Bittersweet but good progress

Well on the sleep front Ted went down tonight in his cot, we had a cuddle and half is bottle but he was fidgity and I don’t think he could get comfy so I put him in the cot and gave him the rest of his bottle and he dozed off with a muzzy in one hand and his favourite toy Lion in the other and (ironically) Rockabye U2s ‘With or Without You’ on the CD player. Tears were shed – not on his part!

Normally he falls asleep in my arms which is about the most wonderful part of the day! But now he is getting a bottle in the cot when he wakes during the night it seems logical to have that be part of bedtime so he gets reconditioned not to fall asleep on me and hopefully stops waking up in the night because he wants me there.

It is great to be making progress but bittersweet too as there are so many changes so fast what with crawling and the different kinds of playing he is doing and all the chit chat and different faces. I am staggered he hasn’t got sick yet given the things I find him eating, licking and putting in his mouth. I put him on the floor in Starbucks for a crawl and he put his face down to lick the floor…… I guess he has his fathers immune system. Then there is the imminent start of nursery and my return to work – he seems to be taking it all in his stride but it seems to be getting the best of me (especially with the hormonal issues which though improved are still causing a fair amount of leaking eye syndrome). Still as the lady in the coffee shop said today, you’ll blink and before you know it yours will be 35 like mine! Hopefully it will be abit longer than that!

Lets see what the night brings – last night he woke up with a dirty at 10.15 and it took over an hour to get him back – dirties at night are very unusual though so hoping that was a one off. Then he was awake for a feed at 3 and back by 3.30 all in his cot but not without a battle of wills. Finally he woke around 7.30 and then just as I was fully awake and getting ready to go and get him he went back to sleep until 9.30 – of course I was too much awake to go back to sleep otherwise would have been a lovely lie in – but since Ry has promised me a lie in on the weekend I am not too bothered and I did get some useful admin done in the hour before he got up.

Bumps and babes tomorrow then lunch with Jan and Zac – best to be out and about, the alternative is alot of Baby Einstein DVDs and general play which can be both tiring and somewhat repetitive….. roll on the weekend when Daddy is home to participate in some play :O)

Little Nathan Hill – what a cutie

Had a lovely day with Antia and little Nate – he is such a little sweetie and very good – reminds me alot of Ted as he is awake quite alot in the day and alert with these little bright eyes taking everything in. It means poor Antia is having nights like I used to up 4 or 5 times to feed him and sometimes having to wait for an hour before he settles back to sleep, I can only say it will get better eventually and you get used to the sleep deprivation too! She looks great though and seems to be coping brilliantly. We had plenty of decaf, a light lunch and a wander round the shops picking up a few bits and pieces for the boys and have agreed to make it a regular Thursday thing as even when I am back to work Thursday will be a non work day until June so the boys can get to know each other and we can have a good chin wag. We will be seeing them all again on Sunday and Guy when when we go to Zanas – can’t wait to see all the boys together – they will be 1 month 1 week, 3 months and 8 months, looking forward to see how much Guy has changed since we last saw him at Christmas. Back home for tea.

Well done Danny boy

Finally the L plates are off!! Well done that man on passing your driving test. Now you can ferry your posse of babes around :O) xx

Catching up…..

So I am feeling a little better – abit less tired and emotional – I am quite relieved and I think Ryan is even more so!!

So last Friday Teddy and I went shopping where he rode shotgun in the grown up seat in the trolley and he seemed pretty chuffed to be out of the baby seat….

it wasn’t a huge shop but I am finding it so much better to go to the store during the week rather than evenings and weekends – definitely something to carry on doing once back at work – although I am considering giving online shopping another try – last time when they didn’t have what I wanted they would put in something similar but often not something I would have chosen but apparently now you can request they don’t do that so might be worth another shot – just have to decide whether to do Tesco, Sainsburys or Waitrose as all deliver in the area.

Saturday we went to meet Cliff and Antia and Nathan in the afternoon before going for Haggis at Marks house.  Ryan and Ted were keen to show Cliff and Nathan how its done

Ted finished his bottle and was then eyeing up Nathans…

Cliff is also keen to make sure Nathan is true to his saffer roots

In the evening Ted had a great time at Marks, he tried the Haggis and seemed to enjoy it even with the peppery taste, he did his normal trick of not going to sleep until it was time to go home, but he had fun playing with everyone.

Sunday was abit of a write off given how rubbish I was feeling so Ted had a long walk with me and then spent some time playing ball with Ry. Monday came around and it was time for swimming, and in the afternoon the big weigh to see whether he can move up to the forward facing car seat. As a result the turkey fattening programme continued for lunch leaving Ted looking rather like Mr Creasote …one more waffffer thin mint sir?…

luckily the fattening programme has worked as Ted is now 20 pounds and 4 ounces so we will be heading out at the weekend to pick up the new car seat, some stair gates and some floor matting as Teds now got mobile enough that he could crawl along the landing and down the stairs, so we need to get that sorted. It seems we also need to get the cupboard door locks fitted as this is the site which met my eyes when I walked into the kitchen after answering the door this morning..

Fortunately I have already made sure most of the low cupboards are child safe – but there is a requirement to lock a couple of them.

Tuesday we went to Humpty Dumptys and had some fun play time with Teds little friends – he wheeled out his latest ‘devil child’ face where he screws up his nose and breathes in and out really fast?!

He did have fun on the bouncy castle and was pretty laid back about having his toys stolen by other babies prefering to juct pick up another one than make a fuss. This is not what happens when you try and take his tooth brush away at bedtime – you would think the world was ending – but I guess he is tired at that time of day and resisting being made ready for bed so that adds to the trauma.

The last two nights although he has woken up once a night I have been giving him his bottle in the cot and then just sit quietly next to him until he goes back to sleep so for two nights now he hasn’t come out of the cot between going to bed and getting up which is real progress on our efforts towards getting him to sleep through. I am hoping that when he realises that when he wakes up he won’t be coming out of the cot for a cuddle he will decide not to wake up at all.

So today he had his last swim class of Stage 2 and did some amazing release swims under water. I am going to have to change his class to a different location as Wednesdays will be no good – but apparently there is an Advanced baby class in Windsor on Thursday mornings so I am going to register us for that one instead.

Tomorrow we will be heading off to see Antia and Nathan assuming they have had a good night.

Bit of a rollercoaster

Hormones – who knew. Having never been a sufferer of PMS I was quite surprised during pregnancy about the not inconsiderable impact that hormones could have on ones state of mind. It seems that stopping breastfeeding, going on the pill and having the first recurrance of ‘womens troubles’ has put a veritable truck load of hormones into play which has left me feeling abit all over the shop over the last few days. Hence no posts or pics as its taking all I have to get through the day to Teds bed time then have an hour with Ry before I am hitting the hay myself. Might get some more details of our weekend and week and pics up tomorrow afternoon when Granny L is visiting to mind Ted while I go to a meeting at work, when I get back I might have long enough while I still have energy enough to get a good post done. As it is now its nine o’clock already and I am ready to crash out.

Ted is fine, beautiful and full of beans and has no idea that an alien has taken over his Mummys body.

This weeks update

Well it has been a busy week all round and after this post I will be straight to bed – bed time is getting earlier and earlier and soon I will be going to bed at the same time as Ted. Its tiring trying to fit everything in!

Monday we went swimming with the gang – everyone was there Monday so we  saw all the babies – Josh, Isla, Aiden and Ellie. Had a good swim and a great chat over lunch then headed home in the afternoon to do some chores and pack our things for Tuesday.

Tuesday we got up and set of to Grannys house at 9 ish. Dropped Ted off with Mum and Amelie and I headed off to London for the day. It felt pretty woerd to be walking down the road to the station alone, but it was wonderful to sit and drink a cup of coffee and read the paper on the train. I almost felt abit agrophobic in London with so many people and all the hustle and no baby to be fussing over. Ry and I met for lunch and Bsuba Ethai and had a lovely lunch – again quite odd with just the two of us. We did at least manage not to spend the whole time talking about Ted too! In the afternoon I had a meeting at work which went well and then got the train back too Godalming.

Ted had a lovely day with Granny and Amelie which included lunch at Mums friend Vickys house.

Ted got a chance to make new friends and play with some different toys and I am pleased that he is getting to spend time with different people in new environments without me being there in preparation for nursery.

In the evening he and Amelie sat together to watch ‘in the night garden’ ahead of bathtime – but it was not as quiet as normal as Amelie was in high spirits and the pair of them were having quite a riot before bed.

Wednesday morning was a mad dash as we stayed over at Grannys. Ted didn’t sleep brilliantly but slept through until 3.15 after which he was in with me – which was great and snug for him but meant i got poked in the ribs every 10 minutes – or just as he would settle and I would start to doze off he would reach out and grab my nose to check if I was still there. Still we stayed in bed dozing til 8 and then got underway by 9.30. A3 was a car park as we went over the bridge so I took a detour via the A31 and M3 which was abit more roundabout but got us there in the end. Had hoped to go straight to swimming but I forgot the swim nappy !! a fundamental and his lunch so had to stop home – remembered the nappy, forgot his lunch and then got warned there was no fuel in the car so had to stop for pertrol. Got to the pool with 5 mins to spare only to find Ted had done a dirty and needed a clean up before we could go in.   After all that though the lesson went well and he did a great swim on his own under water and for the first time it really was a case of him moving his arms and legs for a few strokes before I fished him out. No fuss he was cool as a cucumber. We had lunch with the girls after since I had forgotten his he had an egg mayo sandwich and some melon. I am sure the costly coffee staff hated me for the amount of debris on the floor from his sandwich but I did pick up the bigger pieces!

Today we went to Humpty Dumptys this morning where Ted did alot of crawling and playing. He is really getting quite efficient now and it was good to have him in a safe environment – although with some off the bigger kids wizzing around on scooters there were a few hold your breath moments. For the most part he was just happy to make his way around the pillars by are table and scavenge under other tables for dropped crackers and other food debris!

We got home at about 3 and then went for an hour in the gym which was pretty good although I think I trapped a nerve in my neck which has been abit sore ever since, hopefully will sort itself out overnight when I relax. Since then there has been a fair amount of domestic chores to be done – lots of laundry, dishes galore and floor cleaning – finger food is flavour of the month. Ted spurned his pot of chicken and veg (not one of mine i am pleased to say) but because we left his darlick in Gming on Tuesday I had to give him finger food in the play room which meant mroe food debris to clear up. Thankfully am meeting Mum tomorrow to get Darlick and have lunch so we will have the main containment device in the kitchen back by the weekend. Since potted food was spurned I gave him a whole banana which he now sticks in his mouth whole and bites off pieces with his 4 teeth. He also had a large rice cake and some apple so I am hoping that will be sufficient to see him through. He has had about 30 ounces of milk today as well!

Tomorrow its the Minnow for lunch with Granny and then off to see Yvie and Ben for a weekly catchup on what they have been doing.

Daddy is out tonight on account of how he will be with us tomorrow and missing Marks birthday drinks so they are celebrating tonight instead. Thats us uptodate.

Such a grown up little man

He is starting to look so grown up – less like a little bub and more like a little boy – just in time for nursery

He is getting better at not drenching himself with his sippy cup now – he seems to understand that if he holds it upside down water will pour out in his lap – it has taken several wet pairs of trousers for him to come to that realisation though.

Daddy took us out to lunch on Sunday to Loch Fyne where we had a lovely lunch. Ted did a good job of sitting in the high chair and throwing everything on the floor to trip up waiters and distract surrounding diners. I had asked Ryan to help me not eat all the fat foods on account of my ‘ I am going back to work and need to fit in my suits’ diet. His contribution to assisting me on this involved saying he was going for the 3 course set menu, and finishing up with a great looking cheese board. When I asked how this was supposed to be helping me he said’ well I haven’t offered you any….’ thanks for the support babe. Other efforts to help me included the comment ‘ oo look hon the special dessert is a mixed berry cheesecake’  apparently it is another one of his tough love approaches – helping me to learn some self discipline by putting temptation my way and forcing me to be strong enough to resist. Not quite the support I was looking for.

Diet is so far going well – managed to have soup instead of chips post swimming today – yay. We did a gym session sunday which was great – just need to get myself in there 3 or 4 times a week and we will be in business.

Sackfull of puppies

Thats what it is like carrying, dressing, picking up and holding onto in the swimming pool. He is all over the place – today trying to rummage through someone else’s handbag at the Metropolitan Police Training Swimming Pool cafeteria. He grabbed the hot feeder pipe for the radiator (thankfully off), nearly ate a 5 pence piece and got his finger trapped under a door. Am exhausted and planning to go to bed and its only 9 o’clock. Thankfully he is spending a day with Granny L tomorrow so I will have some respite – but will need to take measures to contain him to ensure he doesn’t eat the catfood and crawl out of the cat flap. Ted can be e-mailed at ted.perryman@gmail.com thanks to his father having the foresight to set up an account in his name. I got a rather cute e-mail this morning, am looking forward to another in a few years time :O). Cute pics from the weekend to follow.

Scratch….

Well its been a busy day – which is good as it has left me little time to fret about my rash! although it is fading a little and the doctor said we will hold off steroids for the time being and let the antihistamines continue to work their magic – she has prescribed some emollient lotion – which judging by the sheer volume – she expects me to cover myself in from head to foot. I already have one spot on my face from the aqueous cream so lord knows what it will do to my face, but if it helps it clear up then so be it.

Robb came to visit last night and got to meet Ted which was great, he and Ry had a good catch up in the pub and over a curry – way pastr my bedtime though! Ted and I dropped them both at the station this morning and came home to let Alita in to clean at 0830. Ted ran around the kitchen in his walker while Alita tried to clean the kitchen, while I was trying to make his and my breakfast in the kitchen – what with Ted throwing his nest of pots all over the floor it was a miracle noone was injured – there were a couple of near trips and misses before he was moved into the playroom – waste of time though as he seemed intent on crawling back into the kitchen to investigate the bucket of chemical cleaning products and compost bin which are clearly more interesting than the array of toys I put out for him to play with.

Off to the doctors where we met another little boy called Ted – 14 months old and shorter than our lad … then on to Bumps and Babes to see Jan and Zac and the other newer bubs who were there today. Embarassingly it took someone else to tell me my babies nappy needed changing – I was too busy catching up with other mums to notice. It didn’t help that Ted was trying to crawl over the other babies who – like him 3-4 months ago – were stranded on their backs. He is getting to be more and more of a handful every day.

Back home to see Alita out and for a lovely long afternoon nap – he had 2 hours – I should have slept but chose instead to watch ‘Blood Ties’ a Z rated movie about vampires, I really should know better, intermittantly changing laundry from washer to dryer and putting loads on.

Off to Starbucks at Sainsburys at 3.30 to meet Liz and Yvie – Liz has gone back to work already and it was not so reassuring to hear that although Yvie is settled into nursery fine, Liz sat at her desk and cried for the first day and still finds it hard to be away from Yvie so much – she is back to 5 days a week straight away so I guess at least I have a buffer period…. MOJ also had a teary day with Holly in nursery so all indicators are its much harder for mum.

After coffee did a shop and got some groceries in for the weekend. Home to give Ted his tea which was a stage two pot that had been rejected earlier for being to lumpy blended to within and inch of its life for sirs eating pleasure. He has an attitude of ‘ give me puree or give me finger food, but don’t give me puree with lumps in it’ we get a nice line of gagging and grimacing when he finds lumps in his food – although I am blending it coarser and coarser to try and help him along.

Back home and thanks to Granny L the ‘In the night garden’ DVDs made up for the fact we had missed the daily showing so we had a lovely wind down time and then up to bed with a bottle. Down at 8.15 and I am off to bed now. Ry is out but I think coming home soon so he is not a wreck for the weekend.

On the move

Ted is a small knee away from crawling, he goes up on his hands and knees and pushes off one knee, and he seems to cover the ground quickly using a half crawl, comando crawl type of approach. He has to be contained or monitored at all times but still gets himself into trouble – yesterday he got himself stuck when he pulled a kitchen stool down over him while he was in his walker. This morning he pulled Ryans razor charger down on his head. I have had to obstruct the router, TV box, DVD and other paraphenalia under the TV as he goes straight for them when released from the play pen / travel cot.He just has very little interest in toys when there are grown up things to examine. He is also very chatty and getting quite noisy, shoulting from time to time when his needs are not met promptly enough, and squealing in a more piercing way when frustrated or stuck in a position or place he is not happy with. Will be glad to be back at work to be off duty for a while although I will miss him terribly.

There are signs of life so I have not long left to blog, but its been a good run and have been able to update news and upload pics so can’t complain.