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?