6th April 2006

Thank you to all the well wishing messages, been a bit busy to reply properly to any.

The first few days were blissful. Those hormones are strong things, leaving us with a great feeling of euphoria. Alas yesterday they ran out, as baby pinks gave way to baby blues. Lots of tears... typical of days 5 and 6. Not helped by a full toilet tank, so a quick dash into the occupied territories to empty it (thanks to Tony Seddon for the helping hand). Baby Oliver has now ventured across into Lancashire without moving 30 feet from where he was born.

Today, we are all much brighter again. Feeding is really starting to go well, so Oliver is sleeping a lot more soundly, and will sleep when put down too. This means we don’t have to be awake in shifts, and can all sleep simultaneously (if somewhat briefly). Joanne managed 6-7 hours last night by my reckoning, a great improvement on the 3-4 of the past few nights.

If things continue well we’ll try and visit Joanne’s parents this weekend. My paternity leave has been a bit interrupted, so roll on Easter.

15th April 2006

I had my first bath yesterday, to celebrate being 14 days old. Daddy says I’m not properly grown up until I’m 21.

Thank you for all your kind gifts. I have more clothes than daddy now, but then I have to change more often. I have plenty of cuddly toys to dribble over and some things that ding and jingle. I also have some bits of paper that daddy has put in the bank; he says they are no good if I suck them and they go soggy, but as the bank is the bit of land next to the water I don’t see how they are going to stay any drier.

Mummy and Daddy have very much enjoyed the chocolates and wine. I think the wine is best because it makes mummy’s milk nicer, and helps me sleep.

It has been a predictably busy few days, but it has been a great pleasure.

Days 5, 6 & 7 were tough, as the euphoric hormones wore off, and a new set kicked in; plenty of tears, and a few grizzles as Oliver had to learn to feed properly. We took a few days respite with Joanne’s parents, which helped in all sorts of ways: a chance to relax and sleep, without having to worry about cooking and other chores; a change of scene, with a chance to get the blue feelings into perspective; and adult company.

The week since then has been much easier, with Oliver now feeding well and us more confident about all those parental routines -
We are learning some of the different cries; so can sometimes spot whether it is “I’m hungry”, “I’m wet”, “My tummy hurts as I need to burb”, “My tummy hurts as I need a poo”, “Ouch - I hurt”, “Cuddle me, I just had a scarey nightmare” or “I just have existential angst - nothing can console me”.
Nappy changes are relatively painless compared to my expectations, (but that changes when we get to solid foods). However I still managed to get the nappy outer on inside out and back to front late one night.
The sleepless nights - I seem to get plenty of sleep but I’m still exhausted, must be hormonal again. We seem to have a good routine going, where I am “on duty” for the first half of the night, Joanne for the second half; this suits our owl & lark natures well. After the dinner time feed, Joanne goes straight to bed, and can sleep soundly as she knows I’ll respond to most of Oliver’s noises. I only wake her for feeds, and at night this tends to be every 3 hours at the moment. With about 5 hours of sound sleep achieved, Joanne takes over the duties, and I sleep like a log, whilst Joanne sleeps more lightly, and wakes at Oliver’s first mutterings of hunger.
The sheer volume of stuff! - so much washing to do; (I’m typing this whilst waiting for another load). We are getting used to what needs to be where when, and clearing away as we go along. Our nappy service has compounded the space problem by delivering 2 weeks worth of nappies (over 100 I believe) to cover the easter holiday, whilst failing to collect our first 10 days worth as there was a confusion about our address.

Anyway, Joanne managed to get out and walk half a mile yesterday, and has enjoyed hosting a few visitors over the past few days, so feels she’ll be back to her normal active self relatively soon. She is even looking forward to a shopping trip to the supermarket soon.

22nd April 2006

I’m disgusted, talk about changing the goal posts. 21 days old, and Daddy says I’m still not grown up. Mutters something about the difference between revolutions and orbits. Thinks I’ll be consoled by “but you are growing up fast”. Still, I was allowed in a pub at 16. I was also allowed caving in Yordas Cave, watched some other cavers coming down a rope and got splashed by the waterfall. Easy!

26th April 2006

A few tough days as a touch of thrush made both mum & babe sore at feeding times- some fairly restless nights - but seemed sorted by last night.

Oliver makes a fantastic array of grunts and noises. He seems to imitate one of the most common sounds he hears - snoring. He also manges the occassional very clear vowel sounds; it is quite startling when you suddenly hear “Ay!” or “Oh!” and turn expecting to find an adult has uttered it. His eyesight seems to be improving, but he still hasn’t mastered chess.

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