Week 4

16th - 22nd January 2005

Caroline's Entry

Emma's mums dog Mindy is very intrigued by this new creature!

At last I'm starting to notice some real changes in Evan's behaviour now. In the beginning he was extremely insecure, we often had no clue why he would be crying and have a very hard time settling him. He was not very responsive at all. I have a couple of books about baby development and I read a little each week. Of course every baby is different but it was a little frustrating when he didn't seem to be exhibiting any of the behaviours I was reading about.

But this past week we've had more success. We have a few brightly coloured toys and he'll now follow them with his eyes. We have a play gym which has a mirror on it and this week he started to take an interest in it. I don't think he knows who is there looking back at him but he'll focus on the mirror for quite a while now.

He definitely spends more hours awake now. In the beginning he mostly slept but now he'll be awake for several hours during the day. The challenge is to keep him happy in those waking hours! His mood varies a lot and there's no real way to tell how he's going to react. Sometimes he'll amuse himself for quite a while, gurgling away but other times he'll start to scream the moment we put him down.

He's now getting used to change time and bath time. Sometimes it seems like he actually likes being changed! Bath time is one of my favourite times, his little nekkid body is so cute! Another nice moment I had this week was being able to massage him properly for the first time. I have a book on Baby Massage and I've been trying to get him interested in it pretty much since birth but without success. But earlier this week I was changing him and he did a little pee (luckily I was able to mop it up quickly) so I figured that it was safe to leave his nappy off. He was quite happy and relaxed and I was able to massage him properly which was really nice. He felt so warm and soft afterwards. There's nothing quite like a baby's soft skin...

Caroline

Emma's Entry

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I conquered one of my fears this week! I went to the mother and baby group to get Evan weighed and I also stayed for the session, which happened to be on sleep and routine! Routine?!? - Evan doesn't have one, so that's the next task to try and introduce, initially by going to bed at the same time every night and doing the same things to get him prepared for sleep time. Evan weighed in at 10lb 1oz and little chubby chops is starting to grow out of his vests. A pile of clothes that he is too big for has been started.

Evan letting Grandma know that she'll need to rock him for longer!

This week I managed to get Evan off to sleep in the bed for a daytime nap. I was able to soothe him back to sleep when he woke himself up, even after having a nappy change. He even stayed in the room asleep afterwards on his own for a good period of time. In the past the moment you lay him down and attempt to leave him, he would start crying and be inconsolable. This appeared to be a one off event though as I learned at my mother and baby group that my earlier weeks of cuddling him to sleep were actually probably the cause for him not sleeping so well because when he stirs from light sleep still tired he doesn't know how to get himself back off to sleep and thus associates my cuddles and soothing / feeding as his way of sleeping. This isn't a problem at night time though, it must be because I am lying there next to him, but in the day I try to leave him to allow me to get other tasks done.

Evan is starting to respond differently when he cries and we attend to him. Even just a gentle cuddle and rock, or even just stroking his hair and talking quietly to him is starting to be more effective. Jumping around to MTV is probably the last straw these days where as a week ago it was the only thing he liked.

He always seems to lose the mitt from that hand!?!

I've always found Evans facial expressions adorable and to help stimulate him we have been mimicking them as he does them. He has a wider range of facial expressions now and has even introduced some sounds into his repertoire. His sounds are these really cute "guuurrrrr" sounds and I respond with smiles and a similar sound.

My mum has bought Evan an indoor swing to try and help us with the sleeping problems we are having. The swing can be put on a timer to swing, it plays music and we hopefully aide Evan when he stirs and help him get back to sleep. We'll find out next week if it works!

All the sick events seem to involve me and Caroline gets lumbered with the poo events, I think I have the better of the two. A memorable moment of this week was noticing poo on Caroline's cheek. She didn't believe me at first, but she did when I started laughing so much it hurt my stomach. I am terrible for laughing at peoples misfortune, she ran to the kitchen sink as it was the closest and washed it off whilst chanting "Urggh Urggh Urrgggghhhh!". I can only assume that she must have brushed her hair out of her face with a pooey finger whilst in the midst of changing him :).

Emma