4 Months Old and Too Hungry To Deny

Our little angel has the most wonderful temperment in the world, so I really didn't think anything was wrong with her. She's been putting on lots of weight and reaching every expected baby threshold early. So why wasn't she sleeping??? Calla started off well each night (2.5-3 hours) and then after her first feed things would go downhill. She would wake up every hour and require anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour of settling afterwards. I often look like a zombie, but it was beginning to get out of control. I even moved her into her into her cot/crib in her own room to see if that would help. Initially she slept rather well, but the next night she was back to her old tricks. I tried to put her on a more rigid routine and settling program configured from multiple parenting books. No go, the kid would not go to sleep without settling in my arms.

The other day and picked up some baby rice cereal that day for 4 month olds. I thought, this is the only thing I can think of. A few of the "other generation" of moms had mentioned that this could help, but it is highly recommended that you not start your child on solids until 6 months and even then to keep them on breast milk as long as possible. She ate 1/2 tbsp the first night and slept 5 hours straight (however, this coincided with an immunization earlier in the day, so pure fluke?). The second night she seemed to humour me and ate a tbsp of rice cereal, breast milk and sweet potato/apple puree. Every bite she would raise her eyebrows in surprise, but sucked it right off the edge of her lips. That night she slept for three, 3 hour intervals. Still pretty good.

The third night she was too tired to eat properly and shooed away my attempts and I obliged, but noticed that she awakened earlier than usual and only slept two, 3 hour intervals. We'll see what happens tonight, but the kid polished off her 2 tbsps of sweet potato, carrot, rice cereal and breast milk and wanted more. When I say " polished off", she literally stole the spoon and bowl from me and started licking them clean. She would make sucking noises and then smile in delight when I gave her each spoon full.

Moral of the story...heed the advice of medical professionals, but listen to baby as well.

Sleep Nazi

Calla is not a fan of sleeping, I'm told she is what is known as a "Spirited Baby". Whatever the hell that is. She's extremely energetic, but gets overstimulated and freaks out when I've put too many toys around her. Like her indecisive mother she is overwhelmed by choice and then gets frustrated. She can't stay in the same position for long either, sitting on my lap is fine for ten minutes, but then she must stand or be put down or given something new to look at.

She is a beautiful, happy and highly adaptable baby...until recently. She's still an angel, but I have been looking forward to getting more than two hours of sleep at a time since she was born. Apparently in the next few weeks this is supposed to happen. Well...I got some books out from the library, spoke to a few parents...and I decided to impose a longer routine on my child. My hippie approach to parenting has allowed a natural two hourly cycle to emerge and I'd never heard her cry much through the day or night. However, I could get nothing done during the day and often felt trapped in one location by the short intervals of her cycle. So I started with the recommended 3 month old routines...

IN SUMMARY

Three hourly eating, activity and sleep cycles are not agreeable to my hungry little child. I know that I am quite able to produce more than adequate supplies of milk for my child off a single breast and she often gorges herself on both...so why can't she sleep for more than 2 hours at night? Why only 10 minutes at a time during the day???

I've reached the conclusion that there are two babies inside of Calla and I am feeding them both. No no no, that's ridiculous....she must be some kind of super baby and requires more sustenance to feed her super powers. That is the only solution.

Well the books have pointed out that I can try getting her back to sleep if she wakes up, it doesn't necessarily mean that she is hungry. Okay, that's one point for the books. Seems to be working. The books insist that I try to settle her in her crib, or at least calm her and then let her fall asleep in her crib...one point for accidental parenting. Several days and multiples hours at one awake time have let me to the crucial conclusion - DO WHATEVER IT TAKES!!! She just gets overtired and then the problem just snowballs. The kid likes to be bounced to sleep, she's going to get the bounce, I don't give a flying f%#^ what the books say. They certainly don't mention that baby that starts squirming and scratching at her eyes until they bleed while mum tryies to comfort using their "tried and true methods", which do not take between 25-45 minutes to work. It should not take 2 hours to put a child down for a 10 minute nap, which I thought would at least double to 20 minutes since she'd skipped a whole cycle.

Well, all in all I have come to the conclusion that whatever I do, it is going to be a slow progression. I've not hammering anything too strict on her yet. Why was I trying to ruin my sweet, happy little angel baby just because I want three or four straight hours of sleep at night or an hour during the day to clean up, read, write a blog etc. etc. What was I expecting?

Goodbye Mullet!

I have never been fond of the mullet, so it was an unpleasant surprise to see one crop up from out of the murky depths of my womb.

But now Calla has shed her unsightly mane almost overnight.

I henceforth christen her Baldi-locks.

Can't fix the editing for some odd reason...I"ll figure it out.

10 Weeks Old!

I can't believe 10 weeks have gone by so quickly! The two mothers have come and gone and Gary's visit seemed to be over in a flash. Our move to the new house seems like forever ago...

Gary's trip ended with a visit to the Margaret River region where we visited wineries, breweries, the chocolate factory, cheese factories and don't forget the beaches. Our beautiful WA beaches are hard to beat.

I'll try to be a little better at making these blogs happen regularly. Things have been a little crazy and we are only now getting back to our mundane lives. Yay, bored housewife!

The Whole Lyon Family...and Her Other Aunt Jo.

Well Miss. Lyon is 5 weeks old and 5 days, she has put on the beef (in a good way) and covered in baby acne (something fierce). The poor little girl has figured out that if she cries enough when I hold her lying down, I'll prop her up against my chest and she can scratch her face against my shirt. When I swaddle her, she's looks like a miniature Ray Charles, rocking her head back and forth in order to scratch her face against the swaddle. For a person who has just figured out her hands belong to her she has certainly made quick work of gouging her skin.

Gary arrived last Wednesday and I think we have already bored him sufficiently, as we haven't done much other than put him to work. At least we all go to bed at the same time (9pm-ish)!

1 month down...everyone's still alive.

Calla Elizabeth Lyon was born on April 8, 2011 at 11am after a long (certainly not the longest) labour. I've been informed by some friends/work colleagues that their labour lasted 48 hours and ended in c-section. So...could have been worse.

Now that I've had some alone time with her (the two mums were visiting from Canada), I'm starting to understand the little parasite better. Errr...my sweet, beautiful parasite.

One morning I caught Dave telling Calla, while easing her crying, that I told him having a baby was like having a goldfish. I don't remember saying that, but she does look like a goldfish, as she is forever pursing her lips and making fish faces to anyone who has nipples. I believe Bonds Australia will be calling soon to ask her to be a model for their baby line (she's even got the model pout). She has since grown into her "My Daddy is the Coolest" grey outfit courtesy of Daryl and Jeanette.

Some photos of the two mums, or the entity known as "Mums". Thanks ladies for making our home actually feel like a home and cleaning and gardening and just being here for us. These pictures of them at the local market and by the waterfront near our house, Sandy has yet to realize that Pelican are massive and don't like being photographed.

These beautiful women didn't get to see much outside our houses, but they have a Granddaughter who adores them now. They turned Calla into a big suck; she now requires being held or sang to 20 hours a day. Babies don't actually sleep as much as everyone thinks they do. I was led to believe that they sleep that much, I call Bulls#$%.

I'm pushing my luck by writing this much while Calla is finally asleep in her bassinette! I will post more photos of Dave's impressive home renovations if the spiders and ants (who were actually the previous owners of the house) haven't killed me and carried me off to their Queen before Dave gets back from the minesite.

Mr. G. Lyon will be making his appearance in the next few days. I will expect him to watch the baby while I finally get my hair done. My two tone hair style is attracting the wrong kind of attention. The leader of the Cannington bogans (white trash) is scoping me out to be his mistress.