Today is a bad day.
Finn is currently asleep. This is the first time he has gone to sleep for the past seven hours (minus two 15 minute "naps"). Not all of this time was spent crying, but enough of it was. A large portion of it was spent walking about outside in the pram. This made him calm down and he did drift off a couple times... but there's only so much walking I can do. We walked to James' work so we could eat lunch together. It went alright for the most part, but he was crying again at the end and I learned a new fact: Finn likes helicopters! There was a big protest right near James' work and there were a few helicopters flying very low and very loud. It was quite dramatic (and a bit funny) to watch as Finn instantly stopped crying and stared at the sky as soon as we stepped outside. I'm sure it was just the noise, but it's quite funny to think that he's already turning into a traditional machine loving "boy."
Especially seeing as the other things that were calming him down while we were walking around were trucks going past, busy traffic, sirens, and construction. I tried to take a detour through a quiet park and he woke right up. Went back to the busy road and he was quiet again. So is he turning into a boy's boy? Or is he just a Londoner through and through? (or does he just like generic noise... seeing as the vacuum cleaner works just as well!).
Anyway, we've had a bit of a bad day but he is finally asleep. I would love to be asleep myself but the only way I got him to this place was to put him in the sling wrap and walk around (indoors this time, thank goodness) bouncing and singing until he stopped crying long enough to fall asleep. I then kept walking for a good while and then tentatively lowered myself onto the couch. Which is where I am now. I should be using this small window of opportunity to either
a) fix dinner
b) hang up the laundry that finished washing about 7 hours ago (coincidence?)
c) tidy up the flat that is strewn with various attempts at quieting him down
d) walk to the grocery store to get some stuff (did I mention that on our long walk we had to be OUTSIDE or ELSE? Trust me, I tried and failed three times to go into a shop)
So that is what I should be doing. But I have just spent the past 7 hours with a grumpy overtired baby who is now sleeping. So I am
e) sitting on the couch
in an ideal world I would be
e) sitting on the couch with a large glass of wine
but by the cruel hand of fate I can't reach the wine while wearing Finn in this way... I tried... ah well.
While I'm here, I figured I would blog a bit! Mostly just because I realised it has been nearly a week since I put up any pictures. Do you know how much he grows in a week?! So I thought I would get them up straight away.
Here's what has been happening this week:
Tummy Time
We've been working on getting longer periods of (happy) tummy time
And he's gone from hating tummy time to sometimes liking it so much he falls asleep!
My Mom sent me a new web camera so that we can Skype and when I tried it out for the first time, Jaimie and her girls were at my parent's house. Which meant that the two cousins who first met in this way: Have now met in this way (photos from my Dad):
As a side note, how interesting are these two pictures in comparison?!?! In the first one, the two babies are inches away but it seems like miles - in the second, they are miles away but it seems like inches! Crazy.
Anyway. Here are some more:
Floor Mat Play Gym Thing...
Soooo - we don't have a play gym. We've been thinking about getting one because he does REALLY love looking at stuff... and laying on the floor... which is exactly what a play gym IS, really.
(wouldn't it be great to be so easily amused?
"What are your hobbies?"
"well, I LOVE looking at stuff... and laying on the floor is pretty cool").
But they are very expensive and, more to the point, take up a lot of space. So we've been debating it. In the meantime, we have a baby that loves to look at stuff - and some very clever parents who are very good at improvising (and finding different uses for already useful things like wrap carriers). So here is our current London-flat version of the play gym - I think it's pretty good!
Winding/Burping
don't know whether I prefer the UK or the US version... both sound funny :)
Anyway, I've been having some boob issues. I won't go into too many details, but the bare facts are that I have an "oversupply" which makes me prone to "engorgement" and "mastitis" (for those of you not up to scratch with your breastfeeding lingo, that translates into: for some reason I make too much breastmilk which means that my boobs can sometimes fill up to the point that they are ma-hoo-sive and painful and, if I'm not careful, the swelling can turn into an infection).
This means that they are often extremely sore, and putting any pressure on them (can you believe it? I STILL can't sleep on my stomach!! So irritating) is out of the question. This includes burping/winding Finn. So we have mastered the art of the over-the-arm-pat-down.
When we do this though, Finn always folds his arms up in such a funny way that I had to get a picture of it. It's like he settles into this "hang on, let me get comfy... ok, go ahead and rub my back now" pose.
Unfortunately the only way I could capture it was to use my phone so it's not a very good picture... but you can see why I think it's so funny! So funny in fact, that I think it's good enough to end the post on.
(and if you're curious, it's been two hours! And yes, he is still asleep (with only one interlude in the middle where I had to get up and walk/bounce/sing for a while) Niiiice! maybe I should get on with options a, b, c, or d... nah. I'm sticking with e. It's been one of those days. If only I could reach the wine...)
Here he is in all his gorgeous glory:
Love it.
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