Last week i took drastic action. I joined Weight Watchers! I figured that it had been three months since Spencer was born and i immediately lost 6 kg at that point. And that was it. Three months later here i am still 15kg overweight!
It's hard to eat well around Kylie though, who just eats whatever she wants and doens't get fat. Don't you hate that.
So anyhow, i tried to stop eating junk and eat less. I started exercising. But with no results happening, i decided it was time to put some effort in. Not sure if you've ever been to weight watchers - i have - i think it's a great idea, because it's not pre-prepared meals it's about learning how to eat better in the real world. It's also motivating. A bit kitsch, sure, but motivating nevertheless. And it's really cool to see the same people each week and see them losing weight and feeling good about themselves, i'm all for it.
Tomorrow is my first weigh in. I've been really good all week and have been cooking up a storm of low fat, healthy, yummy meals all week long. So fingers crossed for tomorrow!
26 June 2008
25 June 2008
What's happening here??
It seems that we've already becomed accustomed to almost full nights sleep and a baby that just goes to bed and doesn't compain. This week, Spencer has thrown a bit of a spanner in the works. He's decided to stop feeding properly and he now fusses and complains once you've burped him, so that he doens't take the bottle again once you've stopped. This has resulted in him not getting the same amounts of food that he was getting. He's now started waking overnight much earlier and has become harder to settle both during the day and at night.
It's taken me back to the early weeks when everything was much more difficult - feeding, sleeping, settling.
I really hope that it's just some sort of phase.....
It's taken me back to the early weeks when everything was much more difficult - feeding, sleeping, settling.
I really hope that it's just some sort of phase.....
New Developments
Little Spence did something new today. He has been moving his arms around for a while, but today, he was moving with alot more purpose, reaching toward things. I had this little bear thing and he was holding it (once i'd kind of propped it in the right spot!). It's really cool to see him do new things. Already throughout the day i've seen more and more instances of him reaching at things. It's like they learn a new skill all of a sudden and then they're off and running with it!
09 June 2008
Relaxing baby massage
Today was our fourth mother's group session. I think it's a nice concept having a new mother's group. You do get to see lots of other really cute babies, which is great. Of course, because Spencer has two mums, we both went to them - which was probably a novel concept for some of the mothers there.
We did baby massage today. The babies hated it - and within about 5 minutes we had a chorus of 11 screaming babies - with Spencer leading the way. It was hilarious!!
We did baby massage today. The babies hated it - and within about 5 minutes we had a chorus of 11 screaming babies - with Spencer leading the way. It was hilarious!!
05 June 2008
Ten things i love about Spence
1. The little face he pulls when he's talking.
2. The big stretch.
3. The star fish pose when he's sleeping.
4. His smile.
5. His smell - a mixture of baby, bath lotion and amilyn washing liquid on his clothes.
6. His soft fluffy hair.
7. His little grunting face when he's doing a poo.
8. His little turtle head.
9. His grumpy face.
10. When you've just fed him and he gets 'heavy head'.
2. The big stretch.
3. The star fish pose when he's sleeping.
4. His smile.
5. His smell - a mixture of baby, bath lotion and amilyn washing liquid on his clothes.
6. His soft fluffy hair.
7. His little grunting face when he's doing a poo.
8. His little turtle head.
9. His grumpy face.
10. When you've just fed him and he gets 'heavy head'.
02 June 2008
Getting up to date
Seeing that i haven't really been posting frequently and am only just getting this blog up to date, here's a few of our favourite pics showing little Spence 'growing up' over the last 12 weeks:
And here is one that i made:
And here is one that i made:
22 May 2008
Twelve weeks old - things we've learnt
Spence will be 12 weeks old this week - and to celebrate this event he's decided to learn to sleep through the night! That's right! The last two nights Spence has gone to bed about 7.45pm and not woken up until 5.30am!!! It's fantastic! Hoping this is his new routine. It's amazing how much more human you feel with a good amount of sleep.
Anyway, decided that i will share some of the things that we have learnt in our first 12 weeks of being parents:
1. Learn to put the baby down to sleep - as in put the baby down in the cot and help him learn to sleep there, rather than in your arms or in a bouncer etc.
2. Don't go into their room too early if crying - give them a chance to get themselves back to sleep as they will do it sometimes and you'll end up with a few more hours that you thought! Note - this one can backfire during daytime sleeps where if left too long, he will work himself up so much that he can't be settled again and he is crying so much he looks like his head will explode.
3. They don't have to be asleep to leave them in the cot - feeding to sleep in the early days was ok, but they need to learn to go to sleep by themselves, put them down, say good night and leave the room. They can get themselves off to sleep - well, sometimes!
4. Their own room - if you are at all a stress head like me, have them in their own room, they can be such noisy little creatures and you worry with every little sound. You do need to switch off sometimes and just sleep.
5. Dummies are not a bad thing - we use a dummy during the day, not for getting him to sleep but usually to settle him when he gets himself really worked up - and it works! I'm glad we don't use it for sleeping in a cot as i've heard lots of stories of kids who wake up constantly because they've lost their dummy.
6. Only buy the bare necesseties before the baby comes - people give you heaps of stuff. We got so many clothes, we really didn't need to buy much - also, it's good to see what it is you actually need rather than taking guesses. Think about the seasons also, we were given lots of 000 summer stuff, but by the time he got into 000 (just now) it was winter and i think he'll have grown out of them by the time it's warm enough to wear them.
7. Use a washing detergent for sensitive skin - we pre-washed all of his clothes before we went to hospital but just in ordinary detergent, then little spence developed a newborn rash and we were told we needed to wash everything in special detergent, so we were in hospital with a bunch of new clothes for him, none of which he could wear!
8. It does get easier - i really thought in those first few weeks 'how on earth can you look after a baby and ever have any sort of life again' - but it does get easier with each week. The baby learns to sleep and to just be in the world and you learn to do things as well.
9. Make contact with all those friends you lost contact with when they had kids - they know stuff and can offer really good support.
10. Get out for a walk - it's healthy for you, can help you get back into shape and it's really good for when the baby is cranky and won't sleep or even stop crying! It was my 4pm life saver for a while!
11. Set little goals for each day and be happy to achieve them - don't aim too high, one or two little goals each day is more than enough to handle. I don't mean goals with the baby, i mean household chores or other things you want to achieve. In the early days, just getting to the shop and back is a day long palava!
12. Take heaps of photos and video if you can - they change so quickly and it's awesome to be able to look back at everything. They are also just soooo cute!
Anyway, decided that i will share some of the things that we have learnt in our first 12 weeks of being parents:
1. Learn to put the baby down to sleep - as in put the baby down in the cot and help him learn to sleep there, rather than in your arms or in a bouncer etc.
2. Don't go into their room too early if crying - give them a chance to get themselves back to sleep as they will do it sometimes and you'll end up with a few more hours that you thought! Note - this one can backfire during daytime sleeps where if left too long, he will work himself up so much that he can't be settled again and he is crying so much he looks like his head will explode.
3. They don't have to be asleep to leave them in the cot - feeding to sleep in the early days was ok, but they need to learn to go to sleep by themselves, put them down, say good night and leave the room. They can get themselves off to sleep - well, sometimes!
4. Their own room - if you are at all a stress head like me, have them in their own room, they can be such noisy little creatures and you worry with every little sound. You do need to switch off sometimes and just sleep.
5. Dummies are not a bad thing - we use a dummy during the day, not for getting him to sleep but usually to settle him when he gets himself really worked up - and it works! I'm glad we don't use it for sleeping in a cot as i've heard lots of stories of kids who wake up constantly because they've lost their dummy.
6. Only buy the bare necesseties before the baby comes - people give you heaps of stuff. We got so many clothes, we really didn't need to buy much - also, it's good to see what it is you actually need rather than taking guesses. Think about the seasons also, we were given lots of 000 summer stuff, but by the time he got into 000 (just now) it was winter and i think he'll have grown out of them by the time it's warm enough to wear them.
7. Use a washing detergent for sensitive skin - we pre-washed all of his clothes before we went to hospital but just in ordinary detergent, then little spence developed a newborn rash and we were told we needed to wash everything in special detergent, so we were in hospital with a bunch of new clothes for him, none of which he could wear!
8. It does get easier - i really thought in those first few weeks 'how on earth can you look after a baby and ever have any sort of life again' - but it does get easier with each week. The baby learns to sleep and to just be in the world and you learn to do things as well.
9. Make contact with all those friends you lost contact with when they had kids - they know stuff and can offer really good support.
10. Get out for a walk - it's healthy for you, can help you get back into shape and it's really good for when the baby is cranky and won't sleep or even stop crying! It was my 4pm life saver for a while!
11. Set little goals for each day and be happy to achieve them - don't aim too high, one or two little goals each day is more than enough to handle. I don't mean goals with the baby, i mean household chores or other things you want to achieve. In the early days, just getting to the shop and back is a day long palava!
12. Take heaps of photos and video if you can - they change so quickly and it's awesome to be able to look back at everything. They are also just soooo cute!
Our brush with breastfeeding!
I call it our brush with breastfeeding, but we did last four weeks. Given that it was four weeks of traumatized nipples that were too sore to even touch the tshirt i was wearing, rashes, mastitis, sleep deprivation, no weight gain for the baby, unsuccessful expressing, bottle top ups, nipple shields, sore and lumpy breasts - i think that we gave it a shot. Even the lactation consultant we were seeing was surprised we went for as long as we did. I can't say it was enjoyable, though i did feel sad to stop. Sad i guess that the one special thing that only i could do for the baby was ending, that the closeness of it was ending. I also felt relief - relief at the thought of being able to let my poor breasts heal, at the thought of having no pain anywhere in my body - for the first time in 10 months. I think for me, my painful experience of breastfeeding probably only detracted from this beautiful early time with our baby, prohibited the enjoyment i could have felt. Don't get me wrong - it was still an enjoyable time - but i think would have been more so if we didn't have such a nasty time of breastfeeding.
It's all history now though. We weaned at four weeks to bottles and Spence then thrived, finally getting the nutrition he needed he has now caught up to his expected weight and has really filled out. And me...the wean ended up being alot faster than we thought as Spence stopped taking the breast when we got down to 2 bottles and 4 breastfeeds per day - he no longer would take the breast and so our slow wean became an immediate wean. This was a painful week for me, but after the soreness went away, i felt a million bucks!
The First Week
Here we are - ten weeks old today! Feels like he's been around forever, but then again just seems like yesterday!
He was such a little, little thing when he was born - 3352gms (7lb 6 oz in the old school measurements). We stayed at Frances Perry for the first three nights, then went off to the Sofitel for the next two.
All in all, the hospital stay was ok, nurses seemed to be missing in action though. The sofitel was better -but when i think back to that first week, all i can remember now is feeling fantastic at having a beautiful little baby, feeling sleep deprived as we couldn't seem to get him to sleep much overnight and feeling like my nipples were on fire.
This was our little munchkin at less than an hour old!
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