Bath time

      Hi!  I am a water bunny.

Hi Everyone,

Sophie's favourite time of the day is the evening bath.

Unlike most babies (I am speculating ofcourse!), she likes a hot bath, and I mean boiling hot, none of that  luke warm stuff either.

I think this was because I had a hot bath every night during pregnancy.  You see...when I was sore from the head down, and carrying all this extra weight but unable to go to the pool because of my eczema, that was the only solution.

I found as Sophie grew inside me, the hot water seemed to calm her down too. Perhaps because I was calm, and that had a spill on effect?! I'm not sure, but its paid off now!

Her first three baths were drawn by my mum and Andrew, and they were regulation luke warm.  She whimpered the whole time and looked at us with pleading puppy dog eyes.  So we made it like a military operation and resigned ourselves to this as some kind of baby torture scenario.

Then I took over, and on a whim decided to up the temperature.  She took to it like a duckling to water.  Before long we were getting splashes and a very placid baby.

Andrew was against daily washing at first, but after a couple of weeks, even he was convinced that we have a water baby on our hands.

During her most colicky, she would be crying her head off all the way till we dip her foot in the water.  Then miraculously it's like a switch has been flicked and she stops all her struggling and crying and kind of splay her body and turns very still.

Once she is in the water and we start wetting her hair (gotta keep them clean too, right?!), then her body completely relaxes and she gets this serene and very pleased look on her face.

Very occasionally we get a small smile, but its like we are not there.  She just chills out and blocks everything out to enjoy her carefree moment.

By the second month, Andrew added skin to skin with her before her bath, and that seemed to help father and daughter bond, and also calms her down too.  They also look absolutely adorable nestled together!

Since she has all that hair, it's a two person job to dry it too.  Andrew stands in the bathroom with the hair dryer and I stand just inside the bathroom with her held in my arms.  The look on her face is like a lizard basking in the first rays of the sun after a cold night.  Quite something to witness as she will be placid in the water, but might cry her eyes out putting clothes on.  But once she feels the hot air from the hair dryer, she is back to being placid again.  Weird huh?!

Since we don't want her nakedness all over the Internet, you'll just have to settle with her in her favourite bath towels.

      Sophie zoned out from the bath.

48 hours of sleeplessness

Hi Everyone,

Sophie and I suffered from horrible sleep deprivation on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Actually...to be perfectly honest, it started last Sunday night when she just would not go to sleep.

Andrew and I have developed these sleep techniques where we go through the various arsenals at our disposal:

Shushing, Natures Sway sling (Andrew's preferred method) with steps, ring sling, tummy to tummy, swaddling, bath, hair drier, skin to skin, bouncy/rocking bassinet...etc

Well, by Tuesday day, she did not sleep much between 7pm till 2 am.  It may be a delayed reaction to being fawned over by multiple colleagues at Andrew's work.

Then Wednesday, apart from a solid block between 2am to 11am, she did not have any decent sleep till 10pm that night!

This was what happened:

Feed, nappy change, burp, put to sleep, sleep for 5 minutes (max), wake from something small ie: nappy issue, hunger, her own hands, imaginary god-knows-what!  Then she's awake and we had to start again.

It just got really depressing since its kind of like a torture sequence for me.  I had to do this 5 times (!!!) on Tuesday night.  The weird thing was, she was really easy to put to sleep!  It only takes 5 minutes of swinging on my legs and she's out like a light...so I thought!

As soon as I move her off my legs, boom! she's awake again.

I tried with swaddling her before the leg swing - didn't work, still woke up, tried with her swaddling mattress - still woke up.  In the end she fell asleep on my chest.

Looking back, I should have been a bit more clued in, but by Wednesday when she put me through a repeat of Tuesday night during the day, I was on my last legs.

Andrew came home early to help.  He tried the sling, didn't work, he tried the buggy - worked for 20 minutes.  In the end we called Plunket for help.  The nurse was puzzled and couldn't advise us except to go seek medical advice at the local A&E.

As we were walking dejectedly to the A&E, Andrew and I reviewed her symptoms:  nothing out of the ordinary except her refusal to stay asleep!  She had no temperature (36 degrees), had no weird rash or discolouration, no colicky crying.  In fact she's down right placid when we set her down and leave her.

So we turned around half way and went back home.  She had a feed, we changed her nappy, I resigned myself to forget everything the sleep nurse and the helpline nurse from Plunket taught me and let her sleep cuddled on my chest and voila!  She's out cold and stayed that way.

So today all we did was cuddle sleep koala style.

I don't care what Plunket says...I just want to sleep!

Six week terror!

Hi Everyone,

Last night was the epic night of terror Andrew and I have ever experienced in terms of night crying.

It puts colic crying to shame!

Here's the series of unfortunate events:

9:30 am: second feed of the morning

10:15 am: Doctor visit where she was asleep in stroller

11:30 am: woke up for feed while visiting God Mother Karyn

12:30 pm: back in stroller and asleep till back home, then woke up

1:30 pm: first feed of afternoon, would not go to sleep, already over tired

2:15 pm: took her for car ride in hopes of falling asleep in the car.  Howled in gut wrenching style the supermarket isles, then in car with little bits of sleep mixed in, woke up when we got home

4:00 pm: feed, then fell asleep on my chest, woke up when I put her into cot

6:00 pm: feed again

6:30 pm: bath time, no sleep even though we tried to wear her with the swing

8:00 pm - 12:30 am: we tried everything! Cluster feeding, nappy changes, sushing, swinging, swaddling, burping, patting, dummy, pinky sucking etc.  Andrew got so desperate he drove her around for 30 minutes!  Was going around another 30 min when she woke up howling again.

1:00-2:00 am: sucking on me till she falls asleep - finally!!!

Swing baby swing

Hi Everyone,

We've been trying to wear our baby for the last week, and boy is it a learning curve!

We went out and bought the Nature Sway swing, which I found was really rough on her skin.  So I swaddle her before I pop her in.  Since I'm so small, I had to adjust it to the shortest setting and the strap really cuts into my shoulders. 

 Works great for Andrew as he is so tall.

Then I ordered a open adjustable one online.

It allows Sophie to be in an upright position (better known as The Koala -also the nickname my mum gave her).

It's really hard to get right every time, but hopefully with more practice, I will get the hang of it!

5 March

Hi Everyone,

Today was a wet weathered day where the southerly was blowing and the rain was coming down hard.

We got out the trusty heater first time this year and Sophie spent most of the day enjoying its warmth.

4 March

Hi Everyone,

Today we went for a walk in the city during the morning, while the weather was lovely and warm.

Then we got home for a nice long nap where Sophie likes to sleep in her kneeling position

Close up of her little toes - it doesn't look comfortable does it?

Daily updates 2 March

Hi Everyone!

Just trying a new format where I load something everyday, or at least try to with a photo at the very least.

Now that Sophie and I had a month to get used to this new situation, it is exciting to report her daily progress with you all.

Here is Sophie with her daddy in the morning for breakfast (his, not hers)

And we attempted the local farmer's market in the morning too!

In the afternoon we trailed her on the Nature Sway baby sling, but without much success...  Hopefully tomorrow will bring us more progress!