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?