For mom

Mitchellin Man

A few Christmas photos, I know a bit late, but better late than never...

Well, almost 7 months old and thriving. Mitchell is very big for his age and is learning so fast (as most babies do, I suppose). He is sitting albeit still very wobbly and rolls around a lot. We have to put the sides of the cot up now as he is pulling himself up on the side railing when it is down. He is very curious about the world around him and likes to look at everything. He also likes to study his hands and suck his toes.

He is absolutely adorable, such a good-natured baby in general, though he does like to make himself heard if he is not getting his own way! We have started on solids. He has been having porridge since 5 months and now has purity fruit or veg in the evenings too. I am still breast-feeding twice a day though when those teeth arrive I may have to reconsider! It has been looking like they will come out for a while now but they are just teasing us and are really taking their time.

His big brother absolutely adores him and likes to look after him while I have to do things around the house. But just for short bursts, he can't hold Mitchell for very long as he is very heavy.

I have some more photos but I will put them into a separate post.

Merry Christmas

How do you like the new Santa? Cute, hey??

We travelled up to East London to spend Christmas with my folks. We decided to surprise them and not let them know we were coming. Luckily I knew my mom was babysitting so we could be pretty sure they were at home. They were very happily surprised.

Young master Mitchell has been progressing in leaps and bounds (and kilograms too!). He realised he could roll over while we were here and now changing his bum is rather difficult especially a poo bum! He has charmed everyone with his ready smile, especially his grandparents. Granny has very sore arms now after babysitting little Isabella, who is a bit colicky and cries a lot, and then lugging around this fat lump too.

We also met Mitchell and Branston's new cousin, Caston, in PE. He is also very cute.

I hope everyone had a super Christmas and will have a great new year too.

Well then...

Looks like I am no better at updating this blog than the last one. Since going back to work, every second on the computer is devoted to work as I don't have that much time to spare and I have been hectically busy. I have not even read a book in the last month and if you know how much reading I was doing before you know that is hectic.

We decided to get an au pair to look after young master Mitchell initially as when I was ready to go back to work he was not ready to go onto the bottle so we started off with me working from home and stopping to feed him, then going back to work. I found an au pair who is not too expensive to work from 8:30 to 4. Unfortunately she is leaving me now as she has just discovered that she is pregnant and has to organise a quick wedding so she is going home to her mom to organise it. So in a week I will be stuck again! We are now pondering whether to stick with an au pair or try and find a day mother. Mitchell is doing fine on the bottle now so should be ok away from home. But then there will be no-one at home for Branston in the afternoons. And he has been doing really well coming home in the afternoon instead of going to aftercare. Well, we will make a plan.

Anyway, so how is Mitchell doing, you ask? He is getting nice and fat with these little fat bracelets round his wrists and ankles. Four months old now and a very solid baby. Last weight measurement was about a month ago and he weighed 7.1kg then (15.6 pounds) so I reckon he is over 8 kg now. He is quite a happy baby, does not cry a lot. He likes to be held a lot and to have people talking to him. He is developing quite the little personality now and shouts rather than cries when he is hungry or angry. He is totally adorable and I love him to bits. I have photos on the other pc so I will try and put some up for all to see as soon as I can.

It is quite amazing how much like Kendra he looks now. He is at pretty much the same stages of development she was at when she died. One can see now how far behind she really was. Pretty soon he will be overtaking her. It is also so nice to have a baby whose face lights up when he sees you. That is one thing that Kendra never really did. She would laugh at anyone who made faces at her but I never really felt that recognition for her mother that should have been there and with Mitchell I definitely feel it. We took him out to visit her at the memorial park yesterday but it was a bit of a rushed visit as it was so hot (32 degrees!). The way Mitchell shouts also reminds me a lot of Kendra. He makes me think of Branston too when he was a baby. A bit of a combination of both of them. Except for the blue eyes, those are his daddys. It does not look like they are going to change now, I think they are supposed to be settled at about 4 months.

Colic etc...

Well, today was our last (hopefully) session at the chiropractor for Mitchell's colic. It does seem to have helped a bit though he still has his moments. It has been nice to have him awake and not too miserable, though I find myself a bit lost, not really knowing what to do with him when he is awake. I can put him down and do things, like make myself a cup of tea or make supper (not that I consider that an advantage - it is quite nice having Gathry do most of the cooking while I am busy with baby!). On that note, I am extremely blessed I think to have a husband who willingly does the cooking and helps out with baby wherever he can. Not all husbands do that.

I have been to the local clinic's mother's support group meetings twice now. It is nice to meet other moms, though it makes me realise how much easier it is the third time around and how much less anxious one is. Most of the moms there are first timers and sometimes come up with the oddest things. We had a talk by an audiologist and the one mom thought grommets was a condition the baby gets eg my baby has a cold/grommets...

Mitchell has gained 450g since the last visit to the clinic and now weighs over 4kg. He has also grown in length by 5cm since birth! So he is a growing boy and my sweet, tiny little newborn is fast disappearing and being replaced by a chubby baby! Obviously my milk is doing it's job, no matter how painful the process is. Apparently I have a bit of thrush which is making feeding him rather painful. If not for that I would be totally enjoying the breastfeeding process. As it is, at least once a day I am tempted to give up. Oh, well, the joys of starting over!

Welcome to the world little Mitchell

Well, baby Mitchell is almost 3 weeks old already. I do apologise for not posting earlier but I knd of had my hands full! Mitchell Meiring was born on 29 July 2009 at 15:39 weighing 3.7kg (about 8 pounds) and 49cm tall. He is a bit colicky so takes up quite a bit of time hence no updates. I will do a birth and hospital experience post soon(ish) but in the meantime here are some pics. We are going to the chiropractor to try and do something about the colic this afternoon. Hopefully it will help, can't stand to see the little face all scrunched up in pain:(

Hanging in there...

Well, after making us all think that he was going to be coming out early, this baby has decided to just hang in there a bit longer. We had a doctor's appointment today, which neither we nor the doctor thought we would make as we figured he would be out by now. With every doctor's appointment now they attach these monitors to my belly and one measures the baby's heartrate and the other measures foetal movement. I had a Braxton-Hicks contraction while they were busy today and the sister thought I was in labour but then the doctor checked and said everything was still closed up tight! Cervix still long and no signs of dilation. So we made an appointment for next week and I am back home again. Baby had a bit of a growth spurt in the last 2 weeks and now weighs about 3.2kg.

I suppose I should really be enjoying this enforced rest. I can read to my heart's delight and eat what I like and get Gathry to do all the shopping, fetching to and from school, cooking etc. It would be so much better if I weren't so darn uncomfortable. But this is never going to happen again so I suppose I should really make the most of it and stop wishing the little fella would arrive.