Well, he has certainly started to realise where he exists in relation to others. He watches us as we move about and as soon as I am out of sight – that’s when he begins to scream!! And he found his winkie the other day…
Still ‘chatting’ first thing in the morning and there have been a few da’s and la’s and I can see why the Teletubbies are so popular with babies. Jamie will think his name is gorgeous because that is mainly what I call him – sick I know but I seem to be enjoying this baby lark. I am not sure he realises what he is called just yet, as sometimes he responds and other times he just carries on with what he was doing – currently this is mainly made up of eating, dribbling, being sick or sleeping!! He seems to be constantly hungry this week – he is having (on average) 9 bottles of 240ml a day. He is still struggling to swallow any food we give him – we started him on rusks and milk one meal a day last week - but I think some of it must be going down due to the change in his nappy contents!
Daddy has started a new job which none of us like as he is away from 6am til 6.30pm and this means not only does he see me and Jamie a lot less, but also I do not have much of a respite all day. Nanna still takes him on a Thursday afternoon but I was ill last week and still have not fully recovered. I think it was all related to the pill I started taking and then stopped taking (again) last week because of the terrible periods I have been having. I seem to have had a constant headache / migraine / sickness for over a week now!!
Daddy’s new job also means we are without transport which means our social life is beginning to suffer and I wonder about the winter when the weather might mean walking is too cold for little hands and feet - not to mention mine! A decision must be made soon. As I said to Daddy yesterday Me and Jamie need Daddy more than the money.
We have started playing a game with the building cups whereby I build up the tower and he knocks it down so he is certainly getting his eye and hand coordination sorted!! Daddy also plays with the ball rolling it back and forth and Jamie has even had a few notes from the small keyboard he was given. We still love a good sing song and I purchased a Disney greatest hits CD which – although I don’t recognise a lot of the songs – I enjoy singing along to. We still listen to the ‘Wheels on the Bus’ CD which complements the Baby Signing Class we continue to attend on a Monday. We are still reading to him and I bought another (snuggletime) touchy feely book called I Love You, Baby. Duckie (from Auntie Hannah and Uncle Michael) still seems to remain his favourite toy along with the spinning head that Nanna bought (Uncle Dean is convinced it will lead Jamie into years of fruit machine addiction!) And yes, everything does seem to end up in his mouth – especially his thumb or his hand (or at least covered in dribble) at the moment! And he has developed the Lucy scream!!
He continues to roll over (and over) but still gets scared when he finds himself on his front – although less so as time goes on. We have tried lying next to him to try to get him crawling and although he has started to lift himself up there isn’t much movement as yet (possibly a good thing!). However, he is beginning to sit up for a few moments and will stand up with help - Could he be walking before he crawls?
And yes, this is the sweetest of times. His smile could melt any heart!! And he laughs when we play – he especially likes me laughing with him and kissing him! And yes he loves a good cuddle! Not sure how ‘social’ he is as yet but he is very nosey when it comes to other babies. We could not do baby massage due to his wanting to move about to see what else was going on!! Have swapped numbers with some mums from Baby Massage but as yet because of feeling so ill we have yet to meet up again. We have however been to our first christening, our first birthday party (Emily's 1st) and we have another this Saturday.
Had Jamie weighed last week and it was 16lbs 4oz and while he gains weight mummy is pleased to report she has been loosing it!! In an attempt to transform herself into a yummy mummy, mummy has had all her hair cut off but as yet has not had chance to show it off other than to the Sainsbury delivery driver!!
Thursday 22 October 2009
Tuesday 13 October 2009
Your Baby at 6months ???
According to Mumsnet www.mumsnet.com/ at 6 months your baby will have started mastering his body. No longer will he lie contentedly on his sheepskin rug, he'll want to sit up and keep an eye on you. Not only is he developing a few ideas of his own about what he'd like to do, but soon, he'll put them into practice.
His lovely, quite detailed babbling will make way for a serious combination of combined vowels and consonants. You may hear variations on gaa goo and ka and ma. It can be hard to disentangle baby speech and all parents really want to hear is a nice crisp mama or dada. Now is the time to stop calling his chubbykins or puffpot because he will respond to what he thinks is his name. He loves hearing voices and will turn round, swivelling his trunk to hear them. He can also begin to understand the emotional overtones of language. He will talk in varying pitch to his dolls and to himself in the mirror.
His eye and hand coordination is going full steam ahead. He will pat his image in the mirror and keep his eyes fixed on an object while he reaches for it. The clever boy (and this is someone who a few weeks ago didn't realise those hands he could see were his) will then grasp the object, cupping his chubby hand round it and securing it with his thumb. Everything goes straight into his mouth so he can explore it with his tongue and lips - so watch what objects are lying in baby range. As his hand control improves so his fingers will take over the business of exploration. He will also be able to bang things, like saucepan lids and will love doing so, particularly if he suspects you have a hangover.
He will now be able to roll from his stomach to back and from his back to stomach. He may bend his knees with his forearms on the floor in front and start to push off as though about to crawl. He may rock to and fro, wondering why he's not moving. He may surprise you and be an early crawler in which case you'd better baby proof your home sharpish, as he'll have an unnerving knack for finding the bleach. Some babies seem to have a lot of muscle tone and may stand supported by furniture for a few moments. He may also sit for a few moments, best done with cushions around him so his head doesn't fall back and make a horrible noise on the floor. He may also topple over in the middle as he reaches for things in front.
This is the sweetest of times when you can believe that your baby really really loves you. No longer does he smile indiscriminately, but he saves his best smiles for you. He will look at you lovingly, patting your breast or the bottle, or reach up to pat your face, sometimes more vigorously than is comfortable but you don't want to hurt his feelings. You can make him laugh and he will kick his legs frantically to show how pleased he is with you. Best of all he will hold his arms out to be picked up and adore being cuddled. It's like the first few weeks of a romance all over again. But your baby will also now show fear and occasional anger. He will start liking and disliking foods. He will also become more sociable and instead of blanking other babies like he used to, will now reach out to touch them.
He now realises that people and things continue to exist even though he can't see them. He also realises from playing, and making things happen repeatedly that "If I do this, then that happens." From being able to move one object from one hand to another he realises that his body has two parts that meet in the middle. These are big steps in baby psychology.
Banging things and producing repeatable noises is a good game, as are waving rattles and having mum blow raspberries on your stomach. He will also like different textures such as furry things, fur cones, and squashy things. He likes it if you kneel down beside him and try to crawl with him - maybe because it makes you look ridiculous. He likes you to tell him what games you are playing with him, as in "I am rolling the ball towards you".
He can see small objects from 15 cm or less up to 3 - 6 metres away. If he could voice a colour preference it would be for red and yellow.
He will have or will soon have some incisors - two central top and 2 central bottom ones. He will want to bite everything and dribble over everyone. It's worth starting to clean them, even just with a flannel, as soon as they appear.
His lovely, quite detailed babbling will make way for a serious combination of combined vowels and consonants. You may hear variations on gaa goo and ka and ma. It can be hard to disentangle baby speech and all parents really want to hear is a nice crisp mama or dada. Now is the time to stop calling his chubbykins or puffpot because he will respond to what he thinks is his name. He loves hearing voices and will turn round, swivelling his trunk to hear them. He can also begin to understand the emotional overtones of language. He will talk in varying pitch to his dolls and to himself in the mirror.
His eye and hand coordination is going full steam ahead. He will pat his image in the mirror and keep his eyes fixed on an object while he reaches for it. The clever boy (and this is someone who a few weeks ago didn't realise those hands he could see were his) will then grasp the object, cupping his chubby hand round it and securing it with his thumb. Everything goes straight into his mouth so he can explore it with his tongue and lips - so watch what objects are lying in baby range. As his hand control improves so his fingers will take over the business of exploration. He will also be able to bang things, like saucepan lids and will love doing so, particularly if he suspects you have a hangover.
He will now be able to roll from his stomach to back and from his back to stomach. He may bend his knees with his forearms on the floor in front and start to push off as though about to crawl. He may rock to and fro, wondering why he's not moving. He may surprise you and be an early crawler in which case you'd better baby proof your home sharpish, as he'll have an unnerving knack for finding the bleach. Some babies seem to have a lot of muscle tone and may stand supported by furniture for a few moments. He may also sit for a few moments, best done with cushions around him so his head doesn't fall back and make a horrible noise on the floor. He may also topple over in the middle as he reaches for things in front.
This is the sweetest of times when you can believe that your baby really really loves you. No longer does he smile indiscriminately, but he saves his best smiles for you. He will look at you lovingly, patting your breast or the bottle, or reach up to pat your face, sometimes more vigorously than is comfortable but you don't want to hurt his feelings. You can make him laugh and he will kick his legs frantically to show how pleased he is with you. Best of all he will hold his arms out to be picked up and adore being cuddled. It's like the first few weeks of a romance all over again. But your baby will also now show fear and occasional anger. He will start liking and disliking foods. He will also become more sociable and instead of blanking other babies like he used to, will now reach out to touch them.
He now realises that people and things continue to exist even though he can't see them. He also realises from playing, and making things happen repeatedly that "If I do this, then that happens." From being able to move one object from one hand to another he realises that his body has two parts that meet in the middle. These are big steps in baby psychology.
Banging things and producing repeatable noises is a good game, as are waving rattles and having mum blow raspberries on your stomach. He will also like different textures such as furry things, fur cones, and squashy things. He likes it if you kneel down beside him and try to crawl with him - maybe because it makes you look ridiculous. He likes you to tell him what games you are playing with him, as in "I am rolling the ball towards you".
He can see small objects from 15 cm or less up to 3 - 6 metres away. If he could voice a colour preference it would be for red and yellow.
He will have or will soon have some incisors - two central top and 2 central bottom ones. He will want to bite everything and dribble over everyone. It's worth starting to clean them, even just with a flannel, as soon as they appear.
Friday 9 October 2009
Manic Mum ??
The last few days I have felt rather manic and today I wonder if it was actually related to my ever present (or so it seems) period! I was glad that Nanna took Jamie out for the afternoon yesterday; giving me some time to concentrate on myself without a little voice screaming!! I just felt I was getting nothing done. I was also upset that I didn't make the BabyPeep group with my friends from Baby Massage (as we did not have a car/time) but as it turned out neither did Nicola and William.
I recently bought a very good book which helps to put everything into perspective and I must try to remember some of the valuable advice when I get a bit 'manic'. Time Management for Manic Mums by Allison Mitchell, published by Hay House (2009), has some great points for any mum struggling to cope with the demands of a baby and a house (let alone families and husbands etc.) and I have summarised some of the more relevant ones below:-
I recently bought a very good book which helps to put everything into perspective and I must try to remember some of the valuable advice when I get a bit 'manic'. Time Management for Manic Mums by Allison Mitchell, published by Hay House (2009), has some great points for any mum struggling to cope with the demands of a baby and a house (let alone families and husbands etc.) and I have summarised some of the more relevant ones below:-
- Time is precious. You have a tight budget of just 24 hours.
- Ask yourself: is this the best use of my time now?
- Unless you know what you want to do with your time, you’ll never find time to do it.
- Break down jobs into smaller chunks – start the journey…
- Reframe jobs i.e. cleaning party / space for something else / exercise!!
- Don’t put it down. Put it away.
- Remove distractions to the job in hand.
- Define the actions needed to step towards your goals.
- Look to the future – what happens if you do, what happens if you don’t?
- Focus on what you want and not on what you don’t want.
- We become what we think about.
- Focus only on what is valuable to you.
- It’s about choice and focus and priorities.
- What future is your present creating for you?
- Savour / enjoy every moment.
Saturday 3 October 2009
Baby Massage and the Circle of Life
Over the last 3 weeks I have been taking Jamie to Baby Massage at the local Surestart centre. I don't think he really liked it and he certainly wasn't relaxed by the massage - in fact, he was more active than usual for 10.30 in the morning and spent every week being nosey and watching all the other babies and mothers / fathers. I think we can confirm he has ticklish feet and doesn't like his face being touched too much. Also, the fact he has just learnt to roll over (and over) means he actually does not like to be still when he has an opportunity to be off. The travel cot is coming out today so that I can put him in there when I am trying to get the jobs done.
What was good about the baby massage however, was that I met up with all of the mothers who attended my ante-natal group. Nicola (mentioned in previous blog entry) had a boy called William about 4 weeks after Jamie and he is already 24lbs! The twin girls arrived safe and sound-ish. They came 8 weeks early and had to stay in hospital for quite a bit but they are both looking fit and healthy now. In fact, all of the babies we had met in the bump stage are doing well!! I have swapped details with Nicole and the twins mum and hope to see them again next week at a 'Baby Peep' session.
This makes me feel better about the changes that are going on around us. Daddy has a new job. After starting one and leaving after 3 days, he has now been at the new one for 2 weeks and things are looking promising. We have both been saving hard and I have a nice little sum tucked away for when my maternity pay stops in December. We might even be able to afford an extension next year.
What is weird is the people around us. Some friends we have been on holiday with in previous years still have yet to meet Jamie and the last time we saw them we actually had not arranged to!! They don't have children and certainly won't be having any, but its almost as though they have written us off as not being interesting / worth seeing anymore.
And yet, my mind set HAS completely changed and my life DOES now revolve around Jamie - looking after him and making sure he is getting enough stimulation from me / other babies etc. Perhaps I have not made the effort with them for the same reasons? Other friends have also slipped by the wayside as I don't have the time (or energy) to arrange / organise get togethers. I should have gone to a Book Club this week with an old school friend but, as the time came to go, I knew I wouldn't make it in time and even if I had I would have probably fallen asleep at some point as it was way past my usual bedtime!! (I did read the book though). So meeting new people with similar interests and who are going through the same experiences is a blessing. I suppose its all to do with the circle of life.......
What was good about the baby massage however, was that I met up with all of the mothers who attended my ante-natal group. Nicola (mentioned in previous blog entry) had a boy called William about 4 weeks after Jamie and he is already 24lbs! The twin girls arrived safe and sound-ish. They came 8 weeks early and had to stay in hospital for quite a bit but they are both looking fit and healthy now. In fact, all of the babies we had met in the bump stage are doing well!! I have swapped details with Nicole and the twins mum and hope to see them again next week at a 'Baby Peep' session.
This makes me feel better about the changes that are going on around us. Daddy has a new job. After starting one and leaving after 3 days, he has now been at the new one for 2 weeks and things are looking promising. We have both been saving hard and I have a nice little sum tucked away for when my maternity pay stops in December. We might even be able to afford an extension next year.
What is weird is the people around us. Some friends we have been on holiday with in previous years still have yet to meet Jamie and the last time we saw them we actually had not arranged to!! They don't have children and certainly won't be having any, but its almost as though they have written us off as not being interesting / worth seeing anymore.
And yet, my mind set HAS completely changed and my life DOES now revolve around Jamie - looking after him and making sure he is getting enough stimulation from me / other babies etc. Perhaps I have not made the effort with them for the same reasons? Other friends have also slipped by the wayside as I don't have the time (or energy) to arrange / organise get togethers. I should have gone to a Book Club this week with an old school friend but, as the time came to go, I knew I wouldn't make it in time and even if I had I would have probably fallen asleep at some point as it was way past my usual bedtime!! (I did read the book though). So meeting new people with similar interests and who are going through the same experiences is a blessing. I suppose its all to do with the circle of life.......
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