Card - Happy Moments_Multi-Coloured Cake

Here's another one I made today...

Card - Nursery Necessities_Pink Elephant

I managed to find some time and inspiration today to make a couple of cards. I used my friend's, Christie's, stamp set "Nursery Necessities". I think the stamp set is absolutely adorable. I plan to make quite a few cards as there are always babies being born - especially at church!

The picture quality isn't very good as I took the photo on my phone.

Absolute Shocker

After only a few hours of broken sleep, I feel like venting a bit. I had an absolute shocker with Jack last night. Dave was on a night shift last night so I was flying solo - it's much harder to cope with these things when you're alone. Here's how it went...
7.00pm - Jack put to bed, but was unsettled and crying.
7.30pmish - Jack finally went to sleep
9.30pmish - Jack woke up crying. I went in a few times to settle him. I tried picking him up and holding him for a while, I tried leaving him to cry, I tried to give him some water to see if he was thirsty, I tried giving him some food to see if he was hungry, I tried reading him a book, I tried giving him a feed (reluctantly, but at 11.30pm I was willing to give anything a go)...I tried everything I could think of, but nothing seemed to work. Sometimes, he would settle, but 15 mins or so later, he would start crying again.
12.30pm - Jack seemed upset and was whimpering even when I was holding him. I decided to give him some panadol as he may be in some sort of discomfort (sore throat? teething? he got his immunisations this week, so maybe something to do with that??). We then sat down together in his room and I read him some stories to help calm him down and to wait for the panadol to kick in. Jack calmed down and seemed happier. I put him to bed and rubbed his back, while he babbled happily. Now, I could finally go back to bed and get some sleep.
3.00am - Jack wakes up again. I go in to check on him. He's on his tummy (again!). I roll him over and leave. He makes noises on and off. I'm too tired to know what to do, so I just leave him and try to go back to sleep.
5.00am - I wake up. I must have fallen asleep at some stage, but Jack is still awake. I decide to give him more panadol. He seems to settle after this.
6.00am - Jack wakes up again. Now, at this point, I'm thinking, "Give me a break! Why are you awake?! You should be exhausted!" I decide to leave him and go back to sleep. He quietens down.
7.00am - Jack wakes up again or starts to make more noise and wakes me up. I decide to get up and feed him. He seems as happy as happy can be - go figure? I'm exhausted, but glad that he's happy.
So, that was our night. Dave just got home and I'll be telling him all about it. Interestingly, when Dave walked in the door, he saw that Jack had a huge snot string hanging from his nose and then he did a huge poo (no longer constipated!). Welcome home, daddy.

Reflections of Week 33

This week started out well, but has gradually gone down hill. Over the last couple of days, I have noticed a change in Jack. He's started to have really short naps in the day and he has been more unsettled. I feel like we were in sunshine and now we're heading into some dark clouds.

On a positive note, he has been blowing raspberries quite a bit this week and his "talking" has increased. It's really nice to listen to his babbles.

Sleeping
His sleeping has been going well. But, the last two nights he has cried quite a bit before going to bed (which he hadn't been doing at all previously). Tonight he took over half an hour to settle down. Dave and I went in to settled him a few times before he settled and went to sleep.

Jack's been rolling on to his tummy again in his cot. A few times, he's fallen asleep on his tummy. On night, he'd fallen asleep with his head on his hands. He looked adorable. Sometimes he gets upset about being in his tummy, but he won't roll on to his back (even though I know he can). Not sure what's going on there...

As I said earlier, Jack's been having pretty bad naps over the last few days. He had a great 2 1/2 hour nap on Wednesday, but since then, they've been around 30 - 40 mins. His naps are usually this long if we're out, but they've been like this at home as well. I know for sure that he's not getting enough sleep as he's rubbing his eyes a lot and he's not as happy. He won;t go back to sleep once he's awake, so I'm not really sure what to do about it, if I can do anything at all.

Jack's had a few days this week where he's dropped his third nap. This has been working really well. But, once he starting having really short naps, he's needed the third nap.

Illness
Jack's got ANOTHER runny nose. :-(

Wake Time
Not much has changed here. I'm trying to give him more tummy time to encourage his crawling. Some days he doesn't mind being on his tummy, other days he doesn't really like it. I was told today that if babies are encouraged to sit before they can crawl, it inhibits their crawling. So, don't I feel great? I've stunted Jack's development. Anything else?....

Solids
...Ah, that's right, I've also made Jack constipated :-( I was researching what food causes constipation in babies and it turns out that it was all the food that I was giving Jack. Food like apple sauce, bananas, rice, toast, potatoes, lots of dairy, carrots. It's also caused by a lack of fluid. Jack doesn't drink much water. It's really hard to get him to drink much, but we're working on it. We ended up giving him some coloxyl as it wasn't sorting itself out. I think this has been effecting his sleep and mood as well. He's not completely sorted yet, but it's improving.

So, I've changed his diet a little bit. I've cooked up a lot of vegetable and fruit 'mashes' (I put the mashes in ice-cube trays, froze them and then put the frozen cubes into snap-lock bags. This makes it really easy to get food for Jack). I've tried to use fibre-friendly foods - peaches, apricots, prunes, broccoli, peas, etc. Jack's been eating his solids really well. He has about 3-4 meals a day. He eats a lot a dinner, but not as much for breakfast.

Discipline
This is continuing to be "interesting". This week the battle has been over Jack's hat. Jack has learnt how to take off his hat. A part of me thinks, "Yay!! Jack has learnt to take his hat off! Good boy, Jackie!", and the other part thinks, "Noooo!! Jack has learnt to take his hat of!! That's so annoying!." The encounter usually involves Jack taking his hat off and me putting it back on and saying, "No. Leave your hat on, Jack." Jack then tries to take it off again while I hold my hand down on his head, preventing him from taking it off. Jack then cries. I turn my back and Jack takes his hat off....and so it goes on...My friends from bible study tell me this is just a phase. I certainly hope so.

Swimming
I thought I'd give an update on how Jack's going with his swimming lessons. Jack has been going pretty well. Most of the time, he just floats around and stares at all the people and interesting things going on. He doesn't really 'love' it, but I think he enjoys it to some extent. He's not cried since his first couple of lessons, which has been an improvement. When the instructor puts him under the water, he doesn't seem to mind and he closes his mouth, so that's good. I don't think that I'll do it next term, though. I don't think he's getting enough out of it at the moment to justify going. I'd rather just go by myself (or with some friends) and let him play in the water, as I think I can do the same things that we do in the lesson at this stage.

Routine
Things have been pretty much the same, except a some days Jack has dropped his third nap and some days he's had pretty short naps.

Here's what a typical day looks like:

7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00am - Nap
10.00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
12.00pm - Nap
1.30pm - Wake, feed, solids, play
3.30pm - Nap
4.30/5.00pm - Wake, feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

Some days, I keep him awake until 9.30/10.00am if I'm going out to a friend's place or mothers group. If this happens, the routine looks more like this:

7:30am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.30am-10.00 - Nap
11.00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
1.00pm - Nap
2.00-3.00pm - Wake, feed, solids, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

The times vary each day, but I do try to make sure that we eat dinner at 6pm and he's in bed by 7pm. I think the bedtime routine is pretty important so I stick to that as much as I can.

Playtime - with Oliver...

Jack and I were hanging out with Erin and Oli yesterday at Erin's place. Jack and Oli were having a great playtime together. This is the first time that we've noticed our babies take an interest in another baby. They looked like they were talking to each other and really interested in each other. They both wanted to play with Oli's toy crocodile and it looked like they were 'negotiating' who would play with it.

Peek-a-Boo

Jack's started to play Peek-a-Boo with us. It's so nice that he can do things himself and not just be on the receiving end. We were at my parent's place and he just started to do it with a towel. He was doing it over and over again. By the time we got our iPhone out to film it, his interest was waning (isn't that always the way?). But, you get to see him do it once before he got distracted with the tag on the towel (he LOVES tags!!) and the grass (he LOVES to eat grass!!).

Reflections of Weeks 31-32

Well, I think the last couple of weeks have shown a big improvement in Jack's temperament and general well-being. Things were getting pretty hard for a while there, but then things just changed and Jack seemed to go back to his lovely, cute self. He has been an absolute treasure - happy and content. He is learning so much and developing so quickly. He's also growing. He's now just starting to fit into size '0' clothes.

Over the last couple of months Jack has been making this weird dolphin-like noise (like you're sucking in your breath). He does it when he's feeding (yes, that can be embarrassing) and he does it when he's excited. It's very cute, but very strange at the same time.


We've noticed that he has become very interactive. He responds to us really well. When he hears my voice or sees me, he flaps his arms, smiles, giggles or makes his dolphin noise. There are certain toys with which he particularly interacts. He has a cow which sings and he giggles or talks to it when he hears it make a noise. When we make his toys talk to him, he giggles at them. He also has started to play games with us. A couple of days ago he started to play Peek-a-Boo. It is absolutely gorgeous to watch.

Jack is also responding to his name now. When I want his attention, I just have to say his name and he'll turn his head towards me.

Sleeping
Jack's sleeping has gone back to normal - yay! He's sleeping really well and very rarely wakes up during the night. He doesn't cry that much before going to sleep anymore - that was getting hard to cope with. He may cry a little bit when we put him down, but once we leave the room, he's got his thumb in his mouth and he's fine. His day sleeps are still fairly erratic, but he is still having three naps (a couple of times he's had two naps). I've stopped wrapping him completely - the wrap is gone. I don't think he was that bothered by not having the wrap. In fact, I don't think he even noticed (it was all probably in my head - ah, well).

Illness
We are all over our colds now - yay!

Wake Time
Jack's wake time is usually 2 hours still, but every now and then, I have been stretching it. Sometimes he's up longer because he doesn't seem tired or I'm going out and I want to put him to bed when I arrive at my destination, rather than have to wake him up to go. He seems to cope quite well with being awake for 2 1/4 - 2 1/2 hours. He manages being awake longer than that, but he's pretty whingy.

Sitting Up

Jack's sitting up is so good now. He very rarely falls over and if he does, he manages to fall in a way that prevents him from hurting himself. He moves his legs around (kicks them, stretches them out, etc.) and he doesn't lose his balance. Jack sits up in the bath really well as well. This has made bath time a lot more enjoyable for him. He loves having baths. It doesn't matter how cranky he is, once he's in his bath, he's as happy as can be. He plays with his toys and sucks on the washer (not sure whether I should bother stopping that or not) and makes lots of happy noises.

Crawling
No real improvements here. He tolerates being put on his hands and knees, and he'll rock a little bit, but after a while, he'll just slide down on to his belly. I've tried moving his toys out of his reach to encourage him to move, but that doesn't work. He just gets frustrated or he'll find a crumb on the floor to play with instead. Once this week he moved from sitting up to his knees to get inside his toy bucket, but he fell over pretty quickly. I guess that's an improvement.

Solids
Well, this has changed dramatically. It was like something just "clicked". One day he was not interested in eating and then the next, he happily ate. It was weird. I was breastfeeding him and towards the end of the feed, he was crying a bit, but he didn't want any more milk. I thought that he may still be hungry and that my supply was getting low. So, I got him some porridge and he gobbled it up. He was opening his mouth and was very keen to eat. I suspect that he has figured out how to swallow properly now. The food doesn't move around his mouth as much as it used to. This was upsetting to him, but now he's figured out how to chew it up and swallow it.

From that day on, he's been a champ with eating purees and finger food. It has been great. Meals are no longer stressful. It's really nice now. The three of us will sit down and eat the same thing for breakfast - porridge with apple and cinnamon or scramble eggs on toast or just toast. During the day, I'll give him some pureed vegies (by themselves or mixed in with rice or cous cous) or fruit, and for dinner, he'll have the same thing that we're having. Sometimes he'll have rice with the sauce; other times I'll blend up a small portion of our dinner so it's easy for him to eat it, but still chunky; other times I'll just mash up the pasta so it's easier for him to eat it. We had a Moroccan lamb casserole the other day and he loved it.

Jack & Daddy Time
Over the last couple of weeks when I've had bible study Dave has been home. This has meant that I can leave Jack at home with Dave rather than take him along to bible study. This has been great. I can be a lot more focused at bible study, I don't have to wake Jack up to take him with me and Dave gets to have more one on one time with Jack. I was so excited when we first did it. Jack will take the bottle, well, sort of. He'll drink some milk, but he won't have much. Luckily, he's having solids, so if he doesn't have any milk, the solids will tie him over until I get home.

We've also arranged for another Jack and Daddy time. One morning I got up to feed Jack, but then I "tagged" Dave and he got up and I went back to bed. I've been hanging out to have a sleep in so I thought this would be a good way for me to get it. It was so nice snuggling up in bed knowing that Dave was looking after Jack - getting him his breakfast, cleaning up after breakfast, changing his nappy, getting him dressed, entertaining him, putting him down for a nap - and I didn't have to worry about a thing.

Discipline
Well, this is very interesting. There have been a couple of instances where we've had to say 'No' to Jack. We're pretty sure he hasn't worked out what that word means yet :-) For example, when he's having some solids, he lifts up his bib (which is a plastic one with a pouch that collects food) and tries to pull it up to his head. Obviously, I don't want him to do this and this is what happens:

Jack: pulls bib up
Me: puts hand on bib, stopping Jack from lifting it up, saying, "Jack, no."
Jack: looks at me and giggles
Jack: pulls bib up
Me: puts hand on bib, stopping Jack from lifting it up, saying, "Jack, no."
Jack: looks at me and giggles

And on it continues....until I get fed up and take the bib off.

Routine
Our routine has been fairly stable over the last few weeks. Here's what a typical day looks like:

7:00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
9.00am - Nap
10.00am - Wake, feed, solids, play
12.00pm - Nap
1.30pm - Wake, feed, solids, play
3.30pm - Nap
4.30/5.00pm - Wake, feed, play
6.00pm - Dinner with family
6.30pm - Bath and stories
7.00pm - Bed

The times vary each day, but I do try to make sure that we eat dinner at 6pm and he's in bed by 7pm. I think the bedtime routine is pretty important so I stick to that as much as I can.

Morning Lie-in

Some mornings, when Dave leaves early in the morning for work, I get to enjoy hanging out with Jack in bed.  When Jack wakes up (not long after Dave leaves, unfortunately) I very groggily stumble out of bed, get Jack, and return to my nice warm & inviting bed.  After I feed him, we spend a good half hour or so playing (more Jack than me!) and lounging around (more me than Jack!) in bed.  I love those mornings.  It's as close to a sleep-in as I get.

Playtime - with Mummy!

We have very few photos of Jack and me together, so I decided to remedy that!

Playtime - with Teddy

Jack was being incredibly gorgeous, so I have uploaded a ridiculous amount of photos. I just couldn't decide which ones to include, so I have included them all!

This is my favourite one.

He got a bit excited at this point...

Adorable.

Playtime - with a ball...

Jack is getting better and better at grabbing and holding onto his toys. He is a lot more interested in playing purposely with his toys and testing out what they can do.
Here he is playing with a ball.

Jack is 7 Months!