makes lots of excited noises. He's going really well on his tummy. Every now and then he'll lift his bum off the floor. He's still rolling on to his side, but he hasn't rolled over completely yet. His coordination is getting better. He's grabbing toys (and hands) and putting them in his mouth.

Over the last couple of days, he's not been himself. He doesn't seem as happy when he's awake. He doesn't smile and laugh as much as he usually does. He just doesn't seem to be happy, which makes it harder to entertain him. I'm hoping this is just a phase and he'll return to normal soon. He had his 4 month immunisations last week, so maybe they're affecting him. Who knows?

He's stopped blowing his raspberries now. Instead, he's sucking his lips in. He looks really funny when he does it.

On his play mat he has a mirror attached to one of the arches. A couple of times we saw him talking to his reflection. He was having a very interesting conversation with this "other" baby in the mirror - very cute.

Routine
I've continued with the same routine, although I've had to adjust it slightly once Jack started having the 2 hour naps in the morning.

Outings
We've been out and about a lot. We've been to the shops a few times doing Christmas shopping and he has been great each time. I've gone out at night with him a couple of times. Sometimes he's been really settled, other times, not so settled. I think being in a familiar place helps.

My sister and her family are back in Australia, so it's been great for Jack to meet his cousins. I think he has been a bit overwhelmed by all the new faces, but he's slowly getting used to it. Sophie, Bethany and Matthew seem to really love him. He's getting lots of cuddles from the girls. I've enjoyed spending time with the kids as well.

Becoming a Best Friend in Marriage

During the week I met up with my friend Claire. I had a great morning chatting with her & being able to spend time to share with each other. What was really valuable, though, was reading & reflecting on God's word together. We read Ephesians 4:1-16 and discussed the following questions:

1. How has God called me to walk in my marriage?
2. What gifts do I see that God has given my husband?
3. What gifts do I have that contribute to the marriage?
4. Today I will begin to thank God for one special quality He has given my husband. Each day continue with a different thanksgiving.

We spent a lot of time discussing question 2. I found this really helpful as it really forced me to think about the wonderful gifts that God has given my husband. It's so easy to focus on the negatives in people and get annoyed with people's failings, rather than focus on the good things. I was able to spend time appreciating the great qualities in Dave - he loves God, he is level-headed (which counteracts my irrationality), he is thoughtful, he is sensitive, he is loving, he has integrity, he has a great sense of humour, he is humble, he is so easy to get along with, he is committed to our relationship and he loves Jack and me so much. There are more qualities that I'm sure I've left out. In thinking about these qualities, it helped me to see how well suited Dave and I are. God certainly new what he was doing!

What gifts do you see that God has given your husband?

Reflections of Week 16

This week has been a really good week. Jack has been really settled and his sleeping has been really good. He has been really happy and very cute.

Sleeping
Sleeping has been going well. He is still sleeping through the night after his dreamfeed. But, the 'dreamfeed' isn't really been a 'dreamfeed' at the moment as he seems to be waking up before I go in to feed him. I'm not sure why he's started to do this as I feed him at different times each day. I decided to feed him earlier than usual, but with a lot of things on this week, I haven't been able to do this consistently. It doesn't seem to be a big problem as he goes straight back to sleep after feeding. But, it does mean that if I'm out at night, I never know if he'll stay asleep, so I usually don't stay out for very long. I'm hoping to drop the dreamfeed soon, but I just haven't been able to do anything about it yet. I'm thinking of bringing the feed 15 mins early (as I mentioned last week) and then cutting down the length of the feed. I'll see how I go...

His day naps have been better. He seems to be sleeping better, but the length of the naps are still unpredictable. This morning he slept for 2 hours and this afternoon he's still asleep and it's nearly been two hours. It's been AGES since he's slept like that.

In the morning he has been waking up around 5 - 5.30ish (arghh!), but we haven't been getting up. We leave him and he just makes his talking noises and eventually goes back to sleep. Well, I assume he goes back to sleep as he's very quiet and if he were awake he couldn't be that quiet! This morning, he slept til 7am, which was really nice as most mornings he wakes up around 6am. I'm going to try to get him to get into the habit of waking at 7am, instead of 6am. Don't really know how I'll do it, but I'll figure something out.

Wake Time
Wake time is always fun. He is really interactive and I love playing with him. He's now giggling at when we play games or when I kiss him on the neck. One day, I played 'boo' with him and he giggled each time I popped my head over the pram. It was adorable. He really enjoys playing with Dave. He often makes his excited noise when he's playing with Dave, which sounds like half a hiccup - probably the 'hic'. He's going really well on his tummy and grabbing hold of his toys. He's still quite active and talkative.

New Things
Well, Jack's started a new thing this week - blowing raspberries. He's been doing it all the time and he looks so pleased with himself when he does it. If someone does it to him, he'll do it back to them, or it seems like he's doing it back to them. But, you've can't get too close as he drools heaps, and if you're not careful, you'll get some lovely Jack spit in your face!

The shrieking noise has continued. I still haven't figured out why he's doing it. Sometimes, he does it when he's playing, other times it seems like he does it when he's tried, and other times, it seems like he does when he's frustrated. He probably is like his mum and just likes the sound of his own voice. Here's a video of this noise. It's not as bad as it can get.


Thumb Sucking
This has continued. He's still sucking his thumb when he goes to sleep. He spends a lot of his wake time with his thumbs and hands in his mouth. He often sucks on both thumbs at once, which we call 'the double barrel'.

Wrapping
I'm still wrapping one arm and leaving the other arm out. This week, I'll try to leave both arms out. I've noticed that wrapping is a definite sleep cue for him, so I'll need to keep wrapping him in some form or another.

Routine
The routine has been working well and I feel like I can plan my day more now. This has made going out much easier.

Outings
We've been out nearly everyday this week. Monday I had coffee with a friend and then we met Dave for lunch. On Tuesday, Mum and I went Christmas shopping. It was so good having mum with me. It makes it much easier having someone willing to look after Jack or take the pram when I need to do things. I'm about half-way through the Christmas shopping - yay! We spent the day at home on Wednesday, which was really good for us. I was able to get cleaning and other little jobs done. Thursday was a social day where I spent the morning with a friend and the afternoon meeting up with friends from school. Friday was my mother's group and in the evening we had our Church's Christmas Carols service. Jack came with me for all the outings and he coped really well. He will sleep pretty much anywhere, which is really handy (except for when I met up with my friends from school, he wasn't interested in sleeping at all! Far too much excitement).

My Job as a Mother

Today I left some dishes dirty,
The bed I made at 3.30.
The nappies soaked a little longer,
The odour grew a bit stronger.

The crumbs I spilt the day before,
Are staring at me from the floor.
The finger prints there on the wall,
Will likely be there next fall.

The dirty streaks on those window panes,
Will still be there next time it rains.
"Shame on you, old lazy bones," you say,
"And just what have you done today?"

I nursed a baby till he slept,
I held a baby while he wept.
I played a game of hide and seek,
I squeezed a toy so it would squeak.

I pulled a wagon, sang a song,
Taught a child right from wrong.
What did I do this whole day through?
Not much that shows, I guess it's true.

Unless you think that what I've done,
Might be important to someone,
With bright blue eyes and soft brown hair.
If that is true, I've done my share.

Anon

We were given this poem at my mother's group today. I found it really encouraging. I can get preoccupied with clothes washing, keeping the kitchen clean, vaccumming the floors, and keeping the house tidy. I especially want to keep the house clean so that when people drop by, the house isn't a complete mess (it's easy to feel like people are judging you). When I look back one my day, I realise that I haven't really spent much time playing with Jack and spending time just being with him. I have to remind myself that playing with Jack, talking with him, singing to him, or reading to him, is really important (and fun as well). The dishes can wait.

Has this been a challenge for you?

A Cracker Smile

Jack at 16 Weeks

Reflections of Week 15

Even though this week has been quite busy, Jack has coped well. He has been really settled and has adjusted into his routine a lot more now.

One new thing that Jack has discovered is a new noise. He is now making a shrieking-screeching type of noise. Initially, we didn't really know what on earth was going on with this noise. After a while, we realised that he's just playing with his voice and testing it to see what it can do. It's a pretty happy shriek. At Church he was making this noise quite a lot. This was my first 'feeling embarrassed by my children' experience.

Sleeping
Jack is sleeping really well. He's consistently sleeping through the night now. There were a few nights where he was waking up and crying out, but we didn't need to get up as the crying didn't last for long. He still wakes up at different times in the morning; sometimes 6.00am, sometimes 6.30am and sometimes 7.00am. Usually, I can leave him in his cot for half an hour before I get him up to feed him. He'll just talk to himself and make his happy noises.

His day naps have been better. They're still different each day. Some days he sleeps really well during the day and other days he just cat naps. But, the difference is that I'm dealing with it more effectively. If he has a short nap, I get him up and see if he'll play until his next feed. Usually, he'll play with Dave until feed time.

We finally put up the big cot. He's been sleeping in it for a week now. Initially, I didn't think that he was affected too much from moving to the bigger cot. But, when I look back, I realise that his sleeping was slightly affected. For the first few days he was moving around A LOT in his cot. I would go in to check up on him and he'd been totally upside down without any sheets or blanket on him. He's not moving around as much anymore. I think he's gotten used to the space now.

I'm still giving him the dreamfeed. I'm gradually feeding him earlier in the night. Every few days, I'm feeding him 15 mins earlier and I'll keep doing this until it's 2 hours since his last feed. But, I'm not going to rush it (as I usually do). Last night, as Jack was fast asleep in my arms, I realised that this won't last and I should treasure each moment. Giving Jack the dreamfeed is such a lovely experience. It's not often that I can sit in a quiet, dark place, and just relax while Jack feeds. When he finishes feeding, he's fast asleep and I sit there a few moments longer, cuddling into him and listening to his little breaths.

Thumb Sucking
Well, the big news for the week is that Jack's thumb sucking has taken off. For every sleep now he sucks his thumb (unless he's too upset). When he first started doing this, he favoured his left arm, so we would leave that arm out of his wrap. One night he wasn't settling, so I went in to check on him. I realised that his left arm was wrapped, instead of his right. I re-wrapped him and he settled down. Over the last few days, though, he has been sucking both thumbs, even if one is wrapped (he'll suck through the wrap). For some sleeps I've left both arms unwrapped and he seems to cope well with this. But, other times, I think he still likes to be wrapped. It's always trial and error working all this stuff out. I'm going to try to gradually phase the wrapping out.

Wake time
Jack's been lasting longer during wake time (I'm still doing 1 1/2hrs). Most of the time when I put him to bed now, he's happy, rather than being grizzly. He's doing pretty much the same stuff during wake time. He's rolling on to his side more and he's been staying on his tummy for a much longer time now. Sometimes, I forget that he's on his tummy as he's playing so quietly and contently.



Another new thing that Jack's starting to do is holding on to his toys and playing with them. He was taking random swipes at his toys before, and not really showing any real interest in holding them. Over the last few days, however, he has taken a lot more interest in his toys. He'll hold one toy and purposefully play with it, usually by shoving it in his mouth. Sometimes it looks like he's talking to his toys.


Routine
I've kept up with the 3 hourly routine and it has been working well. I feel like I've been able to stick to the routine pretty well now, which has been making things much easier.

Outings
We've been out and about nearly everyday this week. But, Jack has been coping well and it hasn't unsettled him too much.

On Tuesday, Jack and I visited Mike & Katie. We had a lovely time hanging out and chatting. I'm really going to miss not being able to pop down and visit them.

On Wednesday, I went to School for the Year 9 Graduation (which I've discussed here). Mum babysat Jack from about 7.30am to 11.30am. This was Jack's first babysitting experience. He went really well and I think my mum enjoyed it. Thankfully, he had two long sleeps, so mum didn't have to worry about dealing with his cat naps. I had to express some milk so that mum could give him a feed. I was a little worried that Jack may not take the bottle (since he's not taking the dummy anymore, I thought this may transfer to the bottle as well). It turned out that I was right. He didn't like the bottle at all (even though he's been quite happy with it before). Mum tried to get him to take as much as possible, but he didn't drink very much. Ah, well...

Friday night was Harry's birthday party. By the time we got there (we were running terribly late - another thing that I'm having to get used to now), Jack only had about an hour of wake time. He hadn't slept that well during the day and it was really hot, so I knew that he wouldn't settle well when it was time for bed. I think he must have been over-stimulated by all the new faces. He cried on and off for about an hour. It's very hard to enjoy yourself when you can hear your baby crying. Eventually he went to sleep and slept well.

Year 9 Graduation

Before I went on maternity leave, I was the Dean of Year 9. Well, today there was a Graduation Ceremony celebrating their achievement and leadership of the Middle School. They will go into the Senior School next year. I was invited to be the "special guest" at the ceremony and speak to the students and parents. It was a real pleasure for me to speak at the ceremony. I really enjoyed it. I received some great feedback from the staff and parents as well. It's good to know that I haven't lost "it".

A Miscalculation

I just realised that Jack is 15 weeks. For some reason, I was a week behind in working out his age. Don't know how that happened...I've never been good at maths.

Jack at 14 Weeks

I could bottle his cuteness...

Reflections on Week 14

Well, this week was certainly a bit crazy. Jack started off quite settled, but due to visitors and changes to his routine, he became quite unsettled. Also, Dave was sick with a virus for most of the week, which meant that he was to crook to do anything with Jack. I found this quite difficult. Luckily, David's parents were with us, so Dave's mum was able to help me and look after Dave. It was bad timing for Dave to get sick for their visit, but good timing for them to come when Dave was sick - does that make any sense?

Jack's becoming quite vocal. He seems to be talking a lot more and in "sentences", and at one point, it seemed like he was yelling at us! He also LOVES using his legs. He kicks all the time on his play mat and bouncer (and daddy gets lots of kicks in the stomach). He also really likes standing up. When you hold him, he can stand up for a while. He stands and looks around. His legs are really strong.

Sleeping
Initially, Jack had become more and more consistent in sleeping through the night. This was really good and things seemed really settled. But, things soon changed as we became busy. Dave's parents came and stayed with us last week, and they stayed for a week. Even though Dave was sick, it was good to have them stay and for them to spend time with Jack. It was so nice seeing them play, cuddle and talk to Jack.

Jack was getting more and more unsettled and I realised that every day since Peter and Noelene arrived, we had gone out. Most of the time, Jack's sleep was disrupted and there was no real routine. He coped well for the first few days, but then he started waking through the night and wasn't really happy when he was awake. There were a couple of days in a row when he just wouldn't settle for his bedtime. One night he was fed at 5.30pm, was supposed to go to bed at 7pm, but he was still awake at 9pm. He just wouldn't go to sleep. During this, he was trying to get to sleep and he had quietened down. After a bit of quiet grizzling, he started to cry again. By this stage, I was so fed up with his crying, I was trying to ignore it. It wouldn't let up, so I went to check on him. Poor Jack had his foot caught between the bars of his cradle. I felt terrible - what a bad mother I am!

At this point, I decided to take it easy and spend more time at home so that we could get our routine back. He seems to be sleeping better now and he's been settling really well, but his day sleeps are still erratic.

I was planning to move him into the cot this week (especially after the stuck foot incident), but we haven't had a chance to do it. We'll get to it one of these days...

I spontaneously decided to not give Jack his dreamfeed last night as I didn't feel like staying up. This didn't go down so well. He woke up at 12.30am. So, I fed him. He woke up again at 4.30am and grizzled intermittently until 7am. I don't think he's ready to skip his dreamfeed and I think, at the moment, sticking to that routine is working, so I'll leave it for now.

Wrapping
I tried putting Jack in a Grobag one night. This didn't really work. He couldn't get to sleep. After a while, I decided to just wrap him and see if he settled. Jack went to sleep quite easily and quickly after I wrapped him. It seems that he likes being wrapped. I won't worry about the Grobag until he's a bit older.

Hand Sucking
He seems to shove his hands and thumbs into his mouth most of the time. A few times while he's going to sleep, or is sleeping, he'll put his thumb in his mouth. But, he doesn't always do it. I leave one arm out of the wrap so that he can suck on his thumb if he wants to. This afternoon, during his nap, I heard him stirring. It was too early for him to wake, so I left him and he quietened down. When it was time for him to wake up, I went to get him and I found him fast asleep sucking his thumb. He looked adorable. He must be getting better at getting it in his mouth and leaving it there. When I was feeding him, he managed to slip his thumb in as well. That was quite funny.

Wake Time
I have not been very consistent with his wake time because the last few days he just didn't seem happy being awake. This made the day very unpredictable. I've realised I need to be more consistent and give him the same amount of wake time each time (unless he gets tired and needs to go to bed). Today, I've been keeping him up for 1 1/2 hours (like I used to) and this seems to be going really well. He has been settling well for his naps, so he's not overtired.

He does make some grizzly sounds, but I think it's because he's getting bored or restless rather than because he's tired. Initially, I thought it was a tired noise, so I'd put him to bed early, but that meant that he woke too early for his next feed. When he starts to make a grizzly noise, I just change the activity, or move him some where else, or just pick him up and talk to him. So far, this has been working well.

Jack seems to really enjoy having stories read to him. When someone reads him a story, he looks intently at the book and it looks like he's following the story. It's quite cute.

Routine
Well, our routine has been pretty non-existent lately and I've found this really frustrating. I think it's because he wake time and nap times are all over the place. There were times when he would only sleep for 30 - 45 minutes. I didn't bother trying to get him to sleep, so I would just feed him, even though it was only 2 hours since his last feed. I was trying to be more flexible with the routine, but it got to the point where I think I was being too flexible. So, Today, I'm trying to stick to my routine. I'm trying to get Jack to be awake for 1 1/2 hours and asleep for 1 1/2 hours. It's worked so far as he's had two good 1 1/2 hour naps. He's asleep now, so I hope he continues to sleep well. If he wakes early, I'm going to go back to getting him to go back to sleep so that he learns that this is sleep time. We'll see...The hard thing about being a new mum is that there are times when I feel like I don't know what I'm doing. Sometimes something works, then the next time it doesn't.

Outings
As I've said before, we've been quite busy. Last Wednesday, we went to the airport to pick up Dave's parents, the next day we took Peter and Noelene out to a nice lunch at Kurrajong, then went for a drive along Bells Line of Road. On Friday we went down to the shops (and I got my hair cut - yay!), Saturday we had a picnic lunch with Dave's Aunt and cousins, Sunday we went to our friend's son's baptism, and then on Monday and Tuesday I had to take Jack down to Westmead Children's Hospital. So, as you can see, we've been quite busy. Jack didn't cope too well with being constantly put in and out of the car and having his sleep disrupted. But, I've enjoyed being out and about, and catching up with friends and family.

Jack went to Westmead to get his hips checked. He had to get an ultra sound (his third one) and the next day, he saw the specialist. His hips are fine. Initially, his hips had a minor dysplasia, but it went away. My mum came with me both times. This was really helpful - thanks mum!

This photo is of mum reading Jack a book in the waiting room at the hospital.

I had my first new mum's group today. This was great. I was a bit nervous about going as I didn't really know what it was going to be like and I didn't know if we'd get along. But, it was really good. The group is quite chatty, so this suites me quite well. There was a girl there who was in the year above me at school, another girl who was a student at one of the school's I taught at, and another girl who works at the same Hospital as Dave. Small world, hey? There were only 3 other boys in the group. I think there were about 6 baby girls (Phil and Megan, it looks like there's going to be some competition!) I enjoyed my time talking with the other mums and I look forward to next week. I'm hoping we can continue to meet up.

This is Not a Baby Manual

I was given a very strange Orange Envelope with a mysterious package. This was what was written on the front of the envelope:

thisisnotababymanual.blogspot.com

I was rather curious, so I went straight away to the blog. I discovered that a friend of mine has created a project, 'This is Not a Baby Manual', where new mothers are asked to write their musings on their experience on being a new mother. The idea is to collect these stories in order to share them.

I think this is a great idea as I found that so much of what could have been shared about the reality of being a new mother wasn't. Maybe it's because we want to show that we are coping and are managing fine, thank you very much. I've read a couple of the musings on the blog and there was so much there to which I could relate. I encourage you to check it out and share your own musing.

Bean Served Webpage

Check out the Bean Served webpage for more information on their ministry.

My Art

I've featured my photography on a website, "Some Chance Happenings". Go here to check out my photos. If you feel inclined, you can buy some of my artwork!

Reflections of Week 13

I've been encouraged to do some weekly reflections on our life with Jack. I thought this was a good way for me to record all the little things that are happening throughout the week, as it is very easy to forget things in the busyness of life. You may not be all that interested in this, so no need to read it.

Things seem to be a lot more stable at the moment. Jack is a gorgeous baby. He smiles and giggles quite a lot. He is also a loquacious little baby – love it when he talks. He's also very alert and stares around, taking everything in.

Sleeping
Jack has gone back to sleeping through the night (yay!). He goes to bed around 7pm and between 9.30 – 10.30pm I give him a dreamfeed. So, he's STTN about 7 hours from his dreamfeed. Once he's sleeping through the night consistently for 2 weeks, then I start to drop the dreamfeed. He is waking up early in the mornings, though. I usually get him up at 6am. Sometimes, he sleeps til 6.30 – 7am, but not consistently. I'm trying to think of how I can get him to sleep til 7am, but I can't really think of anything. I figure that he'll get there as he gets older.


His day naps are still short, although he seems to be sleeping better. Once I stopped stressing about it, I was able to see that he's getting enough sleep (around 4 – 5 hours) each day. He has longer sleeps in the mornings. The last few days, he's been sleeping 1 ½ hours in the mornings, followed by 60 – 30 minute naps for the rest of the day. Even though each day is different, things definitely seem more settled. I still get frustrated when he doesn't sleep for very long or for not as long as I expected (or wanted) him to. I'm getting better and less frustrated, but it's certainly something that I have to keep praying about.

He is so much better at settling himself to sleep now. For the first four weeks, we would pat him to sleep. After that, we starting using the dummy, but we ditched that (as I've already discussed). Since then, we've been putting him down and letting him CIO (cry it out). For our own sake, we'd put the oven timer on for 20 minutes. Usually, he'd fall asleep before the 20 minutes ended (unless he was overtired). Recently, he hasn't really been crying when he's been put to bed (finally! You get sick of hearing them cry after a while) and when he does cry, it's because he's very tired. Now, we don't even bother putting the timer on as we know that he'll fall asleep quickly and on his own.

I think we'll need to move him to the cot soon. We've got him in a cradle at the moment. He fits alright in the cradle, but he's putting his arm through the gaps and falling asleep with his little arms hanging out.

Wrapping
I'm still wrapping him, but I think I'll stop it soon. I'm still not sure about it. He likes to suck on his hands/thumb (when I get him after he's been sleeping, the wrap is soaked from his sucking on his hands), but I'm not sure if he'll wake up from moving his arms around. I'm thinking of using a grobag as sometimes he kicks his blankets off. We'll see...

Hand Sucking
As mentioned above, Jack's become a real hand sucker. There doesn't seem to be any consistent time that he does it. Although, he definitely does it after he's woken up and sometimes when he's going to sleep. But, he also does it when he's hungry and when he's playing. He manages to get his thumb in his mouth and either sucks or chews on it. It doesn't seem to be something that he has to do at the moment. I think once his coordination gets better (coordination is very important to Dave), he'll probably start sucking on his thumb more.

Wake Time
I've been giving Jack 1 ½ hours of wake time, although some days it's less than that. This seems to be working well. If he's up for too long, he usually want settle when it's sleep time. He just keeps crying. If this happens, we give him the dummy and that gets him to sleep.

He spends most of his wake time on the play mat or in his bouncer. He's a pretty active baby. He kicks around A LOT. He seems to really enjoy using his legs. He is much more confident in the bath - he kicks around like there's no tomorrow (if you're a fan of Seinfeld, then think of Elaine dancing and that's what Jack looks like in the bath). The other day he was on his side, which I think is one step closer to rolling.

He's getting better at being on his tummy. He can be quite content on his tummy for a few minutes now. He holds his head up and looks around.

He really enjoys it when you sing and talk to him. He will giggle and smile at you, and then talk back. I know when he's in a happy mood when he starts smiling and talking to me as he finishes feeding. This has got to be my favourite time of day. He just lays in my arms, looks up at me and chats away.

We've been reading to him as well. He seems to enjoy sitting on our laps and it looks like he's following the story.


Routine
I've gone back to putting him on a 3 hourly routine. This seems to work better with his shorter naps. I don't really have set times each day as he wakes up at different times (sometimes 6am, sometimes 6.30am and sometimes 7am). I've decided that time he wakes up in the morning will dictate the routine for the day. I've read that you should have the same wake time each morning, but I've found it difficult to get that to happen in reality. I was trying too hard to get Jack to have his “proper” wake time at 7am. This was making me frustrated, so I decided it wasn't worth the frustration. Whatever time he woke up, that will be the start of the day. I'm sure he'll get more consisten tas he gets older.

Outings
Jack goes really well when we're out. We went out to dinner for Dad's birthday last Saturday night and he slept in the pram the whole time. We went back to mum and dad's house after dinner for birthday cake and we put Jack in his little Phil & Teds portable cot (one that fits in his pram). He didn't really settle, so I gave him the dummy and he went back to sleep. Other times when I'm out, I put him in the Hug-A-Bub and he sleeps well in that.

Bean Served Baristas

Dave and his friend, Phil, have started up a ministry where they make coffee for people. This is something that Dave has been really passionate about (its a great combination - he loves making good coffee, he loves serving people and he loves God - what more could you ask for?).

Last year, he made coffee for morning tea at church, but has struggled to find the time to do it this year. Throughout this year, Dave has been making coffee every now and then for our local playgroup. Dave's been really keen to get something more up and going. So, he's joined forces with his friend Phil (who's equally keen about coffee, serving and God). They bought a coffee machine together and have started up their ministry 'Bean Served Baristas.'

Their first big event was for a women's conference run by our church. From that event, they got another, and bigger, one that was for a fundraiser.


The boys make fantastic coffee (I'm really lucky to get great coffee at home all the time. I'm so spoilt that it's hard to appreciate the coffee that I drink elsewhere), so I hope that this ministry is really successful and effective. If you have an event, gathering, party or church event (or non-church event), you should definitely get Dave and Phil to make coffee for you.

Check out their blog.

3 Months

Jack celebrated 3 months Yesterday. In these photos he certainly looks much older. He's become a real poser. What do you think he's thinking?

Jack's 12 Weeks

I can't believe that Jack is 12 weeks now. He's just getting cuter and cuter. He smiles a lot now and does lots of talking (mostly 'a-boo' and 'goo').


Just recently, he has gotten better at holding his head up when he's having tummy time. He holds it up much higher and for longer now.

Two Blogs For Mums

I've discovered two blogs on parenting. They look really useful. The first blog I found was when I was searching for help for Jack's napping issues. It's called Chronicles of a Babywise Mom and you can have a look at it here. The blog is basically a quick guide to finding answers to questions you may encounter while implementing Babywise, Toddlerwise, Preschoolwise, Childwise, etc. Even though its content is Babywise based, it has some practical and helpful advice about parenting issues. I found some interesting posts on problems with naps and found this helpful. I was reading about "The 45 minute Intruder", which discusses the issue of babies only sleeping for 45 minutes at a time. I'd be interested to find out what you think.

The other blog I discovered this morning and haven't really had much time to have a good look at it. It's called "Childhood 101" and you can have a look at it here. It's a blog written by Christie Burnett where she relays her own parenting ideas. Christie is an Early Childhood teacher so she seems to have lots of ideas for parenting, activities, advice, etc. It looks like it has lots of DYI craft ideas, which made me think that it was worth checking out Rachael. Let me know what you think of this one.

Any Ideas???

Over the last week and a half, I've been getting more and more frustrated. Jack has not been sleeping very well during the day and I don't know why (he has gotten better at night. He's sleeping til about 6am, which is great!). I put him down to sleep and within 40 mins, he's awake, crying his little head off. I re-settle him (with the dummy usually) and it takes him about 30mins to go back to sleep. He was sleeping for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours previously, so I don't know why he keeps waking up. He goes to sleep by himself, so he's not waking up looking for a sleep prompt that's not there anymore. I thought that maybe he's overtired, so I put him to bed earlier, but he still wakes up. I thought that maybe it was because he wasn't wrapped, so I wrapped him, but he still wakes up. I thought that maybe he's hungry, so when he woke up, I fed him and then shortened the time between feeds, but he still wakes up. I'm running out of ideas and patience. Any ideas???

Time Together

Do you think I may be a little obsessed?

Playtime

Jack's New Bouncer

I bought Jack this bouncinette today. I didn't think they still made them like this. He seems to really enjoy it.

Sammy & Jack Hang Out

We had a family lunch Yesterday. This was the first time in a while where Jack and Sammy got to have some time hanging out together. Even though Jack is growing fast (he's 5.36kg and 63cm - he's grown 12cm since he's been born), he's got nothing on his cousin.

Jack's No. 1 Fans

We have known Phil and Megs for the last 6 years. They were the first friends we made when we first moved back to the Blue Mountains. We are really lucky to have these friends with whom we love to spend lots of time hanging out, eating, drinking coffee and playing games. We are also really lucky that they love Jack and love playing with him and giving him hugs. I think it's pretty safe to say that they are Jack's biggest fans (although, I think Grandma Ralphs and Granny Taylor may dispute that claim!).

Jonny, Cathy, Sienna & Aimee Come to Visit

Our last visitors were our friends from Brisbane, Jonny, Cathy, Sienna & Aimee. We hadn't seen them in AGES, so it was so good to catch up with them.

We went up to Katoomba to go to Scenic world (again). Sienna and Aimee really loved going on the Rail Way down the valley and then the Cable Way back up. They also went on the Sky Way while Dave and I had a hot chocolate (a very expensive hot chocolate!). We then went to the Hattery Cafe for a yummy lunch. It was really fun to spend time with another family and do family-friendly activities.

Grandad Comes to Visit

Straight after we dropped Helen off at the airport, we picked up Dave's dad, Peter. Peter stayed with us for a few days. This was the first chance he's had to meet Jack. It was really nice to see Jack contently sitting on Peter's lap, enjoying his company and getting lots of cuddles.

Helen Comes to Visit

Over the last few weeks, we've had a great time having friends and family staying with us.

Firstly, Dave's sister, Helen, came and stayed with us for a few days. Helen is from Perth so we don't get to see her all that much. It was really special that she could meet Jack and spend lots of time playing with him.

We took Helen up to Blackheath where we did a short walk.

There were lots of warratahs on the walk - beautiful.We then went to Katoomba and went on the Sky Way at Scenic World.

We stopped to have coffee in Kattomba - lots of time for hugs..

...and kisses.

Later that night, we took Helen out to dinner for her birthday.