Martina was 5 months old on tuesday and I only got to post about it now. She is doing very well, rolling over, chatting to herself and doing her best to sit up unaided (not there yet!). Today we had our second round of jabs, I am keeping them a bit more spread out than the recommended two months, but we believe vaccines save lives so we do them all.
Her sleeping is significantly better, I think trying to stick to a (EASY) routine helps me as much as her and I think we are in a transition phase from 3 to 2 naps (just when I was getting comfortable with the 3 naps gig) so at the moment it goes like this:
Wakes happily at 7am and breastfeed
Nap at 9 am for about 45 minutes but on good days is 1 our and 15 minutes
Eats at 11.30 solids, we are still on the root veg mostly, standard fruits, yoghurts
Nap at 12.30 and this one varies depending on the length of her morning nap, if the morning is short this one can be 2 hours.
Eats at 3.30 milk, I was breastfeeding her till two days ago and as of yesterday I introduced a bottle at this time as she is mostly chewing at my nipples and I'm back in pain
Cat nap (or not) around 5pm for about 30 min
Eats at 6.30 solids, mostly cereals of some kind (rice, tapioca, millet) and a bit of cheese
Bedtime routine starts around 7.30 with a bath, cuddles and breastfeeding to sleep.
Dream feed a bottle around 11 pm.
So the days I have them sorted, according to some suggestions I got on the babywhisperer forum, I should stretch the awake time to 3 hours and move to 2 naps a day which should be longer.
The nights are mostly good, she wakes once for breastfeeding at 4.37 (exactly!) but some are totally out ow whack and I don't know what I do differently. Only two nights ago she woke at 10.30, 2, 4.37, 6.10...and those nights are hard. Interestingly it is quite obvious when a night is going to be rough, it starts at bedtime and she seems to be in a very light sleep when I put her down, and wakes shortly afterwards and then keep waking. Anyway I can handle a couple of bad nights a week when I go back to work, hopefully no more than a couple!
In the process of going back to work I have started weaning her from the breast too as I mentioned, I kind of need my body back, I've been a little more than an amoeba since she is born, no sex drive whatsoever and my poor husband is very understanding of course but at the moment I can't tolerate much a suggestive caress, let alone touching my boobs...I think my period won't be far away, I have had ovulatory cramps and classic signs, so I'm hoping that my hormones are also resettling and I'll get some mojo back. With Oliver this...dryness...didn't really happen, I think it was due to the fact that I didn't breastfeed. Any of you guys in the same boat?
Friday, September 27, 2013
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Happy birthday to me and various updates
It's my birthday! 39!! Can you believe it? I feel 25 inside though, long may it last. This year Mike not only remembered promptly my birthday but he had a fabulous present ready, a Nespresso Coffee Machine which I opened this morning and fits perfectly on our kitchen counter!
I really like it and was often looking at them in the shop. I liked them even better when I learnt that the coffee capsules are fully recycled and some of the machine are even made with them, so my Eco-side was satisfied it was ok to own one and Mike remembered and got it for me! It will take some time now to explore all the flavours and decide which to get and stock up, it will be fun!
The day was good and uneventful, and we managed to have the children in bed and asleep reasonably early to enjoy some cake and wine. To many more years!
Only 5 weeks till I'm going back to work.....tick tock....tick tock...not a nice feeling I'm afraid, but at least it seems we have the nanny sorted out, so that is a relief. Unfortunately with my kind of work it's not like I can just show up and do something, so I have already to submit exam questions for the Winter examinations...deadline 4th of October and I have not even looked at the slides I'll be teaching yet. This weekend I promise.
Martina is 21 weeks old today and she is comfortably wearing 6-9 month clothing. How is that even possible? My little baby is growing so fast I'm afraid to look the other way and she's walking. Or talking. On a few occasions I actually thought she said "ma ma". Scary! But she is working with me into establishing some sort of routine. We are probably 10 days into Tracy Hogg EASY routine and I am happy to report day time naps are pretty much sorted, she sleeps in her cot, takes only minutes to settle and even though the first morning nap is short (40 minutes) she can sleep for 1.5 hours after lunch (although she still wakes after 45 minutes but I have managed to re-settle her for the last two days very easily. Nights are still a hit and miss, but I am positive we will see an improvement soon. I believe her main problem is that she has a very very light sleep (or a bionic ear) and the minimal noise will make her stir and subsequently wake. I'll have to help her on that too, but one thing at the time. She is my super cutie and cuddly baby, I love her intense look. She gets easily bored with toys unless she is looking at Oliver playing, she loves listening to a conversation, I seriously think she is going to be a challenge as she grows up, and a heartbreaker!!
I really like it and was often looking at them in the shop. I liked them even better when I learnt that the coffee capsules are fully recycled and some of the machine are even made with them, so my Eco-side was satisfied it was ok to own one and Mike remembered and got it for me! It will take some time now to explore all the flavours and decide which to get and stock up, it will be fun!
The day was good and uneventful, and we managed to have the children in bed and asleep reasonably early to enjoy some cake and wine. To many more years!
Only 5 weeks till I'm going back to work.....tick tock....tick tock...not a nice feeling I'm afraid, but at least it seems we have the nanny sorted out, so that is a relief. Unfortunately with my kind of work it's not like I can just show up and do something, so I have already to submit exam questions for the Winter examinations...deadline 4th of October and I have not even looked at the slides I'll be teaching yet. This weekend I promise.
Martina is 21 weeks old today and she is comfortably wearing 6-9 month clothing. How is that even possible? My little baby is growing so fast I'm afraid to look the other way and she's walking. Or talking. On a few occasions I actually thought she said "ma ma". Scary! But she is working with me into establishing some sort of routine. We are probably 10 days into Tracy Hogg EASY routine and I am happy to report day time naps are pretty much sorted, she sleeps in her cot, takes only minutes to settle and even though the first morning nap is short (40 minutes) she can sleep for 1.5 hours after lunch (although she still wakes after 45 minutes but I have managed to re-settle her for the last two days very easily. Nights are still a hit and miss, but I am positive we will see an improvement soon. I believe her main problem is that she has a very very light sleep (or a bionic ear) and the minimal noise will make her stir and subsequently wake. I'll have to help her on that too, but one thing at the time. She is my super cutie and cuddly baby, I love her intense look. She gets easily bored with toys unless she is looking at Oliver playing, she loves listening to a conversation, I seriously think she is going to be a challenge as she grows up, and a heartbreaker!!
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Back from Italy, 20 weeks old, Tracy Hogg
We are back! Flying with the children is fine, so much so that I'm going to go solo with them in December when I'll be off work! And that flight will actually be 2 as I have to go through Hamburg...let's hope for the best.
Our time in Italy was great, Oliver slept with no problems thankfully which made his mood and overall enjoyment of the weather superb.
Martina on the other hand...does not sleep through the night at all, wakes generally between 11.30 and 1 am, then again around 4 and then at 6...not good. At least I now have her in bed by 8.30-9.00 consistently which is something. During the day she can somewhat successfully fall asleep in the stroller (morning and lunchtime) but she cries. I can count on one hand the times that she just fell asleep on her own without crying. It's hard. I'm resisting latching her on during the day for naps (but still do at night time) or we'll never come out of that and I'm going back to work in 6 short weeks...She still cat-naps but I'm working on it, mostly because I know she is not well rested after only 40 minutes.
An update on the tongue-tie. My friend the surgeon doesn't think she has it at all, and when in Italy my parents insisted we brought the children to a peady there (you know...the best in the city, yadayadayada) as Martina was still coughing and my dad was convinced Oliver's knees were converging too much. I want to add that I believed Oliver's legs were physiological and that Martina's chest was clear as we had them both already checked out. Just in case you think we are careless parents too.... Of course we were told by the super paedy exaclty the same things we knew already and he confirmed too that Martina has no tongue tie that can affect bfeeding. In the last few days I have started feeding her again without the shields but being consistent with putting on the lanolin and so far so good. She has also started solids very slowly at lunch time which means we skip a feed and all seems to be going well. She is 20 weeks old today and she is rolling over (back to front and occasionally the other way around too), weighed in at 6.2kg at 19 weeks and is 63 cm long. Very sturdy, I can believe she is "only" 20 weeks old and she looks about 6 month old for alertness and interaction.
Our time in Italy was great, Oliver slept with no problems thankfully which made his mood and overall enjoyment of the weather superb.
Clarissa, Oliver and Martina
An update on the tongue-tie. My friend the surgeon doesn't think she has it at all, and when in Italy my parents insisted we brought the children to a peady there (you know...the best in the city, yadayadayada) as Martina was still coughing and my dad was convinced Oliver's knees were converging too much. I want to add that I believed Oliver's legs were physiological and that Martina's chest was clear as we had them both already checked out. Just in case you think we are careless parents too.... Of course we were told by the super paedy exaclty the same things we knew already and he confirmed too that Martina has no tongue tie that can affect bfeeding. In the last few days I have started feeding her again without the shields but being consistent with putting on the lanolin and so far so good. She has also started solids very slowly at lunch time which means we skip a feed and all seems to be going well. She is 20 weeks old today and she is rolling over (back to front and occasionally the other way around too), weighed in at 6.2kg at 19 weeks and is 63 cm long. Very sturdy, I can believe she is "only" 20 weeks old and she looks about 6 month old for alertness and interaction.
At the table with papà last night
"Reading" a soft book in her bouncer this morning
As of yesterday I have started applying the Tracy Hogg method for Martina's daytime naps...so far Martina is winning...
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