112 + 8 Weeks

Ughhhh, I'm still sick!  My sore throat is finally getting a little better today, but I still have a cold and I still have conjunctivitis :(  Somehow Arley has not gotten sick, which I am SO thankful for.  I still haven't had the kids together for a full day by myself yet, thanks to Carmie going to school, and to my parents.  Carmie has had a good week.  A couple of weeks ago she discovered lollipops, and now she wants one ALL THE TIME.  I have found 'healthy' ones from the health food store, so I don't mind her eating them, but I do mind the sticky globs I am finding all over the house from her setting them down.  She is accepting life with her brother much better now, and in general, she is usually very sweet.  She is learning her ABC's - she only misses a few letters, and this morning she pointed to a shape and said "parallelogram", and it actually was one!  We had a nice trip to the beach again this week-end, and on Saturday, Carmen was fantastic at swimming.  Arley is doing well.  He is huge, and sleeping very well at night, one night he even slept all the way through (7pm bottle to 6:25am bottle).  He is having a bit of a hard time settling for naps.  We swaddle him up really tightly, and he grunts and squirms, hating it, but then when he does get his arms out, he can't sleep.  I go in to his room and he's just waving his arms around like a fan at a U2 concert.  He can't sleep with his uncontrollable arms, but he hates the swaddle.  So it takes me giving him a big cuddle, over and over again, until he sleeps.  It's frustrating, but I've learned that everything is just a phase, and we'll get through it.

Here are a couple of videos from this week:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p7Na8dw1Wnk&feature=youtu.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7yfcgrNoOI

111+7 Weeks

The great news for this week is that every night Arley has been having a bottle at 7pm, then only waking up for one feed in the night before his bottle at 7am!  He started this at 6 weeks old, which is SO GREAT!!  Carmen didn't do this until 4 months, so we are counting our lucky stars.  Arley is now 7 weeks old, and he is still fairly easy going.  He gets cranky sometimes, but I just have to put him in the sling and he calms right down and nods off.  Mum has him tonight, which I am very thankful for, because somehow this week I came down with both tonsillitis and conjunctivitis :(  Impressive, huh?  But apart from this, we have had a good week, with fantastic weather and a nice trip to the beach.  Carmie is still in swimming lessons, and having a blast but totally acting up - she wants to float when the other two kids are paddling, and jump in when she is supposed to be sitting on the edge.  But she loves it, so every Saturday I take her and hope that she is going to be well behaved.  The good thing is, she can "fall in" to the pool and turn around and pull herself out again, so the lessons have been worth it besides all the fun that she has.  Next thing I know I'll be taking Arley too, so I'd better get used to it :)

109,110 + 5,6 Weeks

These last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, so much so that I skipped a week posting on this blog and didn't even know it.  Arley is now 6 weeks and 2 days old, which I am very happy about.  This is because babies are supposed to be at their fussiest at 6 weeks, and things shouldn't get any worse than they are now, which is such a relief.  He is actually turning out to be an easy baby, albeit with fussy periods.  He generally only wakes up for two feeds in the night (from 7pm to 7am), and two nights last week he only woke up for one feed, which is fantastic for a baby under 6 weeks old.  He naps fairly well, as long as he has his 'wubbanub' with him (this is a stuffed toy with a dummy/pacifier attached to it).  When he doesn't nap well, I can put him in the sling and he tends to fall back asleep. Arley started smiling at five weeks, and at his six week check up on Tuesday he measured in at the 85th percentile for height and the 50th percentile for weight, so he is growing very well, and taking after his sister.  I still haven't really done a day with both kids on my own yet, thanks to getting lots of help from Mum and Geoff.  Arley spends one night a week there so that Jeffrey and I can catch up on sleep.  They also take him or Carmen whenever we need help, and Mum has spent the last two Fridays here helping me with them both.  Carmen has been a bit sick, but remains in good spirits.  She seems to really like her brother, with the only danger being her crushing him to death when she tries to hug him.  Carmen is such a clown - she has spent four of the last five days wearing a party hat, wherever she goes.  In fact, she is wearing a sparkly green one today while she is at school.  She is loving school, by the way, and I am loving that she is loving it :)