Thursday 8 May 2014

Mother's Day

This Sunday will be my first Mother’s Day with J! Last year we were nearing the end of our second IVF cycle. We were waiting to take a blood test to determine if that cycle was a success (it was!) I was hoping that whilst I may not have a child in my arms, that in 2014, I would be holding the life growing inside me (I will be!) Of course I celebrated last year with my furry first born. Dogs are our children too!
 
Mother’s Day is such a hard day for many. The women who long for a child of their own and the ones who are undergoing expensive and emotionally and physically draining procedures to have a child. The women who are hoping to adopt and waiting for someone to choose them to place their child with. The women who have carried their babies for only a short time but never got to hold them in their arms. The women who have held their babies/children in their arms and yet have had them taken from this world much too soon. I know women that fit in to every one of these categories, and they are all the strongest women I know. And they are already Mothers! I can’t wait for this day to hold more positive connotations for them and for them to be able to celebrate with a child in their arms.
Just because you cannot physically see a child, does not mean someone is not a Mother. They may be a Mother many times over. And just because they may be celebrating with the children you can see, does not mean they are not also feeling the loss of a child you can’t. This Mother’s Day, I ask you to please think of these women!
 
This Mother’s Day, I will celebrate the fact that I am a Mother to my almost 4 month old son, just as I celebrate every day. I will not take for granted that this year I have a child to hold on this day. I love being a Mum so much! There are no words to describe the joy I feel. I can’t wait to spend the day with my little family. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world!!!
 
 
 
I leave you with this beautiful video I found on Youtube... Celebrate ALL the Mothers out there this Mother's Day!

Tuesday 6 May 2014

3.5 Month Update - Slow Down Time!

Where have the last 3.5 months gone? It’s been a whirlwind, for sure. J is growing up so much every day. I want to document so much about him and I feel like I’m never going to remember it all. Sure, I have a bazillion photos (maybe not an exaggeration either), but I’m so worried I am going to forget the way he smells or the look in his eyes when he looks up at me. Things, that can’t be captured on camera or describe perfectly in words. This makes me one very sad Mama!
Things I can document though are…
He had his first shower on the 25th of April, he wasn't sure but he didn't hate it. Second time was much more fun for him. He's too big for his baby bath (cue sad music)!
 
He LOVES reading, OK, being read to. His face lights up and he grins when you turn the page or put on a different voice. His favourite books at the moment are Spot Loves His Dad, Spot Loves Sports and Rainbow Rob. All visually enticing as well, which I am sure helps!
He thinks animal noises are hilarious! Especially quacking. Animal noises and a noise I make with my mouth, which I can not for the life of me describe, make him laugh out loud. Music to my ears!
 
His favourite songs are Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star, Insy Winsy Spider, Old McDonald Had a Farm (or our version which includes his name), B.I.N.G.O (which we also personalise to B.A.N.D.I.T) and Summer of ’69 (yep my kid loves Bryan Adams, won’t pretend this doesn’t make me happy).
He sleeps like a champ. We got some full nights of sleep. Others he will wake up once for a feed. He is a champion napper though! He is usually awake for roughly 90 minutes at a time. And then I wrap him up, put him down awake with his Snugglemonkey playing soothing music (Fisher Price has done it again!) and his dummy and he settles himself to sleep. He usually lies awake for a little while and giggles to himself and looks around and before you know it, I look over and he’s got his little eyes closed. What I love, is that he loves sleep and can settle himself. He will fall asleep without Snugglemonkey and a dummy too, I usually just give them to him as he prefers to have them. He doesn’t sleep so well unswaddled, with his flailing arms and what not. I’m dreading the day he is too old to be swaddled.
 
He is currently feeding every 2 or so hours during the day, unless he naps through it, then he wakes up STARVING! He used to go 4 hourly but that changed about a month ago. I will be starting him on solids at 6 months. I am sad and excited about this at the same time, but will save those details for another post!
 
He is pulling himself up from lying down. And now that he can sit up (aided of course), he doesn’t like to lie down much. Mr Independent!
 
I think he might roll very soon, maybe even today! We had what looked like some serious rolling potential this morning during tummy time. So video camera is permanently in my hand so I can capture it and show Dad!
 
Cradle cap won this week! He doesn’t have it too bad, but I oiled it and brushed it and it flaked off, taking a whole lot of hair with it! I won’t lie, I cried. I loved his hair. He is still super cute of course, now he just has a frullet (front mullet) surrounded but bald patches. Too funny!
 
He said ‘hi’ this past weekend. Whether it was a fluke or not remains to be seen. He said it twice within 5 minutes and in context too. If he says it a third time, I am counting it.
 
He loves his ‘doggy’. Bandit is too much of a mouthful for a baby so he is known as doggy for the time being in hopes that he will say that at some stage in the future. He has patted Bandit all by himself (without us forcing his hand in a stroking motion) and sometimes laughs out loud just looking at him. Poor Bandit must be getting a complex. But Bandit loves him too. He’s rarely far away and is the first to him if he cries.
He isn’t much of a crier. We go days on end without a single cry. We have had a couple these last few weeks though. Takes a good ten minutes to settle him. Breaks my heart! It looks like teething. He has all the signs, red cheeks, drooling like no tomorrow, the unexplained unsettledness, chewing on everything really hard and swollen gums. Hoping he cuts a tooth soon and isn’t one of those babies that goes months on end without a single tooth erupting.
He hasn’t been weighed or measured in a while, so we must do that soon.
So there is my 3.5 month update on my little man. There’s so much more I could write, but he’s waking from him nap now. So I’m off for cuddles J

I leave you with an adorable turtle baby butt, you're welcome.