1 Month!

It's hard to believe that our little piglet is 1 month old, he's growing so quickly although I wouldn't repeat the first 2 weeks even if someone paid me, OK maybe if someone paid me A LOT, and I mean a real lot. I'm sad to see him getting so big but at the same time I know that as he gets older mama and papa will get more sleep.

It was Mother's Day this week in England and we celebrated in style! To start our day, Josh got to have an extra hour of sleep while I woke up to tend to the little one. I pointed out the flaw in this plan to which Josh replied, well it is Mother's Day after all so you're just tending to your duty, not exactly the breakfast in bed approach I was after but something tells me those days ended when this 9 pound bundle entered the delivery suite.  By the way, I'm still trying to figure out why exactly they have named it the delivery suite,  as the room didn't exactly meet my standards for a suite, and I wasn't offered a glass of champagne after the birth, but I digress. We rounded out our Mother's Day with a nice glass of bubbly and a trip to Crafty Monkeys in Penrith where Josh hit the potter's wheel and Cyril and I decorated a clock for his nursery. Unfortunately, I was unable to add a few last minute touches because all 3 of our bellies began to rumble, and when Cyril is hungry you better get that milk in his mouth pronto or his arms start flailing, fists start punching, and fingernails start clawing!

Cyril enjoying his Winnie the Pooh book.

This week my goal has been to start Cyril on more of a routine, mostly because when my parents arrived Cyril decided it would be fun to wake up every hour from 230am until 730am. Once you've had a night where your baby sleeps every 4 hours it is a huge shock to have him return to the sleeping patterns he had when he was days old. Josh told me to see if there was a book that could help us on his early morning wakings. I decided to purchase Gina Ford's The Complete Sleep Guide for Contented Babies and Toddlers. What Josh forgot about me was that I'm a bit of a perfectionist and am far too neurotic for a book that has a schedule included. I began the routine like a drill sargent frantically trying to wake Cyril when the book said he should be awake and force him to eat and sleep when the book instructed him to do so. After a day of this he did sleep for 6 hours, but that was probably because I had exhausted him by forcing him into the routine. The second day of attempting to follow the routine he didn't sleep so well and I was exhausted from trying to get him to fit into the schedule. As a guide the book is great, and I have learned some new things but Cyril and I can't keep up with this schedule, after all he's only a baby and they're unpredictable. While I'm in full support of having some sort of a routine, Josh and I have always said that we'd rather be laid back and flexible about raising the boy and that he should fit into our schedule not the other way around.  Therefore we're back to making sure he eats at least every 3 hours during the day and that he's awake for a good hour after eating before he goes down for a nap. We stick to this loose schedule from 7am until 7pm and then in the evenings he's allowed to sleep and eat as he sees fit. It's worked pretty well for us and allows us to get out of the house. Gina Ford instructs you to put the baby to sleep in her crib upstairs in the dark during the day, I'm not a fan of this as it means you're confined to the house, which I believe caused my depression in the early days.

Cyril and Papa sleeping in on Mothers Day

Josh told a joke about a priest, whore, & Avocado

Rocking my onesie, artwork by Stefan Bast

Feeding Cyril in Grandma and Granddad Soper's garden

Cousin Love

Bath time with mama :)

Enjoying a pint after a walk around the lake in Grasmere, even my dad had one!

This week my parents arrived in England, thank goodness! It's been really nice to have the company and the extra help around the house has been amazing. I think the first couple weeks of Cyril's life wouldn't have been nearly as difficult if Josh and I had a few extra hands. I was even able to go for a run this morning because I knew my mom was looking after the boy, although when I came in from my jog Cyril was absolutely beside himself screaming on the floor with arms and legs thrashing, and my mom was no where to be found! I found out later that she ran up to use the toilet before he started screaming, likely excuse :)

Cyril's accomplishments this week included rolling over from his belly to his back, lifting his head for extended periods of time, following objects placed in front of him, smiling at everyone, including himself in the mirror, and he's started to make noises which I believe to be the beginning stages of him communicating. He's also been rocking out some really rad clothing and shoes.

Rad flat cap, hand knit by Ami Aika, and a pair of blue converse shoes :)