G-man goes swimming...

in Emily's pool!! :) So, we got invited by Amanda to her house for a nice Wednesday afternoon hang-out. Turns out, she has a pool...and a humongous house (which we didn't get to see, because we were too busy hanging out at the pool and her loungers).

G's never been swimming before, and it was rather embarrassing seeing that it was a last minute thing that we turned up without any swimming equipment and only a towel. I had no real intentions of letting him go into the pool (I wanted him to have his first dip with D around) but got persuaded... G got given one of Emily's swim pants, and I didn't even bring my swimwear, and had to use one of Amanda's, together with a spare towel, and a bathrobe! Oh well, we made a good first impression then!

He absolutely loved it. I am so pleased that he's a natural water baby! Yay! We knew he enjoyed his bath times (as D calls it, 'splish splash'!!) and he's even learnt to go up to the end of the bath tub and push himself off it. But this time in a big person's pool it was different.

He had one of the baby floaters and so his bottom half of his body got wet but his top half was fine. I had to put his sun hat on just to protect his scalp from sun rays, and he was off. Didn't cry once (think he was in there for about half an hour or so!)... only time he cried was when I was trying to put on his clothes after the swim!!

He had a feed after that, fell asleep, had a poo (thank God not in the pool!!), and then we went home. He's now zonked out on the sofa having had a pretty good feed of 2 boobs and 180ml Aptamil. Success. We have to get him kitted out in swim clothes this weekend! Yay!!

P x

My Big Three-Five Birthday Weekend!!

So, I turned 35 on Saturday... I can't blooming believe this. Friday, I was still in my early-thirties, and by Saturday night, I was in my mid-thirties. hmmm... but D (and the G-man, of course!!) did a really good job helping me celebrate it! :)

On Friday, there was a delivery of a bunch of beautiful flowers (roses, lilies, some other flowers I can't identify but think they are really beautiful anyway!) from the G-man, with a message "Dear Mummy, thank you for everyday!!"... Thank you George, and Thank you Daddy!

Friday night, my cousin arrived from Manchester, and we had a chinese take-away dinner...Yums!

Saturday morning, D arranged for a surprise manicure at my local salon, which was great, coz the last time I had a manicure done was in September last year, in Portugal whilst on holiday! It was all a very cloak-and-dagger operation as I had no clue what was going on.

The manicures were completed at about 1245 (D bought Jill one too) and I thought we were going straight home, but Jill rang D and was told to stall me till he rang us! Jill came up with a story about how the 'transportation' for the next part of the birthday surprise was not ready and I didn't know what was going on again! Didn't quite understand why we needed 'transportation' since we had a car! Anyways, the phone rings at about 1pm, and Jill reports that we need to go home coz G wasn't co-operating and needed his mummy. Whilst that was going on, my dad rang to wish me a happy birthday and I think was slightly disappointed that baby wasn't with me!

Anyway, we returned home,.....to a surprise birthday party!! Couldn't believe it. D had invited Lorraine, Chris and Euan, Chris and Nat, Rob, Jenny and Phoebe! There were others who were invited but couldn't make it for various reasons - I totally did not expect this (thank you D!)... It was fun - the last time I had a party was probably...my 21st..? (Jay, if you're reading this - you remember it, don't you?!). We even had a cake! (that looked like it was on fire....thanks alot!).

Following day on Sunday, Dan had organised a spa day for me at Rowhill Grange (http://www.rowhillgrange.co.uk/) - where I'd my hen weekend. It was lush! I had a back massage, and a facial. Totally relaxed.

Today, it's back to the grind with baby, but it's ok - I feel like I've been given a 2nd lease of life! Oh, forgot to mention that G must have realised it was my birthday coz he was very very good the whole day, and even laid quietly in his cot for 1.5 hours when he woke up on saturday (at 7am) ! Was very impressed.

Thank you hubs for a lovely lovely birthday. :) Mwah!!

xx

G's latest weigh in...

At his 20 week visit to the Health Visitor's, he weighed in at 15.8 pounds (7.04kg) and somehow managed to 'shrink' to 66cm!!!?! OMG. The weight's still about the 50th percentile (slightly below) and he'd not gained as much weight as I expected him to (as compared to other weigh ins). Kathryn didn't seem too bothered about it, so I guess I shan't worry either. He's looking well, and is still turning onto his belly at every opportunity! We'd just come home from our First-time Parents group and all the mummies (and daddies) were really impressed with G's amazing feat!! haha... felt so proud! Apparently all the other babies (even those who are his age or slightly older) aren't going on their bellies yet... (the proud parent syndrome's creeping in!!!)...

he's still thankfully sleeping through the night too - well, waking up for a feed at about 4 or 5am's fine...!

Still haven't gotten my head round the whole weaning thing but we did buy some organic pears and carrots on the weekend. I might start to make some purees!! Egad! My baby's growing up! having said that, I'm very tempted by the notion of baby-led weaning (http://babyledweaning.blogware.com/) as there's no need for purees and mush! Have to think about it more. The Department of Health doesn't promote this, and it's seen as a faddish thing. I think it does make some sense!

p x

Our solo trip to Bluewater...

G and I went to Bluewater last Friday to meet Em, puppy and ratty. It was such an achievement for me as Bluewater's about 40 miles away (takes about 45min-1hr to drive there) and I did it all by myself. I'm usually quite reluctant to drive distances by myself as I'm worried that I'll fall asleep. Factor in the G-man who's unpredictable at best, and you can understand why I was not keen to do this trip. About a month ago, the NCT girls wanted to go to Bluewater, and last minute, I copped out as G wasn't too good in the car (he'd cry everytime he got into the car), and I didn't want him crying all the way there and back!!

Fast forward, G at nearly 20 weeks and I decided that we could possibly risk it. He was very very good on the way there, slept all the way. We had sushi (which was a bit of a rip off!) and then spent a significant amount of time in the changing rooms, feeding and changing and feeding again! But it was good. G didn't do too well on our way back, crying for 30 minutes of the way. I had to steel my nerves and get home as by then it was rather late and I didn't want to sit by a layby feeding him!!

All in all, a good trip anyway, and hey I might do it again too!

P x

The car that crashed...

into our car was driven by a 76 year old man who I think, fell asleep at the wheel. Our stationary car which was parked right outside our house, was crashed into 2 thursdays ago (26th June), the day before C&N got married. It happened at about 12.30pm, on a thursday. Most other thursdays, I am at M&S having tea and biscuits with the other mummies and their babies. But this particular thursday, I decided NOT to meet up with the other mummies as we had a long day ahead of us that day (we were supposed to go pick up N's dress from Jodie's house, and then go for a dinner at the Fordwich Arms as a pre-wedding meal with the family!) and G doesn't do very well if we have a very packed day (I have to admit, I don't either!).

So, I was in the living room, sitting on the sofa with G, when I saw and heard the car move and crash. It was surreal. I jumped up, and saw this black car's front end in the back of my Honda Civic. And an articulated ASDA truck opposite my car. Fantastic...

It was a good job we weren't in the car - I had just thought 5 minutes before to nip to the shops as I wanted to get some shopping done before the long weekend! I could have been loading G into the car when that car ploughed into ours!!

Anyway, to cut the long story short, after calling the police, ambulance and insurance company, getting a replacement car organised (which apparently D had not included into our policy!), the wedding dress was delivered to N by Jodie, and we drove to the Fordwich Arms in our Honda, which was deemed driveable on Thursday afternoon and then deemed un-roadworthy on Friday morning. We got given a VW Passat as a replacement car. Although my first impression of it was 'huge car, how will I park it?!', I've decided that I quite like it now. It's got a fabulously huge boot (the buggy fits really really well in it) and it drives beautifully on the motorway. Granted, I only did the motorway run on Friday when we went to Bluewater (just me and G! that's another blog entry), but that run was really brilliant. It's a diesel car which given the current price hike in petrol/diesel means that it's costing us £1.31 per litre, but it's great.

We'll apparently get our Honda back next week... oh well, it's good whilst it lasted.

love
34 years 361 day old p x

BCG...

G was BCG-ed this morning at 9am, and it went well. Having said that, as usual, I was paranoid mummy, and daddy did really well by remembering to calpol baby (baby paracetomol) so that the pain may be lessened. Not sure if it does work but it does make us as parents feel better! G was ever so brave again, didn't cry. In fact, he cried alittle only because of the way he was being held (his left arm had to be still as the needle was going in).

There's a tiny little red mark where the needle went in and they say a scab should form and fall off over the course of a month or so. Let's hope he'll be fine by the time we fly!

The TB nurse was going on about how it was actually ok if we had his vaccinations in the same week as his BCG as all the other injections are inactive. I was thinking, sure that might be the case, but surely his little body won't take too kindly towards 5 major infections and 1 live one?!

oh well. Ok, G's turned himself again and is stuck.

Gotta go!

p x

The baby has flipped...

at 18 weeks (and 1 day!)..!! hehe. another milestone.

G had been trying for ages now to turn onto his front - he'd try for what seems forever to flip onto his front but gets nowhere (about half way really - so onto his side). We'd been pushing him gently on his back and he'd then turn over, feel really pleased with himself, and then get tired quite easily.

Anyway, Tuesday morning (after G's big day with daddy!), I left him on his playgym on his back as usual, and when I came back literally 2 minutes later (to a strangely silent baby), I found him on his front, quite happily looking around and grabbing things! OMG. I was so pleased....had to ring daddy immediately to tell him!! hehe

And since Tuesday (it's Thursday now), everytime we put him on his back, he's turning and flipping onto his front! And he does it really fast now! Very impressed...

I think we might have to think about weaning him soon - perhaps not yet, but perhaps a good idea to get some baby rice and equipment ready. He's been eating alot more (draining his 120ml of Aptamil once a day) and I think it's time to increase his milk intake. He's still being breastfed and I have all intentions of still breastfeeding him till at least 6 months, but I guess since he's being more active, he'll need more food and calories. Maybe by the time we get to sg, he'll be able to have porridge!

Chris and Natty are getting married tomorrow - how exciting.. and baby G's got a bling outfit, including a diamante cravat!! hahaha. Will try and post some pics.

And G's going to have a 2nd cousin in October - a baby girl. yay!

P and G xx

3rd round of immunisations and latest weigh in!

G is 17 weeks this week, but I'll be writing about what happened last week...

his immunisations was due last Wed and we went with some trepidation as this time, he was due to have 3 injections (the previous rounds were 2!!!). Baby G was soooo brave, as he was smiling and giggling when Daddy sat him on his knee and held him real tight. Nurse Wendy was really nice too (she's always nice) and did the injections real fast

But it was still very traumatising to watch him smile one second and his face turning into a grimace the next and tears starting to flood in the next!! :( My heart was breaking when that happened...but baby G was soo brave, and only whimpered and cried for literally 30 seconds. Again, we calpol-ed him (yay!) and I saved a boob for him to suckle on and he was fine after the 3 jabs (2 in one thigh!!). :) He literally forgot about it by the time we were out of the surgery, which is great. haha.

The next day, we went in for his monthly weigh in and measurement, and the results are.........*drum roll*...

Weight: 6.68kg (14 pounds 11 oz) - 50%ile
Length: 66.5 cm - nearly 98%ile (?!)
Head circumference: 42cm - 50%ile

So everything spot on and as per normal. Here, they're not too concerned where baby's plotting on the growth charts, as long as he's more or less following his projected percentile. So if G was always on the 50th percentile, then he should really be around there every time he's weighed, if that makes sense. I'm really happy that his weight's on the average as this chart's based on formula-fed babies, and he's mostly breast fed. Last night was the first night in days that he took a whole bottle of formula (120ml) and even that was less than what's 'recommended' for his age (210!), so it looks like he's growing and thriving on mostly breast milk.

Speaking of growing and thriving - saw this programme on tv the other night, "Britain's Biggest Babies"...OMG, it was most ridiculous to see these really obese babies, and many (if not all) of these mothers are obese themselves! There was one woman who claimed that she loved fish when she was pregnant - turned out that she was gorging on fish and chips!! I know it's fish, but no matter how good the quality of fish is, if you coat it with batter...and accompany it with chips, then surely the goodness is all wiped out!? There was another woman who claimed that her baby girl at 14 months "loved chips"...excuse me, but how does a baby learn to 'love chips'... surely she would have learned it through her parents providing that as a meal?! On tv, they were showing the toddler sat in her high chair, with a big plate of shop-bought chips (so, not even oven-baked chips at home). It was enough to make me sick.

Lastly there was a 3 year old boy who was so obese, he had to use an adult size swim ring in the pool - and his mother thought it was hilarious. And after the swim, she fed him rubbish food again.

I don't get these parents - surely it's one thing to feed yourself junk food, but to feed your child the same, especially when they are too young to make a decision for themselves? The occasional junk food is fine, I think (esp since if you forbid it, it becomes the desired forbidden food!), but to have it practically every day, that I think is tantamount to child abuse.

P

Daddy's home alone with G!

Following on from the previous post, D was home alone with G, from about 8am, to about 9pm. And I think, he's finally realised/understood, how difficult it can be. Very 'fun' and great to be with the baby, but it's a full on job (having said that I'm typing this at 4.40pm, and G's having a nap.. - long may it continue..well, at least till I finish this!).

I rang a few times (10am, 1pm, 6pm, 7.30pm) and thankfully, he wasn't screaming except for the last time at about 9pm, which was when he was due a feed and D thought that I could feed him (and I would have liked to) but the train came in at 9.10pm, so I was too late (when G wants his food, he WANTS his food NOW!)... (people have wondered where he gets his impatience from... dum de dum de dum...haha).

They were very active during the day - they 'sunbathed' in the garden (great pic of G on the sunlounger, and on the picnic mat...!), they went for a walk (great video), lots of giggles (all on vid), and even to G's first football match (D runs his office's football team and they had a game that evening)! I would love to be that active with G but am nervous about lugging baby around every where I go. When I'm alone, we try to do one activity a day. Some days (like today) we just stay at home). We weren't supposed to be home today, but our date to Whitstable beach with Shelley and Sophia got postponed.

D will be home alone again on the 23rd of June with G... Let's hope it'll be just as fun! Ironically, because I'd expressed milk a few days before, G had a whole day of just breastmilk, which is great!

We have his 3rd round of immunisations tomorrow - wish us luck! Must remember to calpol him before we go. We then have our weigh-in on thursday. I can't wait to see how tall and how heavy he is. He's definitely put on weight. Tried weighing him by carrying him and then minusing my weight, and it looked like he's now about 6.5-7kg! which is great. We'll get the official reading on Thursday.

ok - will sign off now.

P x

Breast Mastitis

Something else wrong with mummy?!?!

yup... last tuesday, I went to London to do some rather lucrative work with another institution...and left daddy with G (that's another post!). Anyway, left home at 8am, got back at 9pm and brought my expresser with me. As part of the meeting plans, I'd also asked for a 'private room'. Rather embarrassing since I didn't even know these people! But hey, they provided, and I expressed and transported back from London 2 bags full of milk hahah.

When I woke up that morning, my left breast felt rather tender - I didn't think anything of it. But by the time I got back that night, it was hurting like mad. Turns out it was mastitis. I had to have a bath about 2am, as it was just intolerably painful. Both boobs were also leaking and feeding G was a nightmare - but we continued to let him feed.

The next day, I trooped off to the doctors who gave me antibiotics and some ibuprofen (just as well, for my wrist too!). It's feeling alot better now, thank God!!

On a more positive note, G's still sleeping through the night, going down on average about 9pm (sometimes earlier, sometimes later), and waking up on average about 4/5am. Which is great! :) He feeds at 4/5am, and then goes back down till 7/8am. He hangs out with daddy for an hour or so and then gets handed over. It's alot more manageable... and we've got a routine where he has 2 naps a day (sometimes he goes for 3).

On weekends, it gets abit knocked out of sync because we do things like shopping, and have lunches/dinners (or like this past weekend, 2 BBQs and a dinner!). By about bath time, he's just about had enough activity and wants to come home. And amazingly enough, he does know what home is, as by the time we come through the door, he's smiling again! Makes me slightly worried about our flight to sg this aug - what if he's upset he's not at home for 2 whole weeks?!? OMG. Oh well, not going to think about it till closer the date. Hopefully by then he's used to being out and about, he'll be fine!!fingers crossed very very tightly.

We've got his 3rd round of immunisations next Wed... they come round real quick!! and this time, it won't be pleasant at all as he'll have 3 shots. Tune in next week!

This May/June's turning into a wet wipe out. It's been raining more or less continuously for the last week or so... I'm getting depressed. I think Summer's come and gone... remember, the 10 days or so in April!!? Think that was it!

p x