Kids update

Well, R is four weeks old already - that's flown by!  I constantly can't get over how much easier it is this time around.  I can't deny that I've hit the tiredness wall on occasion.  R still wakes up two hourly for feeds, although on occasion she'll stretch it out to two and a half or three hours but she's a pretty efficient feeder and she is now settling in her Moses basket after a bit of an initial battle.  The sounds of the ocean and a Cuski have helped a lot with that.  Here she is, in an outfit picked for her by D.  It was the very first outfit that we bought for her.

I think the difference this time (apart from the fact that she's generally more settled than D was as a baby) is that I know it's not forever.  I know that she won't still be demanding to be fed every two hours in a year, or possibly even in a few weeks or months.  I know that it will pass and so a grim determination to just get through it is needed.  As little as a year ago, I didn't know if I'd even be medically allowed to have her and I think that's changed my perspective too.  That doesn't mean that I'm not spending all my time either sleeping or desperately craving sleep however...

Last week I got R registered.  I played a bit of a trick on D, telling him that I'd decided to change her name to 'Roo' (one of her many nicknames) at the last minute.  His little face was a picture - he was quite upset.  Mean mum!  

She's still very much a newborn - she sleeps a LOT and only really wakes up to feed or to complain about something or other.  I have taken her to her first baby sensory class (more about this soon!) and she mostly slept through it.  I'm looking forward to being able to interact with her a bit more.  We've had a few smiles but they don't seem to be for any discernible reason.

D continues to surprise me.  He's grown up ever so much in his new role.  He's protective of her and he tries really hard to help calm her down on the rare occasions that she cries.  He still has mad moments where he doesn't listen to instructions at all but they are rarer than they were which is a great help.  The school run has so far gone without a hitch and I wasn't sure that would be the case.  I'm ever so proud of him.  

 

He's loving school - he doesn't even really say goodbye to me in the morning when I drop him at the door - he's gone.  He's also loving having two reading books a week and his reading has come on really well in the last fortnight - he's moved from sounding out every sound to recognising some words and reading them more speedily.  Despite being summer born, he was really ready for the challenges that school has brought him.  

So, while I'm here, popping my head up, any recommendations for good slings?  While it's lovely having lots of cuddles and watching Scandal, I'm thinking getting a bit more done around the house would be helped by a sling.