Separation

Well, the great dilemma of November 2008 has officially been dealt with! Last night, following a 45(!!!) degree day (that’s 113f) we packed up a host of paraphernalia and dropped it, with the boy, at my sisters place so that we could go and see Ani DiFranco.  And honestly, though my sister and Ducks might claim otherwise, I did really well. I only had the mildest of anxiety and by the end of the show was so chilled about it all that I suggested we go for ice cream before going to collect him! And he was fine. My sister did a wonderful job of taking care of him. Apparently there was a lot of dancing to Regina Spektor and Kimya Dawson, only a little bit of grizzling, and not a single screaming incident.

And we had an awesome time too. Ani was in fine form – redeeming herself for the last gig she did here when she was clearly in a terrible mood and played for only 40 minutes. Last night, in the worlds hottest theatre, she went for at least and hour and a half and was fun and funny and made us very thankful for making the effort.

Now, I’m thinking we should have tried harder for those Leonard Cohen tickets…

hot in the city…

For the second time in as many weeks, our plans for Squeak to meet McBean have been thwarted by extreme temperatures. This week is even more scorching than last and there’s no real sign of it letting up. I think we’re heading for some kind of January record. That air con my mum was going to buy us was nixed when we realised it would cost well over $1000 to get anything useful. Instead we’re relying on the kindness of friends and family with air con and on shopping centres and supermarkets.  Right now though, Ducks and I are sitting in the dark, with fans futily blowing a gale in our living room, waiting for the sleeping boy to rise. After that, it’s a trip to the suburbs to our newest fave parents room (and the shopping centre attached!!)

Oh…and heatwave aside, it looks like poor little Squeak is a precocious teether. His 2 bottom front teeth are sitting just under the surface and the boy is dribbling and chewing (mostly my boob) like it’s going out of fashion. This boy is quite incredible!

time for bed

It’s nearing 11.30pm and I’m sitting in the dark lounge room desperately fighting sleep. I’ve just escaped after a marathon feeding session – having had no luck trying to get the boy to sleep. Ducks is in bed with Squeak, trying to get him to sleep. It’s quiet and he’s calm but his eyes are wide open. If I go back in there, it’s be all about the boob and the whole process, which thus far has taken 1.5hours will start again.

I know we’re lucky. Once he falls asleep we’ll have an easy time of it through the night but honestly, I find this bedtime routine thing excrutiating. It’s boring and exhausting and not something I have the patience for. How am I going to do this everynight for at least the next 2 years???

hard decisions and the hard word

I took Squeak for his 4 week check up this morning. He’s still a giant baby – weighing in at 5610gms (12.3pounds) putting him above the 97th percentile. Not that we needed weighing to know that – he’s already wearing size 00 or 3month clothes!

I knew today was the day that I’d have the hard word put on me about vaccinations – the nurse had warned me prior that 4 weeks would be when we had the discussion. I braced myself. Ducks and I refused the Vit K and HepB at birth and after much research intend to delay vax for at least 12 months and then IF we decide to do any after that, it will be very selective. It’s not a decision we’ve taken lightly but for now, it’s one we’re very comfortable with.  Anyway, I was prepared for battle and in the end it was unnecessary. The nurse clearly had her position but was really respectful of the fact that we had ours AND that we had done thorough research. I’m sure it’ll come up again, but we’ve just bought ourselves 12months grace so I’m feeling quite relieved.

It’s hot here today – day 2 of a 5 day heatwave. The boy is doing surprisingly well but it’s not much fun for me – he’s hot and sticky and feeding all.the.time so constantly stuck on me. We have the worlds hottest house with crappy insulation so once it’s hot, it’s hot! And it stays hot for days.

…Fortunately for us, I have the worlds greatest mother, who, as we speak, is investigating portable air conditioners for us, having offered to buy us one as our big baby present. I cannot express just how awesome my mum has been since Squeak was born.  She’s been so super helpful but incredibly respectful of boundaries and hasn’t been a meddler or interferer at all. Honestly, she’s surprised me a lot but I’m thrilled and we’re all benefitting – me because she’s helpful, Squeak because he gets crazy love and Mum because she’s ecstatic about grandmotherhood.

The boy is awake…

sunshiney-days

The boy and I have been experimenting with our new found independence and since Ducks went back to work are making the most of these mid-summer sun-shiney days. We are busy little bees and seem to have an appt or a planned activity most days. I’ve already been to 2 local new parents groups. Everyone in the group lives in the same suburb – most within a 5 minute walk and while most of them are nothing like us and all of them are straight, there’s a few gems in there who may just grow to be nice playmates for the boy and for me.

Getting out of the house is definitely key for me. I’ve never been a good one for staying still and certainly not a lover of staying at home. With a baby, this has intensified and I’m really finding that the hard work of parenting is the monotony of being stuck at home feeding, settling, waiting for sleep, changing nappies…and again and again. When I’m out, the boy is happily strapped to my chest, sleeping most of the time and the breaks for food and nappy changes are a pleasure. I’m already an expert on where all the breastfeeding friendly establishments are withing a 20km radius. I’ve also discovered some awesome (and not so awesome) parents rooms in most of the inner city shopping centres. For the locals, you may like to know that Victoria Gardens rocks in the parents room dept and for that reason, the boy is already intimate with the current range at i.kea.

I know it’s taking me forever to write up my birth story. Partly it’s because I want to give it the time and thought it deserves, part because I need Ducks to help me and part because I think I have a block around it. Don’t get me wrong, I had a pretty positive birth experience but I don’t think I’m quite done processing it. It’ll come. Hopefully sooner rather than later.

In the meantime, more pictures!

(There’s probably a million reasons people could find to call us bad mothers – that we allow our child to sleep on his belly is just one of them – please though, leave the comments out – we know the risks and never leave him unsupervised…)

holy guacamole

My 2 week old baby has gained almost 500gms (1.1pounds) in a week. That’s 2-3 times the average gain. He now weighs 4.92kg (10.8pounds). That breastmilk stuff is seriously good shit.

words and pictures

The boy is 2.5 weeks old now. He continues to get better and better. A week ago, I lamented to a friend that I wasn’t feeling that ‘in love’ thing for him that I was anticipating. Today, I can truly say that I’m on my way to deleriously in love. He is such a joy. I love waking up to him next to me – he often just lies there chatting away until one of us stirs and pays him some attention. Mornings are such fun.

He’s so patient with us too. Yesterday was a huge day and he just took it all in his stride. It was hot and we had to go and pick our car up from Ducks’ brother – to do so, it took the better part of 2 hours on public transport. He just dozed happily in the sling the whole time. When we got there, he just fed and napped in between being passed between grandparents and various other cooing bystanders. He never once complained. Nor did he complain when we took him out to dinner last night for my mum’s birthday. He had everyone charmed, choosing again to doze for most of the evening, either in arms or in the sling.

And with all the sleeping that went on yesterday, I was worried that we’d be sleepless last night – but no – he woke just twice for a feed and drifted straight back to sleep when he was done. In fact, it’s 7.45am and he and Ducks are still deep in the land of slumber…and I’m up because the bloody cats decided I needed to be!

There’s still so much more to write but it’s all too much to think about this early so I’m posting some pictures instead.