2009

Feed me, Seymour

Wednesday 18th March 2009Baggie

Why do children lull you into a false sense of security. Just when you think that you have got them into a routine, they go and change it all on you. Last week we began a new regime to try to introduce day naps and the dream feed so that hopefully Éowyn would sleep through to the morning and for a couple of days it seemed to be working. Great we thought.

Well, the pick up, put down technique that we are using for the day naps is a lot of hard work and initially she took to it rather well but now it can take Éowyn up to 45 minutes before she falls asleep. Back breaking work. Then she only sleeps for 30 minutes. It is always 30 minutes. Not 23 minutes, not 37 minutes, always half an hour, plus or minus 2 minutes. It is like she has some kind of internal 30 minute egg timer! Sometimes it doesn’t feel that it is worth the effort.

At least the dream feed is working: she doesn’t wake while taking the 10:30pm feed. It still doesn’t seem natural to me though. After a couple of days of sleeping until 0630, she has reverted to waking far too early, between 0400 and 0500; so despite the early success it is fair to say that we haven’t quite cracked it yet.

She is still enjoying her food, although from some of the pictures below you may not believe me. She has added, Papaya and Peas to her menu over the last week, as well as the Banana, Apple, Pear, Sweet Potato and Carrots that she has already eaten. She has a better diet than me!

Her social life is better than mine too. At least twice a week she goes out and sometimes that can stretch to everyday. It is nice to see her interact with other babies. They tend to stare at each other across a room, and if they are close they reach out just to see if the other one is real. It is fascinating to watch.

We went for a long walk around Virginia Waters last weekend, which is hard work when pushing a pram. However, we are now armed with Lucinda’s brothers old off-road three wheeler. Hopefully that will make such walks a lot easier and a gentler ride for Éowyn as the pneumatic tyres smooth out some of the smaller bumps. It will be good exercise for Lucinda and I, to try and shed the extra pounds we have gained since becoming parents. Éowyn is also gaining weight but at a much steadier pace, she now tips the scales at a healthy 16lbs 3 oz (7.342kgs).

Please enjoy the latest photos, I have to go and take Éowyn to get a Mother’s Day card and present, it will be Lucinda’s first Mother’s day as a mother. How cool is that?

Love and peace and happy mother’s day to all moms out there, especially Lucinda’s and mine!

Open wide

I don’t like this

All gone

Leo

James

Éowyn and Billy

Sitting on Daddy’s lap

Coming to get you

Jenny and Leo

I like my food

That was nice

Do we have any more?

New regime

Sunday 8th March 2009Baggie

This week, Lucinda decided that it was time to try and develop more of a routine with Éowyn. For a while Lucinda has had Éowyn in the routine of having a bath in the early evening, before feeding and putting to bed for about 8pm. She would then wake her at 10.30pm to feed her, before putting her down for the night. However there were a couple of unresolved problems. The first was that Éowyn would wake around 5am for a feed, and quite often not go back down; and secondly that she was only rarely napping during the day. This meant that Lucinda was not getting any time for herself, or for us.

So, armed with a friend’s copy of ‘The Baby Whisperer’ Lucinda set about changing this. She is only a couple of days into the regime, but already Éowyn is going down for naps (with the pick up/ put down method) and sleeping a little longer in the morning. She has also instigated the dream feed, where instead of waking her at 1030pm to feed her, she feeds her from a bottle while she sleeps. Although it seems to defy logic that it is safe, surely she should choke?

Food is playing a large part in Éowyn‘s life at the moment. She has only been eating solids for a short time but she has already tried many different flavours. We want her to experience as many flavours as possible early on so, in theory she will not be as fussy when she is older. Well that’s the idea, we will have to let you know how that one pans out. So far she has had:

Banana – didn’t like it at first, but has grown to like it
Apple – didn’t really like it, but we will persevere with it
Pear – really enjoyed it
Sweet Potato – didn’t really like, again we will persevere with it
Carrot – really enjoyed it.

It is a learning process for all of us, but it seems that she prefers the fruit and vegetables when they have been watered down with milk (milked down?). This is probably two-fold: firstly the consistency is closer to that of milk and secondly that the flavour is not quite as strong.

Our friend Andrea came round on Thursday with her son, Jack. He is a couple of months older and so it is nice to know what we have in store as Éowyn follows him down the path of learning. It is also good for the girls to swap ideas and stories. It will also be good when Éowyn and Jack are older and can play together, and should they go to the same school he can look out for her, as he will be just that little bit older.

Enough of my babbling here are the latest photos:

I’m giving you a clue

OK, I’ll just eat my toes then

I ain’t doin’ anyfink

I’ve got your nose

Asleep

I ain’t doin’ nuffink

This is how you eat

Tired girl

Ok, I’m going home

The year marches on

Sunday 1st March 2009Tuesday 25th January 2011Baggie

Apologies for the first pun-use in a blog title on this website. I cannot promise that it will be the last. February has gone (not the best month for many of us) and spring approaches. Unless that is you are the Met Office that decrees that today is the first day of spring. I am of the traditional opinion that the first day of spring is the day following the Vernal Equinox (which is usually 20/21 March). Any day that you can balance an egg on its point has to be special.

Éowyn’s progress also marches on. We started her on solid food (well baby rice) last Saturday. She is definitely a product of her parents, as she loves to eat. As soon as the mouthful has been swallowed (and sometimes before) her mouth is opening for the next spoonful. It is taking her body a little longer to adjust to digesting more than just milk but that has settled down through the week. Today, she tried banana for the first time. However, judging by the faces that she was pulling I think that the flavours were a little too strong, nevertheless mixed with a little baby rice and mom’s milk she finished her bowl.

She has reached the stage where everything she touches she has to taste. Any toy, clock, book or hand has to be thoroughly investigated in case that it may be edible. She gets mightily frustrated should you interrupt this important analysis, and complains loudly. She has also found a renewed interest in her feet. For a while she has held her feet when lying on her back but now coupled with the above she has to taste them; nibbling her own toes. It seems an awfully long time since I could do that.

Éowyn’s curiosity is well developed too. She likes to know what is going on and is afraid to miss out. When there is a conversation she will follow the speakers intently. I wonder what processes are going on her head. What does she hear and what can she understand. This curiosity was evident last Tuesday. We had two other couples round for dinner and Éowyn would not settle. Lucinda and I tried on a number of occasions in a tag-team rally to placate her and she was not cooperating. Defeated we took her downstairs to meet the guests. After satisfying herself, on who was there and what they were doing and then managing to rub her hands in Lucinda’s curry, she was ready for bed and went to sleep until morning.

She still isn’t sleeping as much as one would expect a baby to sleep. Daytime naps are a rarity and although she used to sleep through the night, since her teeth have begun to move it is rare for her to sleep through to morning. Yesterday, however we drove to Nanny Fran’s for the day and I think that it wore her out. She usually sleeps in the car, and yesterday she slept on the way up and on the return journey. We arrived back home about 2230 and she woke, and seemed wide-awake and we feared the worse. We unpacked the car and got ourselves ready for bed. Lucinda fed her and put her to bed and she slept solidly for 8 hours. It was bliss. She has also had a little nap this morning. We both hope that this is the start of a new routine, if only for a couple of weeks or so.