October 20, 2008 – 10:15 pm
Freddie is now on three solid meals a day and he’s growing fast! With the changes in his diet come changes with his sleep. Enter: Zombiemum exercising PMT behavioural classics (even though there is no apparent reason for tension of the PMT kind in sight). Now there’s a subject!
Where oh where has my period gone? Has anyone seen my period? I’ve been breast feeding exclusively since Freddie was born and he’s still a boob man. In fact the guy so clearly knows what he wants that there is no (even sneaky) convincing against his preferred choice. He plainly refuses the bottle and although he drinks water happily from a beaker, if it’s filled with formula, there’s no way it’s going past his lips. Man!
So, to the positives - I have beautiful, nuzzley cuddles with my little boy (so beautiful!). I have a bosom! As for the negatives; I am now convinced that the Pre part of PMT is so long drawn out (8 and a half months) that the slightest upset (i.e. lack of sleep) activates reflux of the monstrous characteristic kind and hurls a convoluted mass of Claire nasties especially designed to test my loving relationships…
Of course, this would come with an intelligent Pau tracker devise, aimed at opening a naturally ‘intelligent’ line of communication with my boyfriend/bestfriend/soulmate - Whatever!? Oh yeah, we’re talking intelligence of the supreme. Lets just say this guy has seen the full rainbow that is Claire!
Still, as I sit here writing, I hold good posture. I am proud to be able to share and reflect with humour on these atomic moments… And so our relationship strengthens - AHEM!
Well my friends, as with all rainbows, the colours are many and bright…. WHAT? - bit biblical, Christ! This was just to link to the funny photos above of us on holiday, nouveau riche style. HA! X
February 20, 2008 – 11:39 pm
It’s been a while since my last post. We’ve been settling into our new life with Freddie and enjoying ourselves in the process. It has to be said, we’ve been helped along enormously by the fact that Freddie is a sleep monster! This guy loves the horizontal lifestyle, waking only to feed on the cream of the breast - Ahh, the good life. Sadly we seem to have missed out on the opportunity of complaining about sleep deprivation due to expected but non existent crying through the night. Naturally as parents of a new born we’ve managed to turn this good fortune on it’s head and find the fault.. why isn’t he crying? some thing’s wrong! He must be seriously traumatised or suffering exhaustion from the birth… The visiting midwife smiles and says, “he’s a baby what else would you have him do but sleep?”
The list of Fred activities besides sleep and ‘going to the mountains’ aka breast feeding extends to one other key item; ‘nappy soiling’. Welcome to the fascinating world of cost effective(?) risk management - HA! - There’s no telling when the mystery trumpet player will strike with his mustard. Abstract as that may sound, there’s great value in the humour which arises from the often absurd situations of having a new born baby in the house. There’s absolutely no theory or structure to the when and whereabouts of the next poo, fart or wee and all three of them have there own surprises and dangers:
The poo is a yellow ochre (hence mustard) slightly sticky, seed like texture, which smears over baby’s bum and back (only… if you’re lucky) enough to need several good wipes. Try juggling this goo like substance with part dressed flying limbs jabbing distraction at you. If you can get away with keeping the socks on AND clean, you’re a god damn pro. Next up, the fart, often louder and bolder than thought humanly possible attributing to the only remaining logical explanation; that a yet to be introduced trumpet player left the band and found refuge somewhere in your flat… Equally misleading, the fart does not strictly speaking require a nappy change, but as this stink bomb is not dissimilar to the sound and stench of the mustard delivery, us parents are often left confused - Should we change him and risk waking him up or leave well alone and risk nappy rash? It’s a trixy business in which baby has the upper hand!
The wee. This is the most entertaining of the three hazards. Often delivered as a surprise attraction half way through a nappy change ie; once the area has been cleaned, the skin cream applied and the new nappy laid in place ready for fitting. Suddenly you may find you’re presented with an impressive fountain of wee released from the equivalent of an uncontrolled water hose jetting over baby’s outfit, your clean shirt and the glass of boiling water waiting beside the changing mat, patiently cooled in preparation for sterilising baby’s weepy eye and newly formed belly button whose dried up umbilical cord recently fell off. Perfect.
Bear in mind that all nappy soiling hazards are further complicated by the fact that there are no hard and fast rules to when baby will do his business. You might think it would make sense to change shortly after a feed, but I can guarantee that as soon as you’ve changed him, he’ll fill it again within minutes. So a cost effective practice this is not. We have been flying through disposable nappies. I’m dying to get into natural nappies after the first month, I’m aware this WILL cut our costs in disposables, but then I’m not sure if our washing machine is up for the challenge… ?
January 27, 2008 – 10:47 pm
Today has been eternal! I’m beginning to feel REALLY uncomfortable. I slept until 11.30am, got up and went back to bed an hour later sleeping next to Mr. Gin (our cat) until 3pm. Amazingly, I woke after having had a miserable dream where I was forgotten and abandoned by everyone I loved, on my birthday, in a cold, derelict, Victorian school (somewhere austere), needing to do something to help create happier thoughts. I found the inspiration to bake a cake only to slob and indulge further (with the resulting cake of course) in front of a movie. The hours seem to pass so slowly and considering most of them have been unconscious, you might say I’m a little fed-up.
My bump is heavy and tender. The little jabs at the side and tucked under the ribs leave a sore spot and my chest feels… (difficult to explain) compressed making me breathless. I woke the first time today with groin ache. I woke the second time with period like twinges low in the pelvis and a visit to the loo presented a possible/maybe sign that things are beginning to progress in the right direction… … … maybe… possibly… ?
I can’t quite believe I’ve passed my due date. Baby just needs to get himself to the start line and we’re on our way. It’s amazing to think life as I’ve known it will change forever any day… (breaking into song) ‘A Whole New World, a new fantastic point of view…’ Where is that cheesy stage number from?
Phrrr, think I’ll go back to bed!