Seven weeks

(14 May 06)

Hi Wombat :)

our first Mother's day turned out to be very quiet and peaceful. You were very active yesterday evening and it took me many many MANY hours of feeding and playing and rocking to get you to sleep, but once you finally dropped off, you slept for seven hours again - it seems to be your Saturday night thing!!! You were very hungry when you woke up this morning, and we all had a long midday nap together. Daddy made me a Mother's day card and put a pen in your hand so you could 'sign' it. Daddy said you refused to let the pen go once you had it in your grip!

We were expecting a visit from Grandma, Jouko & Uncle Peter today, but unfortunately they had to cancel - with petrol prices jumping to $1.49 a litre this weekend, it really takes the fun out of travelling any distance, so a special trip up from Nowra was out of the question. I hope we will see them at the christening, if not beforehand - at least it gave us an excuse to dash around and tidy the house up a bit!

I was half expecting that to happen - this week has been like that in a lot of ways - on Wednesday you were due to be weighed at the local baby clinic. Daddy and I got you warmly dressed against a bitter wind and drove the 20mins to The Oaks only to find a note on the door saying "closed due to unforeseen circumstances." Very disappointing as we were really looking forward to finding out how much you had grown! The bathroom scales are too inaccurate and the kitchen scales too small, so I just have to guess. I can't take you next Wednesday, either, as we have an appointment in the city to see the priest and plan your christening, so it will be another two weeks and you will have grown even more! Then on Friday, I was supposed to see the obstetrician for my six week checkup. I am still not allowed to do any stretching or real exercise until she has checked on my stitches (they are uncomfortable but feeling much better than they were!) Her secretary rang me an hour before we were ready to leave to say that she had another patient in labour and wouldn't be there - so that visit has been rescheduled for next Friday.

EDIT on the weight question - Daddy pulled out Grandma's old balance scales and we 'balanced' you on them. Wombat, you weigh 14 pounds 5 ounces, or around 6.5 kilos :) When you were born you were right on the top of the 'weight for age' statistical scale - you are holding perfectly on that top line. I have been realising more and more that because you are so big and robust, it is hard even for me to remember how young and vulnerable you are. As you get older, people will expect you to be more self-reliant, less emotional and more responsible than other children your age, just because you are a lot bigger than them. I pray you won't have to fight as hard as your Daddy did, but we are already planning to avoid some of the problems by home-schooling you.

I have a new motto this week - TOO BLESSED TO BE STRESSED - it came to me in an email from another Michelle - the catechist co-ordinator who inspired me to become a volunteer religious teacher, and gave me several happy years teaching the kids in a local public school (I had to quit when I got pregnant, as I am too prone to catching the kids' colds, and didn't want to take any risks with you).

And now to the weekly photos:

First we have my attempts to get a Wombat & Mummy Mother's Day photo, but you were refusing to smile at the camera, no matter how much I tickled you!



It was much more entertaining to play with Mummy's hair...



and here is my little Wombat relaxing on my Mother's Day present from Daddy - he has been watching me lean against the wall to nurse, with a pillow behind my back, and decided it looked too uncomfortable, so he bought me a lovely cushioned backrest, which you think is very comfy to play on... lol - I love the action shot & with such a big smile as well - at this age, all your future seems to be encoded in your face - watching the fleeting expressions change, we suddenly think 'that's what you will look like when you are 4 or 16 or 50...' It's kind of like knowing you are going to get déjà vu in advance, if you know what I mean :P



and finally, this is my current project (in my huge amounts of spare time ??? when not working on my thesis, or finishing the embroidery on your christening robe) - Daddy bought some great Beatrix Potter fabric, and I am making panels to cover the dusty old louvres, on the entrance doors to our room and the built-in robes. Believe it or not, those louvres have been scrubbed over and over again but they still look awful, and it's no use painting them to fix the problem, because several slats are missing in odd places... so Daddy came up with the bright idea and I am having fun implementing it... one panel done, only eleven more to go...

Six weeks

(7 May 06)

This week, Wombat, you went to town for the first time, to see the doc for your six-week check up. It was the first time you had been out in the car for several weeks, but you were as well-behaved as ever - thankfully you really like your car seat! After seeing the doctor (and getting a clean bill of health) you and Daddy sat and watched the autumn colour on the Jacaranda trees while I went to the bank. That was the exciting highlight of the week :P

Other than that, we have been practicing our sleep/eat/play routine (made more interesting by gifts which arrived from Auntie Steff and Papa) and I have been racing out to the computer to work on my thesis every time you go to sleep. You havn't given me much chance this week, as you have been wide awake in the evenings and I have been very tired myself.

Yesterday, Daddy was building us a railing around our deck and we had to vacate the bedroom, so we spent several hours playing in the loungeroom, and went for a walk to look at the autumn leaves on the liquid amber in the back yard. As the evening wore on it got colder and you were overtired, refusing to settle. I finally got you to sleep at 10:30 by bunnyrugging you up tight and lying down beside the bassinet where you could see me until you were sound asleep. By this stage I was also exhausted, so decided to go to sleep as well, since I was expecting you to be up again at 12, or 2am at the latest. Imagine my surprise to wake at 5:30! My first thought was to check the monitor - yes, it was still working, a little green light flashing every time you breathed... and you gave a little Wombat whimper to confirm it... then I thought perhaps you had been trying to wake me earlier but I had slept through it (yeah, right - like you had suddenly forgotten how to cry when you needed me!!!) So I got you up, changed your nappy and fed you, and you were the happiest, smiliest Wombat I had ever seen! After 7 hours sleep I was a pretty happy mummy as well :D I think that's the most sleep I have gotten since you were born! Even better, you have been very good about following your routine all day, and you are now sound asleep at 9pm, allowing me to get on with some work (as soon as I finish writing here, that is, so I had better wrap this up!)

This week's photos:

First, I have become paranoid about my adventurous little Wombat learning to roll over and falling off the change table, since I have a tendency to be distracted and you enjoy lying there and watching me... some change tables have straps to hold baby on, so I decided to improvise with the belt from an old dressing gown... you seem to like the idea :) - that's a bamboo nappy, by the way...



and sticking with the nappy shots - here is my Wombat enjoying the luxury of your lovely new lambskin - an early christening present from Papa... I have been putting you on it every day after your bath, before I dress you, and you have really been enjoying it, if the happy gurgles are anything to go by :D



next, Wombat, here you are playing with the activity mat sent by Auntie Steff as a "welcome to the world" gift (once again accompanied by happy goos and gahs - you are 'talking' a lot more this week!)



My darling Wombat (in the chinese carrier) and the golden leaves of the liquid amber...



"HELP, Mummy, it's attacking me!!!!"



This one is my desktop background for this month :D In fact, it's one of my favourite photos of you so far, Wombat! It looks much better full screen!



On the way back inside - "Gee, Mum, isn't everything DRY!!!" It's a real drought year again - we have had hardly any autumn rain and very strong winds... as you can see, the gardens are suffering as a result...



and last of all, here you are all bunnyrugged up tight (in a real bunny-rug) :D

Five weeks

(1 May 06)

I was all ready to get this out yesterday as planned, but as Daddy says, I have as much chance of predicting what my little Wombat is going to do as I have of predicting where my darts will land :P notoriously, if I say I'm going to get a bullseye, the dart will end up stuck in a nearby door, and if I say I'm going to miss entirely, I'm just as likely to get a bullseye! For the past few days, Wombat, you have been very alert and feeding voraciously during the day, and then sleeping soundly all evening, giving me a chance to get on with some uni reading. Yesterday, however, you decided to sleep all day, which I didn't mind as I was very tired and sore myself so I joined you, but then you were awake and hungry from 7pm until midnight. That meant my computer time went out the window! Today has been more balanced, with both sleeping, feeding and play (though not necessarily in that order!) and I have just got you settled into a sound sleep - let's see how long it lasts :D

My other excuse is that Grandpa Tony sent me a cd of photo-enhancing software, so you will notice that this week's photos are much better quality :) I have only had a few minutes to play with it, but there looks like a lot of fun stuff there - especially when I have time to do more website work again. My work on Grandma's website seems to have been something of a minor success - she has just received an order for a cake from a lady in London!!! I also have a new product to rave about this week - the embroidered chinese baby carrier which Daddy found on Ebay, and which I will discuss below...

Whoops, Wombat, I hear you calling from your cradle... excuse me, I shall be back shortly :)

>>> a nappy change and 20 minute feed later >>>

Let's see, what did I want to tell you all about this week?

Wombat, my dear, you seem to have the same digestive problems as your Mum - a bad tendency to breathe your milk instead of drinking it *cough choke splutter* and nasty reflux, so you often have to swallow your dinner twice. We have at least removed one problem - I noticed you are very sensitive to chocolate, and you have been a lot calmer and happier since I stopped eating it entirely - if I eat even a little piece it will upset you! You are also responding well to my drinking a herbal nursing tea - an unlikely blend of stinging nettle, aniseed, fennel seed and caraway seed which surprisingly doesn't taste all that bad if you add sugar or honey to it. It certainly seems to help you with the tummy bubbles.

Auntie Steff gave us a magnet which reads "Grow a little every day" and Wombat, you have been taking that message to heart. In Australian baby's clothes, size 000 is supposed to last from 3-6 months and size 00 from 6-9 months. You are already pushing your toes through the bottom of your 000 suits, and at least one of your 00 suits fits quite nicely :) Of course, the sizes are notoriously unreliable, but there is no denying that you are getting longer in the torso - I notice it every night as you now take up three quarters of the bassinet's length, where you only reached halfway a week or two ago. You have your six week medical check-up on Thursday, and I am sure you will get a clean bill of health. In other developmental milestones, you have graduated from dry-eyed baby tantrums, and now cry very wet and salty tears... and you have started smiling in earnest - lovely big smiles to melt your Mummy's heart (as you will see in the first photo) :D

With the christening, our latest thoughts are that it would be nice to gather at the church's cafe around 1 o'clock and have a cuppa and snack together before the ceremony (at 2). This means we don't have to ask them to stay open past their normal closing time, we can all be rested, well-fed and happy (especially the babies!) before we go into the church, and we can (hopefully) avoid the worst of peak hour traffic by getting out of the city earlier.

And now I had better show you the photos and get back to work. I have had to ask for a week's extension on handing in my thesis proposal (which they were happy to grant under the circumstances). I have done the "finding" part of my research and have a folder of relevant articles which I have skimmed and I am quite happy with the results (especially once I discovered that the university gives me access to the American law journals that I needed), but the actual reading, assimilating and summarising is not going as quickly as I had hoped - in formulating my working hypothesis, I am having the classic trouble of not being able to see the forest for the trees - although every day the picture of what I want to say grows a little clearer!

So, first the smile - here is my Wombat having a little "tummy play time". You don't like it much unless you are propped up on some pillows so you can get a good look at the world, but you are having lots of fun here, talking to Spiny Norman. (Tonight we were playing "When Hedgehogs Attack!" with squealing Wombat giggles accompanying Spiny Norman kisses on your tummy, toes or chin.)



Here you are showing off your new 00 suit... you look fatter than you really are, because you have slumped down on the pillow :D but once again the wide awake eyes and big smile are a contrast to last week...



This is the gorgeous embroidered baby carrier we bought from a tribal village in China - all handmade!

It cost us more for the postage than for the actual carrier - about AU$80 all up, and I would recommend them to anyone. We are totally happy with our purchase. (Does anyone know Chinese? I would love to know what the characters on the bottom panel mean!)



After spending two weeks looking carefully at all their designs, we finally decided to go with the dragon and phoenix design, thinking that even if it didn't work out as a carrier it would make a fantastic work of art for our wall. As it turned out, 4000 years of history mean a very well designed and functional product!

Here I am wearing it - a front and side view - and yes, there is a rather large baby tucked in there, and you are perfectly happy...





Then a top-down view showing a sleeping Wombat!!!



I can feed you in public while you're in there, in perfect comfort and privacy, and since you are held upright, it's a built-in burping machine!!! and best of all, if you're overtired and grizzling, you go to sleep in it almost immediately :D

Another cute pic of you, Wombat - wearing your knitted pixie hat. The hat looks very easy to make - a knitted rectangle folded in half and stitched down the back, and at the front, the top is folded back and held with a button, and there is a little chin-strap which closes to a button on the other corner - simple but adorable!



And finally, a little package arrived for me today from an internet friend in Houston, Texas. THANK YOU :D We loved all the little things she sent, but especially the snowflakes!



We have been looking for a picture to put on my wardrobe, because Wombat, you spend a lot of time staring at it (studying the patterns in the veneer?) So I carefully glued the snowflakes (cut from magazine pictures) to some creamy pearlescent card, and now you has two lovely complex pictures to entertain you!



You can't see in this photo, but the picture on the left is of a field of yellow flowers with blue and green hills in the distance, while the picture on the right (my favourite!) is of a stand of trees reflected in a lake at sunset. You can see them from your bassinet (when not sound asleep!!!) but more importantly, you can see them when you are lying on our bed, where you spend most of the day at the moment. (Playtime often consists of watching Mummy clean the room...)