We are in a great little routine at the moment. He is feeding every 3 - 4 hours over the night (Hooray!) and my darling Shane still gets up for the 5am feed to let me sleep. It works so well for us both. He crawls back into bed and sleeps til late morning. Then he gets to play with Alex for a couple of hours while I duck out to the shops for some "me time" or do stuff around the house. Alex naps every couple of hours during the day, sometimes for only half an hour and sometimes for a couple of hours. I walk him every day along the water in the pram or the sling. Its such a relief that he goes in the pram now as some days I just dont have enough energy to carry him in the sling. (For weeks he wouldnt go in the pram, but now suddenly he likes it!). I've managed to scrape enough time together to whip up a few pairs of pants such as these star and apple pants.
I'm quite proud of our night time routine. I've made it flexible but always manage to get him asleep by 7pm. We walk between 4 and 5, then its bath time. This is usually a struggle unfortunately. Some days I take him in the shower, other days in the baby bath. Either way, he cries (sometimes screams-) when I take him out. I don't understand it, I wrap him in a super soft baby towel straight away, make sure the room is warm but not too warm, and whatever I do he cries! (Only for a coupple of minutes luckily). Does anyone else have this problem? Most babies I've heard of love bath time. Hopefully he will grow out of this one :-/ After bath time we read a book, listen to one of our nursery rhymes cds ($5 from Kmart!) and then wind down with lots of cuddles before dinner. Some nights I have to feed him to sleep but other nights I can pat or rock him to sleep and I always sing "twinkle, twinkle little star" to him. Its very cute, he watches me closely and "coo" s as I sing, like he's singing too :) The he falls alseep by 7, I carry him to the cot and his eyes open a tiny bit, but I tuck him in tightly. I turn on the nightlight and the "rain" white noise, then kiss him saying "Mummy and Daddy love you very much and we will be there when you wake up". It's my little routine. He waits for me to say it before he'll go fast asleep :)
I am finding it a little challenging to be organised with "going out" bags. I have tried to keep a bag of things in the car, and one under the pram so in theory I could just walk out the door and have everything I need. The problem is, when I use something from the bag while I'm out, I don't always have time to re-stock it later. So the next time I am going out I'm not sure what I need to put back in the bag. Any suggestions? It takes me SO long to leave the house sometimes, and I always go WAY over prepared (umbrella in case it rains, 5 or more nappies in case of accidents, warm suit if its cool, cool suit if its hot, sunscreen, hat, a billion bibs, cloths, wipes, etc etc...) If I am going for a brisk walk along the water i dont take all this of course :) But if I am going shopping with Alex or if I know I will be out for a couple of hours, I really might need all those things!
I know some of you will be experts at this, how do you keep organised with your nappy bag??
Grandma, Grandad, Uncle Kerry, Aunty Sunny and cousin Jamie came to visit a couple of weeks ago
:-) We had such a nice day and loved having them here.
I have had to go off dairy and ALL sugar, including fruit and simple carbs, in an attempt to minimse Alex's vomiting (so far, it seems to have lessoned it! Yay!). Its challenging but of course its for a good cause, and an added bonus is that I've lost weight :) Most days I eat salad and fish, and whole grain breads etc. Breakfast was a challenge, not being able to have milk, cereal, spreads such as strawberry jam etc. But kind Shane has made me almond milk (soy milk and rice milk were also no-no's) and today we managed to make a sugar and fruit free cereal for me with bran flakes and puffed wheat with LSA and phsyllum husk. Shane is SO wonderful, he is such a fantastic father and so helpful. Its so good to have such a hands-on partner. I couldnt imagine what it would be like without him! He works SO hard at the restaurant but always helps me around the house too and always has time for Alex.
And one last one of Bubby and Mummy :-) Sadly wish I 'd had time to tidy up a little here before this pic was taken :)
Hope you have a lovely week!
Xx Sarndra
Wow 3 months already! Loving those pants!
ReplyDeleteMy boys have showered with Daddy most of the time and yep they cried getting out too. In the end I figured it was that they just loved the shower so much and didn't want to get out. They still love it at 3 and 2yo.
With the nappy bag I used to have the basics in there. Nappies, wipes, a few bibs, spit up rags, and blanket, creams, a jar of baby food (for emergencies when they were older) etc. Then when we were heading out I'd just have to gran a change or two of clothes and throw in and we'd be out the door.
I didn't always restock when we walked in the door, but I worked unpacking and restocking the nappy bag into my afternoon routine. Then we'd be all set for the next trip out.
HTH
ps I think you look wonderful!
Sarndra it's lovely to read an update on all of you -- great pics too. You look great and Alex is such a little sweetie!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the update, seems as though everything is going really well, good for you...x I found that a deep bath, on the warm side rather than cool was the trick, and to put a face washer over their hands...if their hands are moving around they feel really out of control, so one face washer to wash them with and one to wet and lay straight away over their chest covering their hands...the nurse taught me that and and I have used it for all three babies...keep putting water over it so it dosnt go cold....try it, it may just help! Suzanne
ReplyDeleteLove the apple singlet and pants set :). I always seemed to have a billion things in my baby bags too but it was better than having to buy them especially during the outing. In an emergency cornflour works well as baby powder but it has to be corn cornflour not wheat cornflour. Baby wipes placed in a zip lock bag with as much air pressed out of it as possible will stay wet for about a week. Good for restocking the bag from the 'home' pack. Love all the photos in this post.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Robyn
I am in constant awe as to how new mums keep it together ~ a little mess is insignificant! ;) It's good to hear all is going well for you, Shane & Alex.
ReplyDelete~S.
Wow and she sews too!! You & your hubby are amazing parents--Alex is so blessed. Nice to see the whole extended family enjoying one another. (What's there to tidy up...looks fine to me.) :)
ReplyDeleteMy first baby cried, no, screamed every bath time. It was so distressing to both of us. We tried everything and only one thing worked - ear defenders from the garage for us both. Baby still cried but not hearing the cries relieved our stress and eventually baby joined in with no stress and stopped crying and screaming. I know it sounds a pretty cruel cure but it worked and our 'baby' is now 28 and has shown no signs of having been harmed by this unorthodox baby upbringing method!
ReplyDeleteLove from Mum
xx
PS He also loved having a bath in the kitchen sink.
xx
You are all looking FANTASTIC!
ReplyDeleteI can't believe you're so talented to even sew him some pants! I wish I could sew - I'd make some for K and C.
Anyway, about the bag. I am a bit OCD about the bag.
Let me answer you on my organising blog seeing as I need blog fodder :)
Okay darling, done.
ReplyDeleteHere is my post to answer your question!
http://takechargesolutions.org/blog/?p=2632
PS If you have more questions, send them - once I took out the duplicates, I was about 7 short for the month, so they will help.
I heart those pants too....awesomely cute! Sounds like you guys are all doing great and Alex is just gorgeous. There is a blog by a mum called Jade - beyond the baby super organized mother or something and she has it down pat for nappy bag organization. I will see if I can find it
ReplyDeletex Chrissy
here it is.....be ready to be inspired :)
ReplyDeletehttp://www.beyondthebaby.com.au/superorganisermum/organising/organising-a-nappy-bag/
x Chrissy
those pants are lovely Sarndra! It is great to se you and bubs settling into a routine. Happy organising around bubby xxx : )
ReplyDeleteThanks SO much girls for your lovely comments!! I'm sorry I havent had time to individually reply, but I love reading your comments and am so glad to "see" you all here :-)
ReplyDeleteJust quickly, Suzanne,, thankyou because your comment helped me to fix our shower problem!! I hold him much mo0re tightly, and especially as we get out of the shower, adn just dry him on the change table instead if standing in the bathroom, and its made a huge difference! I think it was that he didnt feel safe as I wasnt holding him tighly enough as I tried to dry him standing up (hope this babble makes sense to you :-)) SO tired, must get to bed, but will try reply to other comments soon :)
Xx Sarndra