Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Project 365 Week 9 and 10

{14th March}  Handsome fella.

{15th March}  We took another trip to the park.  Ollie had a blast while Nate spent the whole time sleeping.

{16th March}  Getting better at tummytime!

{17th March}  This little fella is our bedtime friend!

{18th March}  I had a lovely Mothers Day with hubby and my gorgeous boys.  I'm of mama of 2 this year!!

{19th March}  The boys each have a fabric letter.... they aren't on the wall yet.  I find it funny that it spells No the other way around.  Ha!

{20th March}  Little brother isn't so little anymore.  It seems like yesterday that this suit was huge on him.  This is the last time he is going to be able to wear it as it's pretty much too small now!

{21st March}  My littlest man has such bad skin at the moment.  Ollie had bad eczema for quite a while and I'm praying Nate doesn't have to go through the same.  

{22nd March}  I LOVE dungarees on little boys.

{23rd March}  I found Nate asleep like this and he looked so peaceful and cute.

{24th March}  I love having James home on the weekends.  This weekend we went to Lady Dixon Park. It's a gorgeous park really close to our house.  We got perfect weather for it too!

{25th March}  Cutesy sleeping angel again.

{26th March}  We have been having such good weather!  It's nice to take the boys out without having to wrap them up in layers and layers.  Fresh air is good for the soul..... Nate was laughing at the sun!

{27th March}  It would seem we are having a little bit of a heat wave at the moment.  The weather is warm enough to not need a coat or jacket or cardigan.  I don't remember it being this good in March!

The end is in sight!

I've been single-parenting on weekdays for 5 weeks now.  This is my 6th week.  James is HOME on Thursday 5th April.  I CAN'T wait.  I think it might be strange having him here everyday again.  I'm really settling into a routine being on my own with the kids and he is going to come home and spoil it all.  Ha!

My bedtime has become 9.30pm.  It means I get an extra hour and a half of sleep (Nate wakes for a feed at 11.00pm) and I find that I am SUPER tired if I don't get that extra time.  Our day starts at 7am, so going to bed at 9.30pm means I get about 8 hours sleep!  I can get both boys asleep in their rooms for 7.30pm now!  I'm a professional.... Haha!

I had to take both the boys for their jabs last week.  Ollie had his pre-school boosters (he won't need anymore until he is in secondary school) and Nate was getting his 8 week jabs.  My mum came with me for emotional support!!!  It went ok though.

I am LEAVING the boys for 3 nights on Friday!  I'm going to spend the weekend in London with James.  We've never ever been away together for a mini-break.  Not once since Ollie was born.  I'm really looking forward to it being just us.... full nights sleep, lie-ins, fancy food, cocktails, The Hunger Games, London Aquarium.... oh and a full body massage at the spa!  I'm nervous to leave the boys but am looking forward to alone time with James.

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Nate is two months old today (Happy Mothers Day)


At two months old:

Nate smiles A LOT...
Is very easy to make smile!
Weighs 13lbs!
Drinks a 6oz (180ml) bottle....
Every 4 hours!
Only wakes once in the night for a feed
Wears a size 3 nappy
Hates tummy time
Loves his baby gym
Has very dry skin on his face :(
His eyes are still blue...
and his hair is still brown...
Goes to bed at 7.00pm every night and settles himself to sleep
Has started to reach out for toys

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Onto Week 4 of Single Parenting!

...and only 3 more until James is back for good.  I CAN'T wait.

We are getting into a good routine during the day... I am finding that I am more organised than before and the nights are easier too!  Nate's colic seems to be settling slightly so he is easier to settle at bedtime and during the night.  I'm getting used to getting up in the night and don't feel so horrendously tired the next morning.  Only getting used to it now you might ask?  Well that's because I have an awesome hubby who did more than his fair share of the nights!  Normal service will be resuming upon his return too I can assure you! Ha!  After 7 weeks alone I will be soaking up the extra sleep!

5th April is the date that James is back properly.

I am enjoying the extra quality time I am having with my boys.  Normally when James comes home, Ollie clings to him and I don't get to see him!  Now that James is away we are spending loads more time together and it's nice.  He has such an amazing imagination at the moment.

Also, I have a nice treat coming up for myself at the end of the month!!  I am flying to London to spend a long weekend there with James.  My mum is minding Nate and James mum is minding Ollie.  We are going to go for a fancy dinner, cocktails, going to see The Hunger Games in the IMAX and will see London Aquarium too.  Because James isn't flying home that weekend, my flights get paid for instead!  I'm so excited, but nervous to leave the boys too.

Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Project 365 Week 8

{7th March}  Decided it was time to take down all the new baby cards seeing as Nate is almost 2 months old now!!

{8th March}  Sleeping boy's feet!

{9th March}  We had a parent teacher meeting at Ollie's pre-school today.  It went very very well and I'm so proud of our big boy.

{10th March}  James and I went on a date!  We had steak, ribs, prawns and calamari!!  Followed by cocktails!  We had so much fun!

{11th March}  Nate and I joined James and Ollie on the weekly puddle hunt/ ramble in the forest.  I used the sling and found it comfy.  Nate loved it!

{12th March}  Happy, smiley boy in his pram!

{13th March}  Smiling at his Grandma.

Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Project 365 Week 7

{29th February}  This is the first smile I have managed to capture on camera... not the best photo but it's so hard to grin at him and coo to make him smile while holding a massive camera at the same time :)  Doesn't he look darling though.  His smiles are amazing.


{1st March}  Nate is loving being in his big boy pram!!  We ditched the carrycot because of his silent reflux, he likes to be upright rather than lying flat.


{2nd March}  As I've been finding James being away, quite hard... the boys and I came to stay at my mum's house for a few nights and put Dexter in boarding.  My mum is amazing.


{3rd March}  To get the evening in I took the boy's to the park.  Ollie was the only one really playing as Nate slept the whole time ha!


{4th March}  My mum bought Nate to some special anti-colic bottles.  They have a special valve in them that means he doesn't take in so much air.  They've really made a difference so far!  He feeds much more comfortably.


{5th March}  As I was setting the boys up for a photo, Nate started to get upset as soon as I went to take the photo and Ollie thought it was hilarious!


{6th March}  My brother Jason came to stay over at my house to keep me company.  He even made dinner for us and did all the dishes!

Thursday, March 1, 2012

2 weeks into single parenting...

...and it has been really really hard.  I honestly don't know how real single parents do it fulltime.  I can't imagine never ever getting a break and time to yourself.

I am very used to James doing the night feeds.... yep.... I've a totally awesome husband.  I knew that getting used to nights would be very hard but not as hard as it has turned out to be.  Our first night alone was a horrendous disaster.  Poor Nate screamed for hours in between his feeds and we managed about 2 hours of sleep.

The next day I took him to the Doctor and was told he had silent reflux (which was previously thought to be colic) and were given Gaviscon infant.  I also changed his formula to Aptamil Comfort hoping it would be a little easier on his little tummy.  There was a slight improvement over the next couple of days.

My mum stayed over too and did the night feeds one night for me and I woke the next day feeling refreshed.  Thank heaven for amazing mums.  I slept on Ollie's bottom bunk!

I spoke to the Dr. again on Tuesday to let her know how things were going with him and told her he was still upset after each feed but nowhere near as bad as before and she said he may have both silent reflux AND colic, so he is taking something for both of these and it seems to be helping.

Nate is a lot harder to settle than Ollie was and it has taken me by surprise if I'm honest.  I had thought he would be just as easy but have learnt babies aren't the same haha!!  He cries a lot more than Ollie ever did but in the past number of days I have had more smiles from him.... which makes the day a lot brighter.

We have been at mums the past 2 nights.... for company and for help.  It was stressful at home by myself.... lonely and stressed listening to screaming for so long makes for an unhappy mummy.  Mum has done the night feeds the last 2 nights and in that time he has gone from feeding twice in a night, to feeding just once!  Let's hope it stays that way.

He is totally thriving despite the issues with feeding!  He was born at 8lbs 8oz.... and at 5 1/2 weeks weighs 11lbs 13oz!  My little chunky monkey.

Ollie misses James a lot but they talk on facetime every morning and night, but he talks about going to see daddy and is daddy coming home yet.  We look forward to the weekends but they go far too fast!

2 weeks down, 5 more to go and we can resume normality. :)