Three weeks old

Rowan is now far more alert than when we first brought him home, and it's really nice to see him take an interest in his surroundings. Although we would appreciate it if his interest started earlier in the day and didn't extend into the late evening/night.

Love the look of interest on his face!

That said, we have had a few three hour blocks of sleep during the night over the last four nights, and it's been bliss!  I'm not sure if this will persist, or whether it's just a short-term thing, but we're enjoying it while it lasts.  Whilst not forcing a routine, we're trying to establish a pattern of bedtime and daytime.  So we change him into day clothes in the morning and vice versa for night, keep the lights really low at night (thank goodness for the Lumie!), I don't make eye contact or speak during night feeds, and we put him upstairs in the Moses basket between 7pm-9pm, depending on when he falls asleep. We know he's too young for a rigid timed routine, but it's all good practise for us if nothing else!

'Stay asleep...'

As my family are currently suffering with colds, and it'll be a while before they can see Rowan, I've added a few random photos below to keep them going!  I also realised that my mother-in-law can't access the update photos I've been adding to Facebook.

Apologies for the baby photo heavy nature of this post; it's not because I'm turning into one of those obsessive 'look!  My baby just blinked, so I took a photo that obviously the whole world will be interested in!' mums.

First day at home.  9 days old.

First bath.  Rowan really enjoys bathtime luckily!  He's not so keen on the drying aspect.
We regularly baste him in olive oil as it helps with dry skin without being too harsh.  We've
threatend to roast him a couple of times if he doesn't sleep. 

 Angelic pose

Not so angelic pose

It's surprising how quickly you get used to handling 
a baby.  Initially I was afraid to pick him up in case
I snapped his neck, or his head caved in! 

Quizical look.  Roughly translated as

'where's the boob?'

An overdue update

Poor neglected blog. Started a couple of years ago with some sporadic posting, only to be superceded by a new blog that actually gets updated regularly. Well, I blame the coil. Since I've had the blasted thing I've been too tired to do anything (drawing cartoons is a pretty sedentary activity, so energy expenditure is kept to a minimum!) Basically, for the last 8 months, Ive spent my time alternating between bleeding for 2-3 weeks, then being so tired and bloated I find motivation difficult. I've not run or done much exercise as movement seems to incur more blood. I'm gradually turning into human jelly.
Crafting and sewing that involves concentrating on not driving a sharp needle over my hand has also been put on a back burner. In short, I've done naff all to blog about, and when I have, I've not had the inclination to write about it!

So, back to the doctors next week to discuss maybe removing the coil. I'm not really sure how much 'settling in' time in it needs, but coming up to three quarters of a year seems enough. If you are of a sadistic nature, you can read about my experience of getting the coil here.

I do have a few posts lined up for this blog though, involving a recent holiday to Deer Park Lodge and the return of the fornicating frogs in our garden. When these will appear here, I don't yet know!