The Prince and The Pea-ch.

A baby and a kitten...the puuurfect combination? I got my kitten as my twentieth birthday present and the attitude from others was, "are you taking on too much?" The general rulings on having a cat with a small baby in the house is to be very aware of where they both are at all times, which of course I planned to be. They say "cats sleep on babies faces, they want the warm and the milk", now don't get me wrong, peach loves to be warm and is partial to the odd drink of milk, but not once had she tried to sleep, or do anything else for that matter, to Connors head, oh other than wash it. It's not just once the baby is here you need to worry about being a cat owner, during the pregnancy there is a risk of Toxoplasmosis, an infection with a parasite. One way you can come into contact with the parasite is through...cat poo. Although I knew about this dangerous, and potentially fatal to the baby, parasite it didn't put me off, it just meant I couldn't clean the litter tray out, and I wasn't gong to argue with that. I did worry a little once Connor was born, would she scratch him? Purposefully or just playing she could hurt him, but my fears were soon forgotten for as soon as we came home it was as if she knew, she knew she wasn't to hurt him, that he was to be looked after, protected even. The only time she has touched him is to lick his head as to wash him and take care of him, and even now he's getting to the grab and pinch stage she seems to genuinely enjoy the rough "play" and still won't harm him, after all they are both still only babies. And I just know that as they both grow up together they will become as thick as thieves and just as he's taught her to be a protector of him, she'll teach him to be respectful to animals.... And I'm sure they will help each other in playing tricks on mummy and daddy!

Connor by Mummy

I love him so much.

The Family Bed Pt II.

How not to sleep with baby.

This link adds on to "The Family Bed". A better explanation of what not to do when co-sleeping! HA!

Sooo Big.

To think he started out less than the size of a grain of sand amazes me. It seems as though he grows a little every day, constantly changing.

The first scan, that very first glimpse of him, took my breathe away. To see his tiny heart beating and the perfect formation of a little person, with arms and legs, fingers and toes, almost brought me to tears. And as my not yet showing belly was poked and prodded he wriggled, stretched and rolled over. Seeing the movements on the screen was proof of what was happening inside of me but it didn't yet seem real, how could he be so active and me not feel a thing? It was to be another fourteen weeks before I would start to feel the motions of a roll or the punch of a flailing arm or a kicking leg. By this point I had had, what I thought would be, the last look at my son until he was in my arms. We had discovered he was a him and knew he was in perfect health, but it still seemed so far, another twenty weeks, til I could see his face.

I had measured big throughout my pregnancy, right from the get go, so when I got to thirty three weeks and was measuring thirty seven they offered me the chance to see him one last time before his birth, which naturally I jumped at. The last scan was primarily to estimate his weight and in doing so find out for sure if I had a big baby and then decide wether they would have to deliver him early. This was not the case as the sonographer put it, "he just has a bigger than normal swimming pool". I relished the fact I could see my boy at this stage of pregnancy, only seven weeks from the end, the detail was astounding, each strand of hair on his head was visable on screen, and if I hadn't of found out he was a boy before I would have been able to guess it now.

What they said about my waters was right, we found out at six o'clock in the morning on the eighth of October when what seemed like a waterfall had sprung from between my legs, but that's another story. Connor Joseph Roberts was born seven pounds eight ounces at 12:28 PM on the ninth of October 2011, now nearly doubled in weight the only way is up.

The Family Bed.

After having Connor, after a thirty hour labour and one night in hospital both without any sleep, I thought once I got him home it would get easier, it was infact the opposite. With constant visitors during the day, when he slept, night times seemed to last a lifetime, not that I begrudged anyone wanting to see the new addition, I might even go as far as to say I enjoyed the attention, for the first time it seemed I had done something people where genuinely in awe of. That first week as I look back on it was just a blur, one very long day after another soon became merged together, not helped by the fact that I had chosen to feed him myself, meaning I was doing the night shifts alone.

Alone, that's a key word, Connor, it soon became apparent, did not like being alone, I think it was the constant holding and cuddling from both of our large families that got him used to sleeping snuggled up with somebody or maybe that's just the way he is, "my own little King of the clingdom". Each time I lay him in his crib the screaming would start and it did not end until he was picked back up again, this made for exhausting parenting and I soon decided it couldn't go on much longer.

Just over one week old I took drastic action, did the unspeakable, and let our baby into our bed. Not that this meant I was any more able to sleep than the previous nights, the constant worry of rolling on him or him suffocating was enough for me to wake up on an half hourly basis, between feeds, to check that he was still ok. However it shocked me just how quickly we all adjusted to the new sleeping arrangement, there was three in the bed and nobody was saying roll over. I know to a lot of people this seems like a risk not worth taking but it's what worked for us, and as I researched the subject the more it became apparent that more families embrace co-sleeping than admit to it, knowing this though still didn't stop me blushing and feeling a little ashamed when people questioned our bedtime routine.

As the weeks went on another concern took over, was I setting myself up for a fall in the future?, was I making my boy too dependant on us? So at three months I decided it was time for Connor to get to know the feeling of sleeping alone, he was only waking once or twice in the night now and was sleeping about five hours at a time. I thought I was in for a nightmare, but he really surprised me going straight to sleep with nothing but a gentle back rub and that's when the realisation hit me, it's not Connor with the closeness problem it's me!

Now sleeping in his crib alone I still keep him pulled right up to the side of my bed, I like to say its for feeding purposes, but really it's so that when I wake up in the middle of the night I can still check he is sleeping soundly.

I'm sure I'll learn to let go a bit soon, I hope so anyway or he'll be coming back to work with me!

                      

Splish Splash, Taking a Bath.

  

We now, selfishly really, find it easier for Connor to get in the big bath with us rather than using his own baby bath, all the leaning over and balancing trying to avoid major spillages whilst moving a bath of water from room to room was starting to get old.

At first I was worried for him in the depth of our water, as I worry for him in most things, but I was soon to find that our boy is actually quite a water baby. Not to mention the fact that he apparently extremely enjoys being naked. These things have now made bath time very active and enjoyable for all of us.

After seeing the success of being in the water at home we decided to take the plunge, literally, and head to the pool. Once again a wave of fear came over me at the thought of my little one being dropped under the water and unable to help himself, but, just as before, all my fretting became unjust as he revelled in being in the water. Tentative at first but quickly growing more confident by the end of our first session his legs were kicking, his arms flapping and he'd even dropped his face to water level leaving his eyes and nose red and running, not even this could deter him from the fun we were having together.

His first swim took place at twelve weeks and we have made it, at least, a weekly routine and up to now, whilst at the pool anyway, not one single tear has been shed........ And boy does he sleep when we get home.