this is what makes the difference when you are trying to clap. percy has clapped plenty before- without getting a sound because her fngers were always curled. today she started mastering straight finger clapping...
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
straight fingers
this is what makes the difference when you are trying to clap. percy has clapped plenty before- without getting a sound because her fngers were always curled. today she started mastering straight finger clapping...
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
what's the score
i imagine you're all dieing to know how our dummy weaning weekend went. well the score is
baby: 1, dummy: 0!!
yes, we are now dummy free. despite all our angst and conjuring of worst case scenarios it went quite well. we're not perfect yet but there is resassurance that if we put our collective minds to something we can achieve good results.
as i said earlier percy went well last thursday and friday sans wrap and dummy. this continued thru the weekend and also monday and tuesday. we had forgotten that this weekend was the change to day light saving time. if so we probably would have conjured up other horrors and put off the wean for another week. i'm so glad we didn't. it's an absolute load off my mind not wondering whether percy has come out of her wrap and lost her dummy. i think i even sleep deeper not having this 'wonder' constantly knocking for attention.
congratulations all 'round!
having said this, there is plenty of room for improvement. little miss still gets two feeds during the nite. the first anywhere between 10pm and midnite and the second anywhere between 2am and 4am. i'd so like to drop at least one of these! she's waking at 5am now too. good god! aren't you still tired little one? i certainly am. she generally ends up in our bed, dozing, waking, pulling our hair, playing with the bedclothes and dozing again until we get her up at 6:30 or 7am.
the last two nites she's woken between 9pm and 10pm with an inconsolable cry. i comforted her while leaving her in the cot, to no avail. once picked up and in bed with us she settles quite quickly. hope this doesn't become a pattern! she isn't hungry as i don't offer her any milk yet she still falls asleep. the feed comes later. is she having a nightmare? is it something i can't think of? is she still settling into the idea of sleeping without a dummy. i'm patient, but only so patient...
so we want more sleep. paul took the option of sleeping on the lounge last nite while percy and i had the bed to ourselves. this also is not to continue! i hope paul is better rested today.
another score:
baby: 0
food: 1
percy is happy to chug away baby cereal now. (yippee!) however she acts like we are trying to posion her if we give her anything else. we've tried; apple, pear, avocado, banana and sweet potatoe. each time she gags and sticks her tongue out, her eyes water, her back arches, her arms flail... if it wasn't upsetting it would be comical.
i managed to get her to have three spoon tips of sweet potatoe last nite by concealing it in a larger helping of cereal. when the ratio on the spoon increased in favour of the sweet potatoe the posioning act started again. of course if i do it too often she doesn't trust me and refuses to have whatever is on the spoon, even if it's just cereal.
we'll have to persist because it will be hard to explain sending her to school with a bottle breast milk and a box of farex.
observations on a coming summer
in our walks around the streets of erskineville, newtown and alexandria i have noticed a number of old bbqs left on the grass beside the roads. these rusty, worn and cracked hulks are sprouting in their spring time of neglect. just as old age of any sort gives way to youth so these once cossetted machines are put out to pasture, making way for younger, sprightlier versions. versions with perhaps more burners, knobs, hooks, accessories, maybe even with a sink attached!
so winter turns to spring and spring soon to summer. and the great aussie tradition of backyard bbqs will send pungent wafts of charcolising (word?) meat across the neighbourhood. the old bbq that has withstood the winter storms of rain, hail and wind, visitations of dog and possum piss, not having felt the scrub of a good brush nor been oiled and neatly rubbed, for months, is now decrepit. "not our snags on that filthy thing!" goes the cry.
a new, shiny machine is required. in our inner west suburbs we pride ourselves on our environmental credentials- recycle, reuse... i forget the third 're'. surely some sap out there will want our old bbq... surely? we won't send it to the tip, we won't call council to collect it. we'll leave it here on the grass or the footpath. by morning it will be gone. it'll be wanted by someone for some purpose; even if not for bbq-ing. wouldn't it be funny to see our old bbq turn up in some mixed media modern art installation in a few months time?!
the coming summer is marked by the strange plants of metal and plastic growing along our streets.
so winter turns to spring and spring soon to summer. and the great aussie tradition of backyard bbqs will send pungent wafts of charcolising (word?) meat across the neighbourhood. the old bbq that has withstood the winter storms of rain, hail and wind, visitations of dog and possum piss, not having felt the scrub of a good brush nor been oiled and neatly rubbed, for months, is now decrepit. "not our snags on that filthy thing!" goes the cry.
a new, shiny machine is required. in our inner west suburbs we pride ourselves on our environmental credentials- recycle, reuse... i forget the third 're'. surely some sap out there will want our old bbq... surely? we won't send it to the tip, we won't call council to collect it. we'll leave it here on the grass or the footpath. by morning it will be gone. it'll be wanted by someone for some purpose; even if not for bbq-ing. wouldn't it be funny to see our old bbq turn up in some mixed media modern art installation in a few months time?!
the coming summer is marked by the strange plants of metal and plastic growing along our streets.
Friday, October 26, 2007
on the up...
my obssession with percy's sleeping continues- in a positive way!
on thursday she took her naps without being wrapped or with a dummy. thursday nite she was in a sleeping bag with a dummy and it didn't go too bad. during friday naps she was in a sleeping bag with no dummy and the longest it took her to fall asleep was 20 minutes. this is less than half the time from only one day before. things are looking positive, tho we have learnt that just because something happens one day doesn't mean it will happen again.
last nite, friday nite, she fell asleep at 7pm sans wrap and dummy and slept thru to an 11:10pm feed. asleep again 'til 1:15am when she woke and cried from unhappiness, not needing more food. i tried to calm and shoosh her for 10 minutes. with no success i popped the dummy in her mouth and she settled instantly. i let her suck it for one minute before easing it out of her mouth. she stirred and snuffled and wriggled but was asleep within ten minutes again. she woke at 3:45am for a feed. i'll try to cancel these feeds in the future, perhaps when she is eating a variety of solids consistently. back to sleep without assistance. woke at 6:00am. we left her to talk to herself for 50 minutes before i got her up at 6:50am. she was not upset during this time just not asleep either. the improvement at this end is she woke at 6am rather than 5 or 5:30am like many previous mornings. maybe we'll eventually get her to sleep 12 hours from 7pm to 7am!
she's gone down for her morning nap in a sleeping bag without a dummy, taking only ten minutes to fall asleep.
i'm trying to be positive while also manageing my expectations!
on thursday she took her naps without being wrapped or with a dummy. thursday nite she was in a sleeping bag with a dummy and it didn't go too bad. during friday naps she was in a sleeping bag with no dummy and the longest it took her to fall asleep was 20 minutes. this is less than half the time from only one day before. things are looking positive, tho we have learnt that just because something happens one day doesn't mean it will happen again.
last nite, friday nite, she fell asleep at 7pm sans wrap and dummy and slept thru to an 11:10pm feed. asleep again 'til 1:15am when she woke and cried from unhappiness, not needing more food. i tried to calm and shoosh her for 10 minutes. with no success i popped the dummy in her mouth and she settled instantly. i let her suck it for one minute before easing it out of her mouth. she stirred and snuffled and wriggled but was asleep within ten minutes again. she woke at 3:45am for a feed. i'll try to cancel these feeds in the future, perhaps when she is eating a variety of solids consistently. back to sleep without assistance. woke at 6:00am. we left her to talk to herself for 50 minutes before i got her up at 6:50am. she was not upset during this time just not asleep either. the improvement at this end is she woke at 6am rather than 5 or 5:30am like many previous mornings. maybe we'll eventually get her to sleep 12 hours from 7pm to 7am!
she's gone down for her morning nap in a sleeping bag without a dummy, taking only ten minutes to fall asleep.
i'm trying to be positive while also manageing my expectations!
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
obsession
if you're getting as little as i am it's no wonder an obsession develops. i'm talking about sleep of course!
little percy has gone backwards in the sleep stakes over the past week, consequently so have i. she was sleeping 4 hours, occasionaly 4 and a half to five. yes, i know, nothing like the 'thru-the-nite-12 hours-at-a-go' babes i have heard about. never mind. i was doing 4 hours alright.
she's regressed to 3 hours and even 2 a couple of times. this is unsustainable. what is causing it? well, if i knew that i might have a chance to fix it! i'm going with the old stand by of growth spurt. there's nothing i can do about that.
she's napped well today so hopefully that means a better nite sleeping. there does seem to be a correlation between decent day time naps to better nite sleeping.
on the topic of daytime naps. we've had a first today. a small and significant one. i wonder if it will continue..?
to put this in context percy has two very definate cues for going to sleep- being wrapped/swaddled and using a dummy/pacifier. at seven months it's probably not wise to wrap her any longer but we don't have much option- if she is not wrapped she knocks or takes the dummy out of her mouth and this will result in her crying for one of us to put it back in. she hasn't learnt to put it back consistently for herself. she'll manage one go in ten. so even if she is deeply asleep and the dummy comes out when she reaches a lighter sleep stage she realises its not there, wakes up properly and starts crying. that's my explaination anyways.
the first... i put her down for a nap at 3:50pm; wrapped and dummied. she is adept at wriggling out of wraps (adding to our problem) and was out of this one in no time. i rewrapped her and put her back in her cot once. after half an hour i could see this was going nowhere. i took her out of the cot, took the wrap off- it was only draped across her tummy by this time, took the dummy out the cot where she'd spat/knocked it, put her in a sleeping bag, tucked her back into the cot tightly, told her gently to go to sleep and left the room. i stood watching at the doorway (door open just an inch) while she wriggled, swung raffles her sleep comforter around her head striptease style and pulled her blankets off for 20 minutes. she then started to ease off; raffles was no longer in danger of decapitation. ten minutes later she was asleep- no wrap and no dummy!!! yeeha! so in total 50-55 minutes of settling which is quite some time. i take heart that she didn't actually work herself into a lather and scream or yell at any time and that maybe in the coming days the time taken will be less and less.
this new development is important as we've resolved to take the dummy away for good this weekend. we've warned the neighbours, we've got frozen meals in the freezer, we've told everyone we're booked this weekend and no-one is to visit. in other words; we're bunkered in and ready to fight!
(piccie taken a few days ago of percy being adorably asleep.)
Sunday, October 21, 2007
fickleness of feeding
i am encouraged that percy ate a good amount of baby rice cereal over the weekend. mostly with paul feeding her whilst singing queen or jet songs. hmmmm....
she doesn't seem to be as interested or happy when i feed her. we figure she is thinking of paul "where's the one with the boobs? not here? oh well, i'll eat some of this goop then." whereas when i'm feeding her it's more "i know you've got the boobs, they're right under there, can we skip this goop and get to the good stuff, please?" i will persist.
she is also happy to take a bottle too. so that persistance paid off. the conclusion here is that she doesn't like formula. i've been expressing and giving her cereal mixed with breastmilk and bottles of breastmilk. which is great but also difficult because i hate expressing i'm so bad at it. never mind, i'll just work on that too.
wish us luck
she doesn't seem to be as interested or happy when i feed her. we figure she is thinking of paul "where's the one with the boobs? not here? oh well, i'll eat some of this goop then." whereas when i'm feeding her it's more "i know you've got the boobs, they're right under there, can we skip this goop and get to the good stuff, please?" i will persist.
she is also happy to take a bottle too. so that persistance paid off. the conclusion here is that she doesn't like formula. i've been expressing and giving her cereal mixed with breastmilk and bottles of breastmilk. which is great but also difficult because i hate expressing i'm so bad at it. never mind, i'll just work on that too.
wish us luck
Thursday, October 18, 2007
meeting the rellies
probably one of the most significant things we did in london was catch up with some relatives of pauls. obviously mine by marriage now too, and definately percy's by blood.
thelma is paul's dad's sister, making her paul's aunt and percy's great aunt. she is married to steve and they have two children shonagh and euan. paul had not seen the family since his family departed bonny britain 20 years ago. so it was quite significant. we had lunch with steve, shonagh and euan one day and dinner the following with thelma, steve, shonagh and her girlfriend alex. both meals were great with lots of laughter and "oh really's", and "that was ages ago!", and "before you/we left...." i was particularly pleased with how well percy did out at dinner. we went thru the usual bedtime routine before leaving the apartment. the difference being instead of settling her in her bed we tried to settle her in the stroller. she did play along for most of the nite. at least enough for us to get thru three courses! she also had a cuddle with her rellies and another breast feed. maybe i praised her too enthusiastically because she did decide enough fun was enough and it's bedtime now. yes, i mean now! we'd gone to a restuarant quite close to the apartment so i bundled her up and took her home while paul stayed for another hour or so of drinkies. not begrudged in the least... there was 20 years to fill in.
funnily enough in december steve and thelma are visiting oz for an extended retirement holiday and shonagh and euan are coming for i think three weeks around christmas and new years. going from not seeing them in 20 years to twice in one!
p.s. they're really lovely folk and it will be great fun showing them around sydney.
thelma is paul's dad's sister, making her paul's aunt and percy's great aunt. she is married to steve and they have two children shonagh and euan. paul had not seen the family since his family departed bonny britain 20 years ago. so it was quite significant. we had lunch with steve, shonagh and euan one day and dinner the following with thelma, steve, shonagh and her girlfriend alex. both meals were great with lots of laughter and "oh really's", and "that was ages ago!", and "before you/we left...." i was particularly pleased with how well percy did out at dinner. we went thru the usual bedtime routine before leaving the apartment. the difference being instead of settling her in her bed we tried to settle her in the stroller. she did play along for most of the nite. at least enough for us to get thru three courses! she also had a cuddle with her rellies and another breast feed. maybe i praised her too enthusiastically because she did decide enough fun was enough and it's bedtime now. yes, i mean now! we'd gone to a restuarant quite close to the apartment so i bundled her up and took her home while paul stayed for another hour or so of drinkies. not begrudged in the least... there was 20 years to fill in.
funnily enough in december steve and thelma are visiting oz for an extended retirement holiday and shonagh and euan are coming for i think three weeks around christmas and new years. going from not seeing them in 20 years to twice in one!
p.s. they're really lovely folk and it will be great fun showing them around sydney.
swimming class
percy had her first swimming class today!
sorry no photos, class was at 10:30am so paul couldn't attend and i had enough to do without drowning a camera.
i think she quite enjoyed it. we sang songs, floated, chased toys, rode 'noodles' (those long floating tube thingos), practised moving along the edge of the pool holding on with our hands and sang more songs. her lips were a tiny bit blue by the end of the half hour. i wrapped her up, dried her off and redressed her as fast as i could. she didn't protest at all. in fact she was all wide eyed and quite smiley for nearly the whole time. carol, our instructor, also praised me for how i was holding and handling her. so pats on the back for mama!
once home i tried to feed her some baby rice cereal. i think she may have swallowed four spoon-tip-fuls wihout protesting. which is better than previously. persist? god it's draining tho!
still no luck with sucking a bottle either. back to good old boobies.
we'll judge next week whether we have a new ian thorpe on our hands. i think one class is a little too early to tell; two is fine! her elder cousin is supposed to be quite a good swimmer so perhaps it's in her genes?
sorry no photos, class was at 10:30am so paul couldn't attend and i had enough to do without drowning a camera.
i think she quite enjoyed it. we sang songs, floated, chased toys, rode 'noodles' (those long floating tube thingos), practised moving along the edge of the pool holding on with our hands and sang more songs. her lips were a tiny bit blue by the end of the half hour. i wrapped her up, dried her off and redressed her as fast as i could. she didn't protest at all. in fact she was all wide eyed and quite smiley for nearly the whole time. carol, our instructor, also praised me for how i was holding and handling her. so pats on the back for mama!
once home i tried to feed her some baby rice cereal. i think she may have swallowed four spoon-tip-fuls wihout protesting. which is better than previously. persist? god it's draining tho!
still no luck with sucking a bottle either. back to good old boobies.
we'll judge next week whether we have a new ian thorpe on our hands. i think one class is a little too early to tell; two is fine! her elder cousin is supposed to be quite a good swimmer so perhaps it's in her genes?
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
getting kicked while you're down
3:30pm today i get a call from work advising me that i did not get the senior position i applied for. fuck them. no wonder the dept is short staffed; they don't know how to treat the ones they do have, so they leave.
i'm upset about percy not sleeping and eating. add to the mix i'm a professional failure too. yippee. 'course if i wasn't on maternity leave and hoping to return part-time i would have got the job. yes, illegal discrimination- wake up! it's reality.
now i get to return to work and have some junior bastard that has been there for less time than, is probably less qualified and needs the job less than i do promoted ahead of me. (my apologies if the "junior bastard" turns out to be one of my friends. i don't expect i can consider myself a success on the friends front either.)
so percy has been screaming in her cot for that last 20 minutes instead of sleeping. i suppose i ought to do something about it. exactly what, i haven't a clue. throw us both off a cliff sounds plausiable
i'm upset about percy not sleeping and eating. add to the mix i'm a professional failure too. yippee. 'course if i wasn't on maternity leave and hoping to return part-time i would have got the job. yes, illegal discrimination- wake up! it's reality.
now i get to return to work and have some junior bastard that has been there for less time than, is probably less qualified and needs the job less than i do promoted ahead of me. (my apologies if the "junior bastard" turns out to be one of my friends. i don't expect i can consider myself a success on the friends front either.)
so percy has been screaming in her cot for that last 20 minutes instead of sleeping. i suppose i ought to do something about it. exactly what, i haven't a clue. throw us both off a cliff sounds plausiable
the fickleness of sleep
percy is a poor sleeper. i give up. one day she'll sleep thru a nite and i'll think she's died because there couldn't possibly be another explaination for it.
yesterday started out so encouragingly. percy slept a 2 hour nap in the morning and just shy of 2 hours in the afternoon. wow!! virtually unheard of! i may recall she's done this twice before in kiev. she also had a 25 minute kip in her stroller when we went out for a walk from 4pm.
i got so much done yesterday, plus had time to rest myself. yay, yay, yay- let this continue!!
yeah, right. who do i think i'm kidding?
percy went thru her usual bedtime routine last night and was tucked up in her cot at 7pm. being the lazy, tired person i am i followed her to bed at 8:45pm. unfortunately i have a bad cold and cannot help coughing a lot. the cot is barely a metre from our bed. i'm sure the coughing woke her. so i fed her back to sleep at 10pm. then she woke again around 1am, fed back to sleep at 2am, woke again around 3am, wrapped, shushed and otherwise encouraged back to sleep at 4:20am. woke at 6:40am and up for the day. shit. shit. and more shit. can't keep doing this.
her morning nap today was 1hr and 20 minutes so not so bad. so far this afternoon she ain't slept.
i really don't want to hear about the good sleepers and the good eaters. i want absolute horror kids to compare her to so that i can take some solace from the poor sucker parents out there that have it worse than us.
yesterday started out so encouragingly. percy slept a 2 hour nap in the morning and just shy of 2 hours in the afternoon. wow!! virtually unheard of! i may recall she's done this twice before in kiev. she also had a 25 minute kip in her stroller when we went out for a walk from 4pm.
i got so much done yesterday, plus had time to rest myself. yay, yay, yay- let this continue!!
yeah, right. who do i think i'm kidding?
percy went thru her usual bedtime routine last night and was tucked up in her cot at 7pm. being the lazy, tired person i am i followed her to bed at 8:45pm. unfortunately i have a bad cold and cannot help coughing a lot. the cot is barely a metre from our bed. i'm sure the coughing woke her. so i fed her back to sleep at 10pm. then she woke again around 1am, fed back to sleep at 2am, woke again around 3am, wrapped, shushed and otherwise encouraged back to sleep at 4:20am. woke at 6:40am and up for the day. shit. shit. and more shit. can't keep doing this.
her morning nap today was 1hr and 20 minutes so not so bad. so far this afternoon she ain't slept.
i really don't want to hear about the good sleepers and the good eaters. i want absolute horror kids to compare her to so that i can take some solace from the poor sucker parents out there that have it worse than us.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
reflections on london
london really is a cultural mecca. we passed so many places to go into and posters for shows and exhibitions i thought you could do one every day and still not get around to all in a year. then of course it's always changing.
note i said we "passed". unfortunately we only had three days... and a baby. a darling, gorgeous baby who nevertheless requires feeding and changing and entertaining. her idea of entertaining doesn't always include marble scupltures and modern art paintings- well, unless she is doing the painting!
so we did pass by a lot of places. we'll get back one day...
we did visit some good places. including the tower of london and tower bridge. percy had a feed in the tower. i had scones and jam- very british. we walked thru hyde park a couple of times and 'round the streets near our apartment. we did a block or two of oxford street but it was incredibly crowded. also had a burl thru harrods. yes, very flash, yada, yada; ultimately not a place i would spend any money- what's the point?
we walked past buckingham palace, nelsons column, the london eye, westminster abbey (20 pounds to go inside- i think not!) houses of parliament, the globe theatre, st pauls cathedral- short look inside, south bank and all the streets in between. i quite liked it. tried not to think of the cost of living, particularly conversions between aussie dollars and british pounds.
our first morning in london paul decided it was crunch time for a hair cut. he walked into the first hairdressers we came upon. they had time right then so while i walked around the streets and sticky-beaked with percy paul got his hair cut by a lovely aussie girl! yup, i suppose the odds aren't that high but it was entertaining to us.
we had a serviced apartment in london. this worked out much better than a hotel room as we could put percy to sleep and have a little life in the living area. still creeping around quietly but better than crouched on the floor eating take away in the dark! we decided on staying in this apartment building because lovely sarah and chris with their baby rose were going to be there at the same time. it was also well positioned near paddington train station and hyde park.
on saturday the six of us met in the morning to head off to the science museum. paul really wanted to see babbages' machine. proto computer thingo. he's a code monkey! of course he was interested. beside i was too and there are lots of other things to look at, plus it is free.
it was so nice to see sarah and chris and talk baby stuff with them. it was our first opportunity since we left australia. i was reassured that percy is tracking along about averagely. i think average is what parents hope for at this age. we'll go for genius in a few years!
again we wondered what it would take to get a posting to london for a few years. i could probably get a planning job relatively easily. planners are in demand all over. it's getting the right thing for paul that would pose more of a challenge. however, i'd miss the sun. do we want percy growing up not knowing there is a bright ball in the sky that gives heat and life? it was pretty grey the whole time we were there.
anyways, i'll attach some pics and see if darling miss is ready to get up from her nap. hopefully not just yet! nope, can't- errors happening. will later
note i said we "passed". unfortunately we only had three days... and a baby. a darling, gorgeous baby who nevertheless requires feeding and changing and entertaining. her idea of entertaining doesn't always include marble scupltures and modern art paintings- well, unless she is doing the painting!
so we did pass by a lot of places. we'll get back one day...
we did visit some good places. including the tower of london and tower bridge. percy had a feed in the tower. i had scones and jam- very british. we walked thru hyde park a couple of times and 'round the streets near our apartment. we did a block or two of oxford street but it was incredibly crowded. also had a burl thru harrods. yes, very flash, yada, yada; ultimately not a place i would spend any money- what's the point?
we walked past buckingham palace, nelsons column, the london eye, westminster abbey (20 pounds to go inside- i think not!) houses of parliament, the globe theatre, st pauls cathedral- short look inside, south bank and all the streets in between. i quite liked it. tried not to think of the cost of living, particularly conversions between aussie dollars and british pounds.
our first morning in london paul decided it was crunch time for a hair cut. he walked into the first hairdressers we came upon. they had time right then so while i walked around the streets and sticky-beaked with percy paul got his hair cut by a lovely aussie girl! yup, i suppose the odds aren't that high but it was entertaining to us.
we had a serviced apartment in london. this worked out much better than a hotel room as we could put percy to sleep and have a little life in the living area. still creeping around quietly but better than crouched on the floor eating take away in the dark! we decided on staying in this apartment building because lovely sarah and chris with their baby rose were going to be there at the same time. it was also well positioned near paddington train station and hyde park.
on saturday the six of us met in the morning to head off to the science museum. paul really wanted to see babbages' machine. proto computer thingo. he's a code monkey! of course he was interested. beside i was too and there are lots of other things to look at, plus it is free.
it was so nice to see sarah and chris and talk baby stuff with them. it was our first opportunity since we left australia. i was reassured that percy is tracking along about averagely. i think average is what parents hope for at this age. we'll go for genius in a few years!
again we wondered what it would take to get a posting to london for a few years. i could probably get a planning job relatively easily. planners are in demand all over. it's getting the right thing for paul that would pose more of a challenge. however, i'd miss the sun. do we want percy growing up not knowing there is a bright ball in the sky that gives heat and life? it was pretty grey the whole time we were there.
anyways, i'll attach some pics and see if darling miss is ready to get up from her nap. hopefully not just yet! nope, can't- errors happening. will later
Monday, October 15, 2007
starting again
being at home is the best.
it has proven difficult to settle in with percy tho. she obviously doesn't realise that this is home, no more new rooms, planes, buses, trains, and that we (or maybe just i) expected easy bliss with her sleeping and eating and starting to crawl and being a joy every second of the day. my expectation management system clearly crashed on landing at kingsford smith. if i had expected a shit time i probably would have been less upset. as it is i stupidly expected her to fall happily into our home life and for me to lighten up and enjoy the time i have with her.
it really is more like starting again tho. percy has to get comfortable in a new environment and a new bed again. could she have any memories of here from her first 10 weeks of life?
we want to stop wrapping her and giving her a dummy to sleep. unfortunately these are her cues to sleep and she doesn't unless she has both. we are working up to taking the dummy away this weekend. (say a prayer for us!) if we unwrap her she either knocks or takes the dummy out of her mouth with her now free hands. this might be alright for a short while but she'll invariably cry for it to be put back in. she can put it back in herself but only one time out of five and then sometimes she neglects to let go before she moves her hand away so out it comes again. my advice to new parents- if you can avoid it don't ever give your baby a dummy and certainly don't use it to get them to sleep. couldn't someone have told us this before we started?
on the positive sleep side. she is completely capable of self-settling. she is wide awake when we put her down for naps or the night and she puts herself to sleep. no more rocking or singing. so little pat on the back for small victories.
feeding!! crap, here i go again. percy, despite all the interest she shows in our food and us eating, isn't keen on her own food. we've tried tiny amounts of baby rice cereal, apple, pear, banana and avocado. she has fought and yelled and turned her head away after two spoon tips nearly every time. i've given up with other types of food; i'm just going to go with the rice cereal until she takes it well. i'm a little bouyed by her dinner feed yesterday. she had around six spoonfuls of cereal before she turned her head away. and no yelling. of course i've also learned that what happens one day does not mean squat for the next day. so we shall see.
second bad food front thing- she now also refuses a bottle. she took a bottle a few times before we left and i think twice while in kiev. now she won't. perhaps because it was formula and that shit tastes like it! can't say i blame her. so i suppose i will be expressing a lot from now on. unfortunately expressing is not one of my strong points. s'pose i better get better fast.
this is primarily a problem if i go back to work soon and darling perc has to go to day care. she'll be getting a bottle there...
last tuesday percy had her six month check-up and immunisation shots. the doctor is happy that she is a picture of health. this was reassuring to me- just being a paranoid first time mum. often when meeting people on the street they will guess her age; and it's always less than she is- i'm wondering if she is small for her age. am i malnourishing her? the doctor did weigh her at 7.9 kilos but that was with nappy and clothes on. those cloth nappies weigh a fair bit. i'll weigh her myself at bath time tonite. i estimate 7.5 would be the upper end of the mark.
she cried when the needles went in but was happy again a minute later.
i have some really down moments when percy is inexplicably crying. what is upsetting her? am i just not being interesting enough? i've got to admit she's not that interesting some of the time. i get bored with the same toys, songs, tickles, walks, books, changing nappies, baths, changing clothes, naps, sleeping, feeds, struggles, always looking at the clock... i wonder what else there is to life with children. everyone says it's the best thing that's ever happened to them. hmmmm... is it just me that finds it tedious? perhaps i'm a terrible mother but i can think of other things that i enjoy as much as i enjoy percy. that's probably my selfish side coming out there.
there is a huge juxtaposition here. i love and adore percy more than she'll ever know, i'll guide and protect her as best i can. and on occasion i wish i could send her back. i'm sure i'll come to regret writing this.
anyways, this blog is about percy; not me feeling miserable for myself. we're off to a mothers and babies yoga class in a hour so i better get my shit together.
it has proven difficult to settle in with percy tho. she obviously doesn't realise that this is home, no more new rooms, planes, buses, trains, and that we (or maybe just i) expected easy bliss with her sleeping and eating and starting to crawl and being a joy every second of the day. my expectation management system clearly crashed on landing at kingsford smith. if i had expected a shit time i probably would have been less upset. as it is i stupidly expected her to fall happily into our home life and for me to lighten up and enjoy the time i have with her.
it really is more like starting again tho. percy has to get comfortable in a new environment and a new bed again. could she have any memories of here from her first 10 weeks of life?
we want to stop wrapping her and giving her a dummy to sleep. unfortunately these are her cues to sleep and she doesn't unless she has both. we are working up to taking the dummy away this weekend. (say a prayer for us!) if we unwrap her she either knocks or takes the dummy out of her mouth with her now free hands. this might be alright for a short while but she'll invariably cry for it to be put back in. she can put it back in herself but only one time out of five and then sometimes she neglects to let go before she moves her hand away so out it comes again. my advice to new parents- if you can avoid it don't ever give your baby a dummy and certainly don't use it to get them to sleep. couldn't someone have told us this before we started?
on the positive sleep side. she is completely capable of self-settling. she is wide awake when we put her down for naps or the night and she puts herself to sleep. no more rocking or singing. so little pat on the back for small victories.
feeding!! crap, here i go again. percy, despite all the interest she shows in our food and us eating, isn't keen on her own food. we've tried tiny amounts of baby rice cereal, apple, pear, banana and avocado. she has fought and yelled and turned her head away after two spoon tips nearly every time. i've given up with other types of food; i'm just going to go with the rice cereal until she takes it well. i'm a little bouyed by her dinner feed yesterday. she had around six spoonfuls of cereal before she turned her head away. and no yelling. of course i've also learned that what happens one day does not mean squat for the next day. so we shall see.
second bad food front thing- she now also refuses a bottle. she took a bottle a few times before we left and i think twice while in kiev. now she won't. perhaps because it was formula and that shit tastes like it! can't say i blame her. so i suppose i will be expressing a lot from now on. unfortunately expressing is not one of my strong points. s'pose i better get better fast.
this is primarily a problem if i go back to work soon and darling perc has to go to day care. she'll be getting a bottle there...
last tuesday percy had her six month check-up and immunisation shots. the doctor is happy that she is a picture of health. this was reassuring to me- just being a paranoid first time mum. often when meeting people on the street they will guess her age; and it's always less than she is- i'm wondering if she is small for her age. am i malnourishing her? the doctor did weigh her at 7.9 kilos but that was with nappy and clothes on. those cloth nappies weigh a fair bit. i'll weigh her myself at bath time tonite. i estimate 7.5 would be the upper end of the mark.
she cried when the needles went in but was happy again a minute later.
i have some really down moments when percy is inexplicably crying. what is upsetting her? am i just not being interesting enough? i've got to admit she's not that interesting some of the time. i get bored with the same toys, songs, tickles, walks, books, changing nappies, baths, changing clothes, naps, sleeping, feeds, struggles, always looking at the clock... i wonder what else there is to life with children. everyone says it's the best thing that's ever happened to them. hmmmm... is it just me that finds it tedious? perhaps i'm a terrible mother but i can think of other things that i enjoy as much as i enjoy percy. that's probably my selfish side coming out there.
there is a huge juxtaposition here. i love and adore percy more than she'll ever know, i'll guide and protect her as best i can. and on occasion i wish i could send her back. i'm sure i'll come to regret writing this.
anyways, this blog is about percy; not me feeling miserable for myself. we're off to a mothers and babies yoga class in a hour so i better get my shit together.
Thursday, October 11, 2007
reflections on paris
we arrived at paris's gare du nord train station around 10:30pm, from frankfurt airport. the train journey was okay, if a little tedious. percy didn't sleep a lot but she was happy nonetheless.
exiting the train station we brushed off a few taxi offers and joined the official taxi queue. sometimes percy comes in really handy- we were bumped to the front of the line and got a nice taxi immediately.
using the official services was much cheaper than the spruikers too- 15 euro compared to 50!
our hotel was in a cute little lane only two blocks from the arc de triumph. little was a word i was going to associate a lot with paris. little on one hand and enormous on the other. our room was the littlest hotel room i have ever seen. no wonder they ignored our request for a cot- there was absolutely nowhere to put it. never mind, percy sleeps quite well in the bed with us.
we were buggered that nite so just pulled out our toothbrush and jammies, had a shower, made percy happy and fell asleep. the following morning i had my bitch to reception that the entire room reeked of cigarette smoke. every time we turned our heads a waft of fumes would rise from the pillows!! urrgghhh! i asked for us to be moved to a non-smoking room, to be advised that the whole hotel was non smoking but that some guests smoke anyways. what??!! given that we had to stay in this place another 4 nites i didn't smack the receptionist with the ash tray from our room and suggest that these be taken out of the rooms to reinforce the message that no smoking was permitted in the hotel. stupid europeans; i suppose if they all want to die from related diseases, let them.
i did ask that every piece of linen from our room and the pillows and the curtains be replaced. "sure, sure." hah- did not happen.
anyways, what is that saying? "such and such would be nice if it wasn't for the so and so's"?
i imagine europe would be a little bare without europeans tho.
onto the nice stuff!! and there was a lot of it! we walked under and around the arc de triumph, up and down the champs elysee, down to the eiffel tower, and caught the lift up it, around the louvre, thru the latin quarter and the hotel invalides, gawked at napoleons tomb, caught the cliched tour bus a few times, past the moulin rouge, around notre dame, rode the funicular up to a big church i forget the name of, caught the train out to the palace of versailles, ate in restaurants we couldn't afford, avoided buying suitcases full of souvenirs, admired many quaint streets, strolled thru gorgeous and lush gardens, gazed with envy at the mega expensive townhouses, wondered what we'd have to do to get a posting to paris for a year or two and generally fitted in as much as we could in four days with a bubba in tow.
the estimate is that to just glance at every item in the louvre would take nine months. we gave it a shot in four or five hours. plus fed percy in the napoleon suite and had some lunch ourselves. really loved it. could have spent much longer. the intention is to go back when percy is of an age to remember and appreciate it. that's the intention for every place we visited.
my highlight for paris would be the palace at versailles. i've always wanted to see the palace. recently the hall of mirrors was restored, discovering much more gold than was previously thought to be on the walls- it had been painted over!! i suppose i like the fantasy that another era, another time, another accident of birth i might have walked the halls and lived in the rooms?! oh well, just a harmless day dream.
once again percy was instrumental in skipping the queue! sometimes i think it might be worth taking a stroller with a cover, whacking a portable cd/tape player in it with a recording of baby cries and then seeing the sights! very naughty but oh so tempting. good for carrying water bottles and extra clothing too.
we caved in a bought a stroller in paris. (i boast that percy is an international shopper- stroller; paris, swim suit; honolulu, shirts; london and holland, toys; holland and kiev, and if they count- nappies everywhere!) actually, it's not that we didn't intend to get a stroller it's just that you'd need a hummer version in kiev because there are very few naviagable footpaths. we figured we'd wait until we got home. however it proved very useful in getting about on our holiday and equally so now we are back in syd. i'm not going to look at what it cost. we bought a very basic maclaren model however i think paris prices are higher than sydney prices and the aussie dollar doesn't stack up against the euro very well. all in all our trip put a sizeable dent in the savings for the next home deposit. never mind- how often do you get a plane ticket to europe and the usa and back for free? got to enjoy it while we can. which makes me sound rather ukrainian. uh oh! i'll try to explain the ukrainian mind set and attitudes in another entry.
our hotel included breakfast. this was great for me as i'm starving from about 3am. poor paulie couldn't find a decent coffee in the whole continent! he certainly wasn't going to get one in the hotel breakfast room. it did provide some cheese and yoghurt to pinch as provisions for the remainder of the day. i know, i know... you're supposedly not supposed to pinch breakfast foods for eating later. stuff that i say! it costs the hotel cents to provide breakfast and they charge 20 dollars; i'm getting as many meals out it as i can.
so provisioned up we generally got on the move around 8:30am. we walked a lot as most of what you'd like to see in paris is within walking distance. by 3 or 4pm i was definately knackered, paul was also getting sore feet and percy deserved a proper sleep in a bed rather than the sling or pram. we'd head back to the hotel for a kip and then try our hand at dinner. this was a game of dice as percy might sleep or she might scream. not a lot of middle ground. we pissed one restuarant off by ordering and then cancelling because we just could not get percy to settle and stop yelling. apparently the food was just about to be delivered to our table. boo hoo. we got chinese take away and ate it in our room instead. this was probably the only disappointing thing about the holiday- percy couldn't let us enjoy the night life. i don't mean clubs and pubs and raves- just dinners out, the night lights, the street atmosphere and romantic walks under the moon light. she went to bed at 7 or 8pm so generally so did we. there's nothing one can do in a tiny hotel room with a sleeping baby that won't wake her. oh well- next time.
i recommend getting a suite if you can afford it or a serviced apartment. at least bub can sleep in the bedroom and you can enjoy a little life in the other room.
we did manage a dinner out that she slept thru in a lebanese restuarant. unintentionally we have eaten in a lebanese restuarant in every city or country we have ever visited. well, they have good food!
paris was lovely. i definately want to go again.
Thursday, October 4, 2007
HOME!!
we are home! it's so nice to be here. back in our familiar bed, in our lovely neighbourhood, with our lovely neighbours and our sweetie pussy cats- who seem to have forgiven us for running off for so long; they came and slept on our bed the first nite. maybe because alison, house and cat sitter extradinaire looked after them so well. all our lovely books surrounding us, our little garden going feral, the sun shining...
all in all, very good and pleasing.
our last flight left honolulu at midnite and arrived in sydney at 7am tuesday 2nd october. percy was her usual marvellous flyer self. she slept the first five hours and then was up and down for the second five and quite happy the whole time. she was a little upset on the landing (first time), not wanting to suck either breast or dummy. we ended up dribbling a little water from a pop top bottle on her lips and tongue. either she really liked this or really liked her first taste of water but she stopped crying, looked around from more, sucked her lips enthusiastically and stuck out her tongue in a big open mouth for more. it was very cute.
while waiting in the customs queue we counted up the airports percy has been thru. it's a dozen! and usually each one twice- in and out. her passport, i'm sure, has more stamps in it than most adults.
on tuesday and wednesday percy had both paul and i home as well as both sets of grandparents visiting at some time. she enjoyed the attention i'm sure however she is also very clingy to me at the moment. i simply cannot leave the room without her crying out for me. regardless of who she is with, what she is doing. hopefully this won't last long. we are making a point of telling her that we are leaving the room, what we'll be doing and that we'll be coming back. and saying hello when we do come back.
paul went back to work yesterday. at 3pm percy and i went up to the union pub on the invitation of my old mums' group for a welcome home drink (orange juice.) this was super sweet of them and i so appreciated being able to catch up and see the other babies and ask questions.
percy is taking a little while to settle in. which is kind of odd because she took to each new hotel or city with little fuss. maybe we were expecting a shit time, being pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen and here at home are expecting ease and comfort to be the order of the day with minimal effort on our part. percy doesn't know yet that this is the last move; that this place is permanent. she's a little better every day to be honest- very little.
we've also introduced baby rice cereal into her diet! big step. she had 1 teaspoon at lunch and dinner yesterday before i read that it should be only once a day in the begining. oops.
well, got lots to do still. will tell you about percy's trip thru europe and usa as soon as i can.
all in all, very good and pleasing.
our last flight left honolulu at midnite and arrived in sydney at 7am tuesday 2nd october. percy was her usual marvellous flyer self. she slept the first five hours and then was up and down for the second five and quite happy the whole time. she was a little upset on the landing (first time), not wanting to suck either breast or dummy. we ended up dribbling a little water from a pop top bottle on her lips and tongue. either she really liked this or really liked her first taste of water but she stopped crying, looked around from more, sucked her lips enthusiastically and stuck out her tongue in a big open mouth for more. it was very cute.
while waiting in the customs queue we counted up the airports percy has been thru. it's a dozen! and usually each one twice- in and out. her passport, i'm sure, has more stamps in it than most adults.
on tuesday and wednesday percy had both paul and i home as well as both sets of grandparents visiting at some time. she enjoyed the attention i'm sure however she is also very clingy to me at the moment. i simply cannot leave the room without her crying out for me. regardless of who she is with, what she is doing. hopefully this won't last long. we are making a point of telling her that we are leaving the room, what we'll be doing and that we'll be coming back. and saying hello when we do come back.
paul went back to work yesterday. at 3pm percy and i went up to the union pub on the invitation of my old mums' group for a welcome home drink (orange juice.) this was super sweet of them and i so appreciated being able to catch up and see the other babies and ask questions.
percy is taking a little while to settle in. which is kind of odd because she took to each new hotel or city with little fuss. maybe we were expecting a shit time, being pleasantly surprised when that didn't happen and here at home are expecting ease and comfort to be the order of the day with minimal effort on our part. percy doesn't know yet that this is the last move; that this place is permanent. she's a little better every day to be honest- very little.
we've also introduced baby rice cereal into her diet! big step. she had 1 teaspoon at lunch and dinner yesterday before i read that it should be only once a day in the begining. oops.
well, got lots to do still. will tell you about percy's trip thru europe and usa as soon as i can.
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