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.