I really love being baby G’s mommy – he is such an adorable easy baby. He wakes me up in the morning with smiles and laughter and he is like that for the whole day. If I speak to him or sing to him or just give him some attention and love, he just beams from ear to ear and sometimes he screams with laughter. So cute! He loves it when I kiss him, so he is getting lots of kisses. Quite a few people have warned me that I must take advantage now, while he still lets me kiss him, so I’m doing just that.
I must say the last month had a few challenges, but nothing we couldn’t handle. Baby G went through a stage where he screamed or cried every single time and every moment we were in the car and I dreaded going anywhere with him. Fortunately that is better now – I still don’t know what the problem was. He wasn’t hungry, he wasn’t tired, it wasn’t his car seat, and it wasn’t too hot in the car…
His night time sleeping is also worse than before – he used to wake up about once a night – the last 4 weeks or so it was 2-4 times a night, except for that one night when he slept through…
Baby G now refuses to drink from a bottle, because I didn’t give him milk from a bottle for 3 weeks and since then he wants nothing but his mom’s boobies. Big mistake! I don’t know how we will fix that… Fortunately he can now get some solid food so last night he got some avocado and it went better than I thought it would. I really think he swallowed some of it, even though it was not a lot. My MIL mentioned about a month ago that she heard that avocado’s are great for first baby food, so I did some research and it seems its true, avocado’s are great for babies.
At first when the paediatrician said baby G can get solids from 4 months I was not sure if I would give him any. In the mean time he’s been waking so much more during the night and drinking for much longer at night that I think it is because he is hungry. When I heard there is an alternative to rice or maize porridge I was happier, because the main reason I’m reluctant to give that to him is because my DH is very sensitive to all grains, including rice and maize. I will see how long we can avoid that, I’m hoping that we can avoid it until baby G is 6 months old.
Baby G is getting so strong! Last time I told you he was trying to sit up, well he does that all the time now. He doesn’t want to lie on his back anymore! He can even sit upright by himself on my lap for short periods of time. He also moves a lot when he is on his play mat – he is a real wiggly worm – the other day he moved right off it, only his head was still on it. He also started to lift his bum when he is lying on his tummy, and he can roll over to his back when he is tired of tummy time. I have also seen him roll from his back on to his side a few times in bed with me, but not yet all the way to his tummy.
Baby G also loves to play with his toys now, he reaches for them himself and everything goes to his mouth. He remembers certain things, like he loves to look at us in the mirror, so if I walk past one I have to stop, because he reaches out to it. Also the pictures above his dresser fascinate him and I mustn’t dare to take him away without him looking at them first. The other day he actually started to cry when he thought I was taking him away and he also reached out to the pictures to make me understand that he wants to look at them. The moment he was in front of his pictures he was a happy chap again.
Baby G is definitely a thumb sucker and chewer and I’m still trying to get him to take a dummy (pacifier). I’ve had some success – a few times he’s had it in his mouth for about 10 seconds or so and once he even sucked it a bit.
He also likes to touch KT and he’s had her leg in his mouth already, he’s pinched her ear and he’s even grabbed 2 handfuls of fur already and not once did she flinch! She loves it if he touches her, but she can still get a bit excited around him, so I’m careful, because I don’t want her to accidently hurt him in any way.
Baby G is sleeping better during the day now – I’ve found the trick to make him sleep for longer. He either wants to sleep in my arms or with me in our bed. The moment I put him down he either wakes immediately or he wakes after a few minutes. He does have times when he wakes in my arms too, but then I can usually get him back to sleep immediately again. So he is getting at least one 2-3 hour nap a day and at least two 30-45 minutes naps a day. The problem is I don’t get to do much when he sleeps in my arms like that, but at least I’m getting naps again in the afternoons! All this extra sleep during the day has not affected his night time sleeping, because it’s been only like this for the last 2 weeks or so, and the sleep problems started quite a while before that.
I took baby G to a local baby clinic yesterday morning and he weighs 6.96 kg’s, so he is officially more than double his birth weight. He is 66 cm long now and his head circumference is now 42.5 cm. He is getting so heavy that my arms are sore at night from carrying him around all day.
This is definitely a full time job, because baby G really wants to be stimulated all the time, but I must say it’s the best job I’ve had so far! I’m loving it, and I’m so thankful that I can stay at home with him for now…
Keeping my eyes on Jesus... 