8 Weeks on

Hey,
I'm back !! :)
And so much to talk about. Just had so little time with work and looking after my son.

So yesterday my son Jake was 8 weeks old. Time flies !

He's doing well, sleeping most of the night and started talking...
Well I say talking, making more noises than just "Waaaa".
Although I admit when he first was going "Mwaaa" it was very cute !

(That can become less cute after an hour.. )


So back to the point of this blog..how am I coping !

Well at the start I let my wife do everything. She is amazing - have I told you that before.
I was a bit worried about holding , carrying etc, so at the start she passed him to me sitting down etc. 

But then I learnt ways to pick him up with one hand (from the ankle right?) and I became more confident with handling him.

Feeding is fairly easy - I don't produce milk, so not much I can do.
Although I have fed him with the bottle a few times and he's fine with that.

A half doughnut cushion is great to position him and then use my hand to feed him, and my left hand to just make sure he doesn't fall.

Winding him is a bit harder, but I can throw him over my shoulder okay. 

Changing is also fairly easy once I got used to it.
The changing mat on the cot is a must, great hight to change him. And because it is the same place I change him, he has learnt the routine and is very calm when I change him.
I tried with the leg ties I mentioned previously, but to be honest I seemed to get myself and his feet more tangled.
I might try again with them, but at the moment I'm coping without them.

He seems to stay still for me when I'm changing his nappy or clothes. Either a good baby or being nice to me !

He's been out a lot in the 8 weeks he's been here
to pubs numerous times (taking after his Aunt !)
To a friends wedding where he was good all day and night. Even let me have a drink or two
And 2 weeks ago we took him to the Olympics. that's a whole other post, but we had a great time.

So far everything is great :)

Olympics

So a long time ago before Jake was born we decided to get tickets for London 2012.
I managed to get 2 sets of tickets for myself and my wife. The first set were for the basketball and the second for a day in the stadium watching the Athletics.
When we realised that Jake was going to be born and he would only be 6 weeks old then we thought we'd have  to stay at home and not see any of the Games. However as we had been going out a lot and he was a good baby, we thought we'd give it a go.

The first fun was the train, realising that I now need to look for all the lifts everywhere which was not something that I was used to. And the amount of prams often meant I had to let the wife use the lift and walk up the stairs.
For anyone who went to the games they know that the Games Helpers were amazing and very helpful.
The day we went was in the first week and therefore the stadium itself wasn't open which actually was useful as there were 80,000 less people there in the park.

Plenty of changing facilities and there were enough seats that my wife could feed Jake so it was great.
For the actual Basketball games my wife wore the baby carrier as this was a lot easier than trying to hold him all the time. Although for the second match there were spare seats that we could use, save walking up 50 steep stairs.

Atmosphere was great, and I think Jake loved it too !

I have a son !

I've been so busy I haven't had time to do a proper blog.
But I want to let readers know that on Wednesday Morning 20th june.
Our son Jake was born.


Sorry for the lack of posts, things have been very busy. (although I post dated this blog posting)


Will post more soon

Just waiting ......

So 5 days left before the due date. (Arghhhh!!!!!!!!!!!)


Getting very real now, specially when my wife gets the odd stomach cramp.
I'm patiently waiting and not stressing at all ! (well.....) , my wife though is bored of sitting at home and just wants it to arrive.
Won't be long ! :)


Anyway I thought whilst I've got a bit of spare time I'd write about two useful things I have. Well they look useful, have to see in practice if they are.


Firstly I got a changing mat with sloped edges rather than straps. One from Mother Care that fits over the cot did the trick, although the colour choice is rather poor.  The mat sits on top of any decent cot/cot bed and has a strap to hold it securely. the slopes are also quite steep so a young baby is unlikely to roll off.


I've decided to start with this one as being quite high up I think it should make it easier when changing nappies. also if I find I have a little wriggler then I can always buy one with straps in the future.


The other thing I ordered were Eazy Feet. This is a small neoprene gadget that fits over the babies feet and allows you hold both feet up with one hand whilst you change the nappy. Think of them as material handcuffs for baby feet. They aren't available in shops, but the inventor still has some stock left. They are meant to be useful for two handed people also !


I'll let you know soon when I'm covered in baby poo if they are useful !


So everything is sorted now, we just have to relax and wait....




Useful links : 


Eazy Feet - Email inventor at lisa@lisney.net 


Mothercare Universal Cot-Top Changer 


  

Pushchairs - One handed review

When I started this blog I wanted to try and update this more than I have done, but preparing for a baby is busy work and so doesn't leave me much time to write about it.

So anyway 24 days left till due date and we have had all our furniture etc delivered.

This includes the shiny new pushchair / pram / carry-cot / travel system (I never know  what to call them)

We were looking around for a while for something that was easy to use with one hand. The problem is most prams, for safety, like to ensure you use both hands to do everything. For someone with the lack of use of both hands, this is very annoying. 

I want to be able to do everything myself, taking the pushchair out of the car, assembling it, adjusting it, using it and taking it apart. So I did a lot of testing.

The main issue was folding the pushchair with one hand. My wife and I had great fun in various shops trying to fold things up, take them apart with one hand, which did mean we got a few odd looks but to be honest all the staff were very helpful. Several pushchairs needed three hands from what we could work out, but there were a few designed as one handed. 

Thinking of how able bodied mothers might be holding a young baby, or a toddler with one hand, I'm slightly surprised there aren't more one handed pushchairs around.

The first one we saw was one that I can't actually remember the brand. (From Toys 'r' us - but their website is down so I can't double check) To close you had to do some funky grip, slide the thumb, twist the wrist in one swift move. This was not that easy as I tried several times before I even did it once. I think though the seat folded with it so you didn't have to remove anything.

The next one we looked at was the Baby Jogger. This has a patented folding system, which I must admit, was really good.

You just moved the baby, then pulled the handle on the seat and the whole pushchair just folded in two. Very easy to use and close, and not too heavy either. The only slight issue we had, was that the lay flat mode (pull a cord at the back and the seat falls back) doesn't look very flat, or that comfy.

The last two we looked at were the iCandy Peach and iCandy Strawberry - They like their fruits. 

The Strawberry, which was very similar to the Peach, didn't seem as sturdy, and you couldn't use a chair and carry-cot at the same time - if we have a 2nd child, which you could with the peach.. 

Now the Peach comes with a different carry-cot and then chair that you can swap out. Which you need to take off before folding. This has two buttons either side to allow you to lift it off, but theses can be done one at a time I found out, so easy enough for me to do. Once the cot/chair is off then its just a pull and slam of the handle before putting over your shoulder with a shoulder strap.

I learnt pretty quick that which ever pushchair I got, I wouldn't be able to do all the adjustments with one hand, they all seem to want two hands, although to be honest most of the things such as seat angle and foot rest isn't something I'd need to change that often.

Overall the easiest and quickest to fold was the Baby Jogger, however as the pushchair needs to be more than just easy for me, it also needs to meet the requirements for the baby, we decided to chose the iCandy Peach. I've played around with it today in the flat and still very happy with it.

Useful links

http://www.babyjogger.co.uk/

http://www.icandyuk.com/

Antenatal and Aliens

Catching up a bit as I've been busy decorating the Nursery and buying things for the new arrival. Not long to go now. Only 6 weeks left !


So first of all Antenatal, or parenting classes as they are now called.
My wife booked these to go on at our local hospital, all part of the NHS bundle. 
The NCT seem to do extensive classes, but due to work constraints, I couldn't take lots of time off for these, Plus I'm not sure what a car parking company can tell me about having a baby ! I'm a fan of the NHS (for obvious reasons) so I thought I'd stick with these to start with.  
I know these can vary greatly, even at the same place, just depending on the person taking the classes. 


For 90 minutes a week for three weeks, I think they are well worth it, as the one I went didn't bother with the stuff we can check up online (what to pack in the bag etc) but more taking you step by step through the whole process. From the start before the initial contraction, to when you're back home including all the screaming, yelling, pushing, delivery, baby in between.


Learnt quite a few things that I didn't know about, and some handy tips. Just have to see if I can remember any of it in a few weeks !


Also recently the baby seems to be moving more and more, which if you've never seen or felt it, is very strange.
Think a scene from Alien, where the alien is under Ripley's skin, moving around, but before it bursts through the chest. 
It's very much like that, but so cool !




Can't wait to meet him/her

My Niece

Sorry for the delay in this blog as I've been busy with work, and trying to get the whole flat redecorated ready for the little one !

So two weeks ago I flew over to Sicily to see my sister, her husband and their 4 week old daughter.

Firstly on the flight we got talking to an Italian woman who was wearing a Baby Bjorn carrier (with a baby obviously). She said it was very comfy and handy to move around in. Another recommendation for them, so that's on my list.


Then I met my niece for the first time.
I forgot how small babies are !
And she's very cute !

I was planning on having a go changing a nappy, but after watching my sister have fun with her daughters bum farting out diarrhoea , I thought I'd leave her too it.


I do think I can manage it if I can hold the legs up though, so I'm going to see if I can get some of the leg ties that some guy invented. They sound like cable ties, but elastic and Velcro to hold the legs together. So you put your arm through and hold the legs with the wrist, whilst wiping the bum, with your hand. 


A harness or something to hold the baby down would be useful because babies like to wriggle !. A friend recommends putting a leg over (when on the floor) but I'm slightly worried doing that with a new born. 


I did though hold her several ways, (without dropper her, much to my sister's delight.)
One way I tried was to have her laying on the length of my arm with my hand supporting her head. This was easy and felt fairly stable and totally one handed. Although I think I'll need to improve my arm muscles  more if I'm going to do this for long periods of time.


Also as you can see I did hold her using a cushion to support her, which those C shaped doughnuts are ideal for, amazingly my stomach isn't big enough for her to sit on !


I didn't try picking her up from laying as my sister looked a bit nervous, so was handed her all the time. This though, is something I do need to practice, whether using a device or along my arm. 
Although to be honest, I'll have plenty of time to practice in a few months ! 


Funnily I did manage things that my wife couldn't do, such as putting on her socks (the babies - not my wife's) with one hand. This is probably down to my usual way that I have adapted to life generally, so tasks like that just come natural to me.


Overall in the short 4 days I was in Sicily, apart from seeing my sister, hubby and all his family (which I can't really talk to, as I don't speak any Italian...yet) and my beautiful niece, the trip did give me more confidence that I'll be able to cope with things when my little one arrives. 


29th week now, so just over 10 weeks left !