10 week update!!

It is hard to believe we've had Mikey for 10 weeks now - if I'm honest it feels far longer and it is hard to remember times without him he is such a part of our/my life now.

The sleep deprivation has improved beyond no end now - he can sleep for up to 7 hours on a good night and the coos and gurgles make even bad nights seem far more worth it! The last 2 weeks have been harder though because Mum, Dad, Nicky, Miff & Jake have been sunnoing themselves on a small boat somewhere off the coast of Italy... OK it was a huge cruise ship in the Med - The Independance of the Seas if you're interested... we're off to see Mum & Dad today, I'm not looking forward to the tans and I was not at all sympathetic that Rome was 42c - they chose to go there in August, what do they expect!!!!

We spent yesterday afternoon in Canterbury, Mikey and Andy supervised Grandad's cooking whilst Nanny Jan and I went clothes shopping - we may now have almost enough to get to Christmas and I can't wait for colder weather so I can dress him on some of the things we got yesterday! And knowing how he hates being changed/dressed I could have a few battles ahead! Kat may get jealous as he also now has a top with ears! I can get away with that now as he can't moan at me yet!

Sleepy times...

The daily and night;y routine is starting to get a little easier, except when Mikey gets a little upset and won't settle! Monday night was one such episode as we ended up resorting to Calpol which finally got him to relax and go to sleep! I can honestly say that is is a wonderful invention and I can now see why so many friends with children swear by it! I'm never having a house without it from now on! After all the poor little thing can't tell me when something is hurting other than by screaming blue murder for 2-3 hours!

I have a feeling that Mikey has had a sort of bug this week as since Monday he has spent hours and hours each day fast asleep...more often than not whilst laid on me so just call me a cot from now on! But I guess I am reassuring or smell/sound safe to him so I'm not complaining, plus it gives me a valid excuse for cuddles! Not that I really need any excuse to be honest - plus the Dr told me to keep cuddling as it helps negate post natal depression!

We had a health visitor here on Monday - not our usual one as she is on the grandparent version of paternity leave as her daughter has had a little boy as well! Mikey got weighed again and has now reached 11lbs 3oz - and is staying on the centile line he started on (well slightly above it now) so 'they' are pleased with how he is doing - maybe we are getting things right at the moment... miracles have been known to happen after all!

Mikey is getting a little more talkative at the moment - it is wonderful to see him telling Andy all about his day when he gets home from Work. They lay on the floor together and Mikey tells him everything he's done (usually this is sleep!) and Andy listens really carefully. Father Son bonding is wonderful to witness....

Exploring times...

Firstly I am sorry for any errors, but I am currently under a sleeping baby and my headache won't allow me to move him and his father has vanished!!!

Today we were intending to meet the mad cyclists at the pub in Brook, but Dave called earlier to say due to the forecast downpour there was a change of location! Thankfully he had a postcode and I managed to get the Sat Nav to work out a route!!! This was rather miraculous as I've never done that before!!!

Stage 1 was to load my car up.... small people do not travel lightly and I usually forget something! I strapped Michael into his chair and stuffed the nappy bag into the back of my car before wrapping the seatbelt round the baby!! I reactivated the voice on Brenda and set off...to be honest I had no idea where I was going, but I went anyway!!

Amazingly I didn't take any wrong turnings and arrived at the pub as the screaming started, but once we had transferred to the pushchair silence reined again!! We were first to arrive so I went to sample their OJ and perch on a stool awaiting team Styles! Once they arrived we move to the table and thanks to Dave we got the pushchair down the steps and 'parked' at the end of the table. The menu was on boards all around the room and was prett varied! I stuck to a burger and chips, Tina sampled the scampi, Kat demolished a large (massive) prawn cocktail, 2 others have the steak and ale pie whilst Dave opted for a baked marrow stuffed with pork and apricot! The food was fantastic, my burger was rather large and home made and decidedly tasty - and for £6.50 well worth the price! The dessert menu looked very tempting, but I was far too stuffed so passed this time , but I'm sure we'll be back there as the food really was that good!

I was impressed that someone didn't want feeding until I had eaten, once he had drained his bottle he retired to the other side of the table for a cuddle/snuggle with Tina (I know who to call for babysitting!!!)

6 August

Got a real bargin today! Facebook has a local buy, sell, swap site and yesterday I was a travel cot on it... we got it for £10.00 and Andy picked it up this morning! We've had it open and it looks great - perfect condition and just what we need once someone gets more mobile!

This week has been better - we seem to have grasped the sleeping at night concept on one night we even slept for 7 hours!! Feeding has improved as well... hopefully we have really turned a corner and things will start to get easier/more simple!!

Next week is my last week for  while having my Mum at the end of a phone, they are all off on a cruise in the Ned next week. I'm really going to miss them and to be honest feel a bit abandoned. I won't have Walderslade as an escape route until nearly the end of August... I'm also going to miss my daily chat with Mum, it's so nice to talk to an adult as Mikey isn't that vocal most of the time.