Monday 31 October 2011

One month old!

Finn is a month old!  How weird is that?!

I can't believe how fast the time has gone... especially seeing as each night seems to last an eternity :)
But indeed, he has reached the epic four-week milestone.
In honour of that milestone (or really because it was time) we went and had him weighed...

Any guess as to how heavy he is now?  It's pretty impressive... Think of the weight you imagine he is now... I bet you're wrong!
Or, at least, James and I were wrong when we laid in our guesses.

He.
Is.
Massive.

He now weighs 10 lbs and 9 oz!  Whew!

We had a feeling he was getting bigger (babies do tend to do that) but I was surprised by how much.  It's strange though - as much as we want him to grow and thrive etc., it still tugged at my heart a bit when we noticed he had outgrown his first outfit.   It tears you in two directions - wanting him to grow, but also being sad that he's not a newborn anymore.  I suppose that is the second important lesson in parenthood I have now learned - as a parent, you will spend the rest of your life celebrating every new milestone with equal parts actual enthusiasm they've reached them and deep sadness that it's now over.  Very strange. But he has indeed grown out of newborn clothes and we've had to move up into 0-3 months.  Here's what I have to say about that - there is a HUGE gap between newborn clothes and 0-3 months!  It's like he's gone from filling his clothes to floating in them.  Or at least some of them.  That's the other issue - different companies seem to have entirely different ideas as to how big babies actually are.  And some also don't seem to even know what shape they are!  (I'll illustrate this point later on, trust me - it's funny!).  So we are doing a lot of trial and error working out what fits him and what doesn't.  And I had to officially fold up and put away some of my very favourite outfits.  So sad.  I can see why people get sentimental about these things.  I always assumed that I would give away the clothes he grew out of as soon as we were done with them.  But now I look at them and they're HIS clothes and his LITTLE clothes and I can't yet bare the thought of giving them up.  Lesson in parenting number three - everything carries a memory.
 
And while I'm on the subject of parenting lessons learned - here's another one.  Up until this point, the phrase "this will hurt me more than you" didn't seem like it could ever possibly be true.  BUT I now completely understand. 
I had to take Finn for a TB vaccination last week.  I had to hold him tight to keep him still as someone stuck a needle in his arm.  I nursed him while they did it, and so, other than one initial high-pitched screech as the needle actually went in, he seemed mostly oblivious.  Instead, it was ME who cried!  Watching them do that and hearing that one heartbreaking cry resulted in near physical pain.  And holding him down to make it happen?!  It was like something inside me breaking.  It very definitely hurt me way more than it hurt him.  I get it now :)

On that note, I might sign off.  But I couldn't possibly have a post without pictures - so here they are!

Firstly: growing out of clothes
The first outgrown outfit...
The strangest shaped outfit EVER - quite short but very wide.  What sort of fat baby is this for!?
There we go - a bit big, but not too bad. 


Secondly: our baby is very cute, even if he is balding...
awwww...

Thirdly: it's Halloween today!  So here's Finn dressed like a pirate!!!
arrr...

Tuesday 25 October 2011

Lessons in parenting: week three

For the longest time, we thought that Finn was the perfect baby.
He was so chill all the time.
When he was awake, he would just look around at the world and take it all in, and when he was asleep, he would settle down in his basket and be as peaceful as an angel.

That didn't last as long as we hoped... he's going through a time when he HATES his basket and won't sleep in it.  In fact, if you're not holding him he's unhappy.
If the light is on, he's unhappy.  If the light is off, he's unhappy.   Basically, the truth of the matter is, Finn is a baby.  Babies cry.  Therefore (as much as we post pictures on this blog that seem to prove otherwise):
Finn.
Crys.

Proof:
  
And, as new parents, we have learned the ultimate truth about parent hood.  We will do ANYTHING to get Finn to stop crying.  And, if we can get him to sleep?  It's fantastic.  If we can get him to sleep somewhere other than our arms?!  BLISS 

So here are some things that we've discovered:
If Finn falls asleep in the bed, brilliant! Don't move! SLEEP!

If he falls asleep on the couch -don't move!  GET STUFF DONE!

If he falls asleep on top of you - don't move!  SLEEP!

If he falls asleep in the chair - don't move!  Grab the DVD player...

And if you find something that gets him to sleep in his basket, by all means embrace it!



All of this leads up to my favourite pictures... and a video from when they were taken.  They are amazing to say the least!  
In a nutshell:  Finn was crying.  We were trying to change his nappy when he weed on everything, thus meaning we had to change all of his clothes... Finn was now screaming and we weren't quite managing to get his clothes quite on him.  
And then.
He stopped crying.
Just stopped.  Something had made him happy again - so we froze and let him stay exactly as he was...
and then couldn't stop laughing.


Enjoy :)




Saturday 22 October 2011

Photo highlights from Finn's second week

Family portraits in the garden

What crazies!

What a dude!

A proud father
A pleased mother
Looking much more sensible all around...
  


Naked photoshoot!

Practicing his best 'come hither' look (or is it a 'why are we doing this' scowl?)

Naked!  And too cute!
Ok... I guess the hat is tolerable now...


A day in the life of Finn

Relaxin'

Going out in the sling (and a very cool bomber hat)

Being tormented and laughed at...
But still maintaining some dignity
Having a bath (he IS enjoying it!  I swear!)


More relaxin'

 It's a tough life, that's for sure...


Friday 21 October 2011

The first bath

Some of you will already have seen this, but here is a video of Finn enjoying his first bath (excuse the hairy knees!):



He's due another bath this afternoon as well, but we'll let him sleep in front of the washing machine some more yet.

Wednesday 19 October 2011

Photo highlights from Finn's first week

Loving Dad time

Baby?  Or old man?

Not so happy about the hat...

Meeting Granny!

Off on an outing

Finn digs the guitar!

Very first bath

You even think about changing my nappy and it will be fisticuffs!

Meeting more grandparents!

Saturday 15 October 2011

Milk Coma

This is how we know that Finn has had his fill :o)

Finn is great!

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