Two Months

I can hardly believe my sweet baby is already two months old, it's seems like a lifetime ago that I was sleep deprived, depressed, and in excruciating pain, not to freak anyone out that is about to have a baby! I've actually been meeting up with some new mums and one of the girls had a really easy labour and didn't struggle at all to breastfeed, in fact she was out and about with her baby girl 3 days after she was born. I wish I could say the same, fortunately Cyril and I have made tremendous progress since then and I have one well behaved and content baby, well most of the time.

On Sunday a group of girls and I went to a friend's house for a Baby Calm Workshop and Cyril was very content the whole 4 hours, smiling and interacting for a good portion of the time, and sleeping in my arms the rest of the time. From the books I have been reading since Cyril was born I didn't feel the workshop really benefited me, especially since Cyril is already sleeping 7 hour stretches at night and he rarely cries during the day. However, she did show me how to properly use my moby wrap and suggested that I wear Cyril in the evenings when he starts to get fussy, that was the best advice I could have gotten and I now prefer the moby wrap to the baby bjorn! I actually let him have his naps in it during the day now because he sleeps slightly longer snuggled up on my chest which means that I get more accomplished. Another bonus is that I never use my back to lift anything anymore and I think with all these squats I'm doing I should have my figure back in no time!

When Cyril was first born I couldn't possibly imagine ever having a second child, I used to tell my sister in law Sally that she was crazy for feeling broody while holding Cyril, however now that we have emerged from the deep waters I can actually imagine having a second child, I even caught Josh talking about the future and saying both our children the other day, haha!

Another part of me wants a second child because I felt like such a failure with Cyril in the early days since everything that could go wrong did go wrong. I know I shouldn't feel this way because Cyril has been thriving since day one, and has yet to be sick despite the fact that we're bottlefeeding, but a part of me can't help but feel guilty about not breastfeeding. I don't think I'll ever come to terms with it if I don't give it another go the second time around, especially since I just found out that my midwife is retiring to become a doula! Part of the reason for the failure was due to a lack of support in the beginning, I suppose I could have researched breastfeeding more, but I really believe that until you're faced with an infant all the research I did was for waste. Now that I've had 8 weeks of trial and error with Cyril I feel like I've learned so much, far more than I did when reading all of those books and articles in preparation for the birth. I feel experienced in Cyril's language finally, which is probably why he only cries for 10-20 minutes in a 24-hour period, and part of that crying happens because I can't get the bottle heated up quickly enough! I can tell when he's hungry, tired, overstimulated, bored, lonely, and full of wind just by his cry and body language, something that completely baffled me several weeks ago.

Anyway, on to the fun stuff we've been up to! This week Cyril had his first swimming lesson, which began with him throwing up the contents of his entire bottle in the car, let's just say I need to completely take the car seat apart to clean it, ugh, just add it to the list of things I need to do! I also had a lovely cuppa tea (said with Lancashire accent) and walk with some new friends. It's nice to finally meet people my age, especially since we're all going through similar challenges, actually our babies were all born within days of each other! We also went rock climbing as a family, visited the local pub for a pint of Guinness, and had an early morning hike in the lake district. Today Cyril and I are headed to Penrith for lunch with some other mums and then to Bumps & Bundles which is a lovely social group.

Things I couldn't live without this month: 

Moby Wrap | Essential Keys To Your Newborn's Sleep By Nicole Johnson | The New Contented Little Baby Book By Gina Ford | Pink Piggy | Lamaze Octopus | Calendula Nappy Rash Cream | Angel Care Baby Monitor | Snuzpod

Things I've learned this month: 

1.  If you wake Cyril up at 10pm to feed him he will sleep until 530am. I was afraid to try this technique because Cyril would go to bed at 7pm and sleep until 2am and then after a quick feed he wouldn't wake up until 6am, however a friend has been waking up her baby at 10pm and she's managed to sleep until 530/6 and suggested I try it. I was so afraid to try it but the other night Cyril was pretty fussy and he woke up at 10pm so I thought, what the heck. Rather then settling him back down I decided to change his nappy, to wake him up more, and offer him a feed. He only took an ounce but he still lasted until 530! Last night I picked him up out of his crib comatosed and fed him his bottle without him waking up once and he lasted until 430am, yay for my baby!

2. Rather than making up your formula bottle before every feed, boil the kettle and fill your bottles up to 2 ounces. Place these bottles in the refrigerator. Boil another kettle and fill up the Tommee Tippee Travel Bottle Warmer with boiled water. Pre-measure 5 scoops of formula into Avent Milk Powder Dispenser. When the baby wakes for a feed, take your bottle out of the refrigerator, add 3 ounces of the boiled water in your canister to the 2 ounces of cooled boiled water, pour in your pre-measured formula, stir with a spoon, and voila you have a bottle that is the perfect temperature for your baby in less than a minute! No more waiting painfully as your baby screams for your bottle to cool.

I had more photos to share but I forgot to hit the upload button before I left for the weekend so I'll have to include them in my next post! 

Enjoy the three day weekend, Happy Cinco De Mayo and happy one year anniversary to my amazing brother Benny and his beautiful wife Lane, we love and miss you and cannot wait to party with you in NYC the end of August!