Thursday, 30 June 2011

The guilts

Only minutes from posting about CC's haircut have I realised my mistake. As a comforter he'd taken to playing and pulling at his hair whilst falling asleep (strangely a habit that both of his brothers also had) and now I've gone and taken away his built in soothed. He's wriggling around grabbing at his head and I feel like the worst mum in the world right now. This is a fight that vanity should never have won!

First haircut

After the comment of 'ooh he looks like Hitler' from his kindly Aunt, I decided to bite the bullet and chop off CC's extra comb over sections at the back and sides which didn't perish during the natural moult which has gradually taken place since birth.

I'm already mourning his little black locks, however I'm sure that I'll realise it was the right decision in a couple of years time when we're looking back at his baby pics. Je still has his bald patch across the back of hid head, but now it blends up to his crown rather than looking like it had been attacked with a razor in a dodgy back alley barber shop!

I only think this, as with BB I never felt he looked anything but angelic as a bambino, however having pulled out his pics to compare him to CC as a baby I've realised that his growing out mop did look somewhat odd (like an undercut gone wrong!)

Maybe I should have just left him as nature intended so I could have had that true 'first curl' for the memory box, but I know that one person at least will be pleased.....isn't that right Granny Babs?

Wednesday, 15 June 2011

Missed Opportunity?

Well what a palarva.

What is?

Trying to get CC to take milk from a bottle - that's what!

When he was 6 weeks old (see earlier post) I expressed off a smidgen of milk for BFS to feed him from a bottle. He suckled away no problem (although he didn't finish it - I think the bottle wasn't delivering fast enough) so it gave what now appears to be the false sense of security that he would be like BB and have no problem switching between the two.

Aha no! We didn't give him any more bottles until last week - and it appears that 11 weeks old was just too long to wait. I think there's a wee window of opportunity where you can get them used to the bottle (especially when they don't take a dummy) and if you miss it you make a rod for your own back!

I have an agenda for being so desperate for CC to take the bottle. In precisely 1 week I will be heading down to the lovely Hampden Stadium to see Take That and BFS will literally be left holding the bottle! I will try and leave the most minimal time that I'm away as I'm driving down and back on my own (although a coach ticket from Dundee did arrive with my ticket today - but that would mean leaving at 1pm and not arriving home until the early hours - way too long for a boy who may not feed in that time!). I can leave at teatime and hopefully be back just after midnight (if all goes to plan!) Even still, should CC not take a bottle I imagine I will return to a frustrated and not too happy BFS (broos on chin!)

Last weeks effort was the most atrocious disaster. He got himself so wound up that he subsequently wouldn't feed from me and then eventually screamed himself to sleep. Ever since he's had little episodes of screaming for no reason - as though he's re-living the moment or having panic attacks! I tried him again on monday with me feeding him. I had made the hole a bit too big on the teat and he gulped it down in one breath and almost drowned in boob juice! Never good! Fail.

Tonight I persevered with two different bottles with different teats for 1 1/2 hours - not giving him a feed from me at all. He just kept gagging on the teat and choking. Annoyingly with my stubborness to not give him formula until he's 6 months at least, all of this is wasting what precious little milk I'm able to express. (In fact I hope I manage to produce enough to leave BFS with when I go away!)

Anyways - I finally gave in and let him latch on. Then tried an experiment - with him in his sleepy state (from all of the effort of crying) I slipped out my nipple and slipped in the bottle (which only had about an ounce in it) and the little blighter guzzled it down without complaint! I swiftly replaced said empty bottle with the boob and he carried on oblivious!

Soooo - it's not that he doesn't have the tongue technique to drink from the bottle - he's just being a stubborn little sh1te! I think I may try again tomorrow, but will start with boob in mouth and then bottle and see if I can wean him onto it that way.......wish me luck!

Monday, 6 June 2011

Water Baby


Well CC is now in double figures - he hit 10 weeks old on Saturday. Time is flying and I'm struggling to hold onto the newborn stage.
I 'dressed' him for the first time last Saturday at 9 weeks. Up until then it had been sleepsuits or stylish 'onesies' but I pulled out a pair of dungarees and started the transition from newborn into baby boy. He is growing at a rate and is now over a stone in weight.
He was even beginning to babble today and was able to hold himself up when I tried him in the bumbo. He's been trying to 'sit up' whilst he's been leaning on me - and today he had his first trip to the swimming pool.




He took it all in his stride and was exceptionally relaxed. The only complaints were when daddy's attention slipped and his face got dipped in the water.


His big brothers had a ball too. BB wore his 'waistie' for a spell and was jumping in from the side and LL was hilarious. He has much less fear than his big brother and frolicked more happily with BFS. I didn't join them in the pool on this occasion, I chose instead to sit back and record the moment and snap away to my hearts content.