Sleeping through

According to all the baby books, the technical definition of a baby 'sleeping through' the night is five hours.

By that definition, I've slept through the night quite a few times in the past five weeks.

But last night I did it twice!

Mum put me to bed at 8:15. I woke up for a feed at about one o'clock in the morning. I then went straight back to sleep and slept right up until 6:45.

It's definitely the way to win friends around here.

Unsettled

I was a bit out of sorts today.

My day started a bit wrong when I woke up for my feed at 5am instead of about 6:30. I then went back to sleep and when I woke up again at about 8, I wasn't a happy camper.

I didn't want to go back to bed for a morning sleep.

And I didn't want to go to bed for an afternoon sleep.

Finally, Mum strapped me into the hug-a-bub and I slept peacefully for a whole two hours while she cooked the dinner and played with Noah.

Doctor

Mum and I went back to the doctor today.

My reflux has been making me a sad baby after my feeds and Mum and Dad decided it was time to see if the doctor could do something for me.

He could.

I'm now on Zantac, twice a day.

It takes about a week to start working so we're not expecting to see any change just yet.

The immediate challenge is just to keep it in my tummy!

Party all night

Do you remember my first night home from hospital?

Mum and Dad only slept for about half an hour.

I put in another fine sleepless performance last night.

After going to sleep at about 8 o'clock, I then woke up 11.

Mum fed me and popped me back in my bassinet.

But I was having none of it.

I squirmed and cried and made it clear I didn't want to sleep.

Mum paced and rocked and shushed for about an hour before calling for reinforcements.

Dad paced and rocked and shushed for about an hour...but there was no sleeping for me.

He took me out onto the balcony and I paused my carry-on to enjoy the cool breeze, bright lights and loud traffic noises.

But I couldn't stay out there.

Eventually, at about four o'clock in the morning Mum pulled out the fail-safe last resort.

The hug-a-bub.

I resisted sleep for about five minutes and then nodded off.

But the hug-a-bub only works while the person wearing it keeps moving.

Mum finally took me out and I stayed asleep on her chest.

That was at about five o'clock.

An hour later, we were all woken up by Noah.

"It's daytime!"

Reflux

Remember how Mum didn't think I had reflux?

Well she was wrong.

I had my first check-up at the doctor's today and he says I definitely have reflux.

Classic, textbook reflux.

That means I'm not allowed to lie flat on any surface. My bed is already raised at one end but now my change table has to be too. And Mum and Dad are meant to encourage me to use a dummy!

The good news is that I'm what's known as a 'happy chucker'.

That means I'm generally happy and gaining weight well.

I'm certainly gaining weight well! I weighed in at 4.7kg today, that's well over 10 pounds for all of you non-metric folk.

And the extra weight is helping me sleep well. I managed a five hour stretch last night, which made Mum pretty happy.

Bath time

We have a little nighttime ritual at our house.

Actually it's more than a little ritual, it's more like a major production.

We call it bath-the-baby time.

Dad's job is to fill up the baby bath and then put it in the middle of the bathroom floor.

Noah's job is to collect a towel and two face washers from my cupboard.

Mum grabs the inflatable change mat.

All of these items are then assembled on the bathroom floor.

Dad takes his place on the left side of the bath.

Noah sits on his little stool at the top of the bath, near my head.

Mum sits on the right side and is responsible for holding me while I'm in the bath.

Noah is in charge of one washer, which he uses to wash my hair. Gently. And under close supervision. He is generally full of encouragement and advice.

Then, using the other washer, Dad gives me a good wipe all over.

I like to spend the next few minutes kicking my legs and relaxing.

Noah uses that time to stand on his stool and sing a song about 'baby Lucy in the bath'. '

Then Mum gets me out, wraps me up in a towel and whisks me into my room to get dressed.

Noah's job is then to bucket the water out of the baby bath and into the big bath...until he gets bored and Dad tips the rest out by himself.

And that's the way we bath-the-baby at our house.

Costume changes

How many little Wondersuits does a small baby need?

I bet it's more than you think!

Mum has been hanging out the washing and marvelling at how many costume changes I have in any given day.

Today I woke up in a blue suit (yes, I know. I am a girl. But I'm also a second child and that involves wearing hand-me-downs).

Then I got a bit of spew on it so I was put in my green suit.

Then it was time to don my pink suit.

And then my purple suit.

Then it was bedtime.

And when I go to bed, Mum gets busy putting all of these little suits in the wash to be hung out and recycled again the next day.

At least no one can accuse me of not getting good use out of all my clothes!

Sniffle

I have a sniffle.

Actually, it's more like a snort.

Someone in my family...or possibly all of them...have passed their cold onto me.

So now I'm a bit snotty.

It not much fun when I'm trying to have a feed.

I'm being brave. I even got through the night with just one wake-up!

But we're all hoping I'll be better soon.

A good day

We all had a good day here at home.

A good day for me involves good feeds and good sleeps.

I had two good sleeps in my bassinet and another long sleep in the hug-a-bub.

My miracle blanket seems to be doing its job - I haven't found a way to escape it yet so I stay nice and wrapped up and warm.

But it won't be long before I no longer fit in my bassinet.

Mum thinks I'll probably have to move to the cot when I'm about six weeks old.

Unsettled

I was a bit unsettled today.

I only wanted to feed.

But after I'd had a feed, I would get a tummy ache.

After having a good sleep in the morning, Mum couldn't settle me down in my cot for an afternoon sleep.

In the end, she decided to give up and pop me into the hug-a-bub. I love it in there and fall asleep straight away.

I wasn't much in the mood for sleep at nighttime either so Dad took charge of settling me until midnight.

It turns out I picked a bad day to be unsettled since Mum and Dad are both feeling sick.

But everyone is glad that I haven't picked up their cold.

Playgroup and Poos

I went to playgroup for the first time today!

It's exactly three weeks since I made my entrance into the world.

Everyone was very happy to meet me and I spent the whole time snuggled in a variety of arms.

I was a bit windy when we got home. I did some big burps and then Mum heard some familiar sounds from my nappy.

She popped me up on the change table and assembled all her supplies.

When I do a power poo, you had better have plenty of wipes on hand.

Mum took off my nappy to clean me all up. But then when she lifted up my legs to wipe my bottom, a big stream of bright orange poo came out!

She cleaned it up. Then lifted up my legs...and another big stream of poo!

It happened three times before I finished things off with a couple of big farts.

And now Mum says we need more wipes.

Houdini

I've got pretty strong muscles for an almost three-week-old.

And now my little muslin swaddle is no match for me.

Mum's been wrapping me nice and snugly so that I won't whack myself in the face with my wayward hands in the night.

Now I'm getting a bit bigger and figuring out how to break free. And that's brought with it some unintentional nocturnal face whacking. Which wakes me up.

But I might have met my match.

Mum's bought a fancy new swaddle called a Miracle Blanket and it arrived in the mail today.

It's in the wash and we'll try it out tomorrow to see just how miraculous it really is.

Good baby

Mum doesn't really like it when babies are referred to as 'good' or 'bad' babies.

But even she has to concede that, by most definitions, I'm a pretty good baby.

I even managed a five hour stretch last night!

That impressed Mum no end, because she was pretty tired after having visitors for the weekend.

She was even more impressed when I followed it up with a big sleep in the morning.

Because we were all tired we skipped church today.

And Mum and I both had nice, long sleeps.

Out and about

We've got visitors staying with us for the weekend.

So, when we all got up this morning, Mum decided that we should get out of the house and have some fun.

The 'we', of course, included me.

I've only ever had short trips out of the house before so Mum was interested to see how I'd go with a bigger trip.

We started off at the shops, where the bigger kids looked at toys and the mums looked at clothes.

Then we went and had lunch. I'd been content to sleep in the hug-a-bub until lunch time. Then i decided that I'd like some lunch too, so Mum gave me a feed.

Afterwards, we all went to the park for a few hours.

It turns out I quite like being out and about and Mum was impressed with how well I did. I think there'll be more trips to the park in the near future.

Wind

I've been getting a fair bit of wind lately.

It makes me scrunch up my face and squirm.

Dad wonders if it's because we ate pizza yesterday, and they blamed pizza for my big brother's windy baby days, but mum thinks it might just be a rite of passage.

Hiccups

If hiccuping were a sport, I could hiccup for Australia.

I hiccup all the time, but especially after feeds.

It's often when I'm nice and sleepy and Mum or Dad is about to pop me in my bed...

...that I give a little squeak.

And that signals the start of an episode of the hiccups.

It's often accompanied by little squeaks, which Mum tries not to laugh at.

And while my hiccups don't usually last for long, they do happen all the time.

Everyone hopes it's something I'll soon outgrow.

Keep me warm

It was a freezing cold day today.

Mum should have let Dad take the car.

But instead she decided to drive him and Noah to work and Kindy.

And that meant I had to get in and out of the car twice!

But I was brave and Mum kept me all wrapped up in my blanket. I even got some bonus cuddles with the Kindy ladies.

The rest of the day we spent tucked up at home and I impressed Mum with two good sleeps in my bassinet.

Two weeks

I'm growing up!

Two weeks old today.

Today was a significant day in my two weeks because it was the first day Mum and Noah and I spent home alone.

There was a bit of trouble when Noah decided to ride his noisy firetruck up and down the hallway while Mum was trying to put me to sleep.

But we all survived...and I even had a few good sleeps!

Coffee and shops

We had our first mother-daughter trip to the shops today.

First we dropped Noah off at Kindy.

Then Mum decided that she and I had spent too much time hanging around at home.

So into the hug-a-bub I went and the two of us hit the shops.

I stayed asleep the whole time.

Then, on the way home, we dropped in to see Tonya and Amy and Sam.

I also got to meet Nash, a little boy who was born a couple of days before me. We both got lots of nice cuddles.

First impressions

I made my first public appearance today.

It was my first trip to church.

After their disastrous first-trip-to-church with my big brother, Mum and Dad were super organised with getting everyone ready.

Amazingly, we arrived earlier as a family of four than they used to as a family of three.

It must be my good influence.

I slept through most of the service and then had some cuddles with friends of Mum and Dad.

Everyone I meet keeps telling me what a perfect, placid baby I am.

If I could talk I might point out that I'm perfect, placid...and punctual!

Nana

I left the house today for the first time since leaving hospital.

Mum thought it was about time I met her Nana (my great-nana) so she piled Noah and I into the car and drove us across town to meet Nana and also visit Grandma.

I got the sun in my eyes and cried.

But Noah thought I was crying because of him.

"It's awright", he kept saying. "I'm not hurting you!"

I was much happier when we arrived and after an introductory cuddle with Nana, I spent most of the visit asleep in Grandma's arms.

Later, back at home, I had my first tummy time on the mat in the lounge room. I think I'm going to be pretty good at this tummy-time caper because I have very strong neck muscles!

Tummy pains

After a couple great nights of sleep, no one got much shut-eye last night.

Least of all, me.

And it was all thanks to my tummy pains.

I seem to suffer a bit from wind. I also spew a bit. But not so much that Mum thinks it's reflux.

It seems to just be wind. But it's pretty uncomfortable for a little person like me.

In happier news, I had my first bath in my brand new baby bath tonight.

It's a vast improvement on the bath-in-the-sink and I had a very nice, relaxing time.

More mad skillz

I had another great sleep last night.

Good for me!

And even better for Mum and Dad, who are starting to feel a bit more human again.

I'm discovering that a sleepy baby has happy parents.

I still sleep for most of the day and my parents have a lot of trouble making sure I stay awake for at least some of the time.

Even sharing the house with a noisy three-year-old isn't keeping me awake during the day!

Mad skillz

You don't have to be very old to know that one of the best skills a little baby like me can have is the ability to sleep.

And I impressed everyone last night by sleeping in long stretches.

Well, by 'long' I mean somewhere between three and four hours.

But that's pretty good for someone whose age is still calculated in days!

I also have some impressive self-settling skills.

That's especially good for Dad, who is on settle-the-baby duty until midnight every night.

Me settling quickly after a feed means that he has more time for computer games!