The Promised Update

Before I go into how the last couple of weeks have been, I thought I'd announce which of the blognamesI'll be using when I talk about N around here. Thank you all for the suggestions - they were all good but the one I like the best is dg's. So, from here on in, N will be referred to as Cirrus. It's nicely in keeping with the blogtitle and is a pretty good name all on its own. And, of course, it leaves plenty of choices for any other children we may have. ;-)

Anyway, here is a potted history of Cirrus' life so far:

Feed.
Sleep.
Crap.
Cry.

What do you mean you want more? That's all that babies of his age do. Oh, all right, then.

Apart from the first couple of days (which are always difficult as parents and baby have to adjust to a new way of living), it hasn't been that difficult so far. Yes, it has been hard work and very tiring but when a baby is only capable of doing the four things listed above, there isn't all that much to learn.

Probably the most difficult bit so far was getting him to breastfeed properly. That took a few days but we got there eventually. I say we, but really I had nothing to do with it at all - it was all down to L and Cirrus. Since then he has been feeding very well and, when weighed yesterday, came in at 10lb 8oz - 9 ounces more than last Tuesday when he was back up to his birth weight having lost a few ounces in the first week (which is completely normal and not something I knew before). If he carries on like that he'll be growing out of his clothes in just a few weeks!

The realy difficulat part of the day is the late evening. Cirrus is starting to sleep for longer periods overnight, going up to six hours between feeds, but getting him to sleep before midnight is tricky. Over the last two weeks I was staying up with him, while L went to bed, and sleeping in later to catch up. Of course, now I'm back at work I can't do that and L isn't as comfortable doing it as I was.

What follows are a few observations I've made since Cirrus was born.

The first few weeks of parenthood are hard work with very little reward. When a baby's interaction with you is limited to feeding and crying, it can be difficult to find the joy in it. It is there but you have to search for it. You find it in the expressions on his face while he sleeps, the way he stretches as he wakes and the flicker of a smile he gives you every so often. Sometimes that's just wind but at other times it is because he is content.

People think about babies in a sort of anthropomorphic way. They ask you if the baby's behaviour is good. The answer they want to hear is "Yes, it is". They just stare at you blankly when you say a baby can be neither good nor bad, it just is.

When it comes to presents, the baby gets the most and the mother gets some but the father gets nothing (although that's not quite true - I have been given a present but that can wait for another post)

Babies are very funny when they have the hiccups or sneezes

Plus a whole load of others my tired brain is having trouble remembering right now.