Moving the Giraffe

The week's planned activities are going reasonably well. I managed to have a bath on Monday, which definitely counts as rest. And I've started making the pram mobile.* But I'm not sure how much further I'll get; we're taking Asher on his first overnight trip on Friday. And of course it's not to somewhere simple, like somebody's house... nope, our first two nights away with the baby will be on a youth weekend in a Scout centre. I'm even supposed to deliver one of the talks!

On top of which, my free time today looked a lot like this:

Which is to say that I've had Asher strapped to me in the sling. Lovely for both of us, and it does enable me to get some stuff done if he goes to sleep. But some things are tricky (e.g. bending over to look for glitter, which is in the box at the bottom of the stack). It's kind of like being pregnant again, except that I have to get up and do a bit of dancing every ten minutes to stop him waking up...

Later we played our new favourite game. I call it Moving the Giraffe.

Here's what happens. Asher sits in the bouncy chair (thanks for the loan, Sarah!) and I tie a piece of string to the leg of the dangling giraffe (chain link toys work too, as pictured). Then I persuade Ash to open his hand and close it again around the string. Consequently, when he does his little baby arm wriggles, the giraffe moves.

My job is to say things like "Hooray! You moved the giraffe!" and "Did you see the giraffe move? You did that by moving your hand. Clever boy!"

I really don't think Asher has much idea what's happening but that doesn't matter: he's happy because he's getting lots of attention, and I'm happy because it feels like we're playing a game, even if we're not. So really, the only loser here is the giraffe.


* I'm using mobile as a noun here, with pram as a modifier, designating the intended location of said item. If it were the other way round, I guess that would be a pretty useless pram.

This Week I Will...

You might notice that I've added a new gadget to the sidebar of my blog. It's a list of this week's goals, which I intend to update every Monday. In all honesty I put it there because I wanted to write my aims down somewhere, and I couldn't find the whiteboard pen Noah brought home on Friday... but then I thought it would be fun to put weekly intentions (activities? I like activities better) on the blog. Then, if I actually achieve any of them, I can show off about it ;)

This is definitely a list of no-pressure-to-achieve achievements, though. Things that really don't have to be done. Our lives will not be significantly worse if I don't achieve all (or even any!) of them. On the other hand, our lives might be positively impacted - will at least be more interesting - if some of these things happen. I'll feel better about my week if I get some of them done.

What could possibly make you feel better than this smile?

Some benefit me more; others are designed to benefit Asher. So for this week we have...

• Rest. This is to benefit me. An important one because I haven't really been feeling well over the weekend, so even getting dressed and coming downstairs is quite an achievement for today!
• Make a pram mobile. To benefit Ash.
• Assemble a sensory box, again to benefit Asher. I keep meaning to introduce him to lots of different textures (and sounds and smells), but I never have the right things handy when he's in a good mood.
• Sew a pair of baby jeans. This is totally for my benefit - Asher already has a few pairs of trousers. But it's the next stage in my project to make him a pair of dinosaur dungarees, which I'm quite excited about :)

Plenty there to keep me busy, if he sleeps for long enough!

Sleep? What's that?

Dadtography

The other day I asked Noah to get a quick daily photo of Ash. I expected him to grab the camera and snap a few shots of the baby in his bouncy chair, the way I do when nothing more inspirational has arisen during the day.

But no. Noah is far more imaginative than that!

This is the result:

Our genius boggle-playing six-week-old

Obviously he can't beat my score yet, but just you wait til he's learned all the letters of the alphabet :)

Other (more boring) pictures from this week:

Desperate to roll over - he curls his legs and pushes with one hand whenever I put him on his tummy

Obligingly wearing the trousers Mummy made him in a photo

Perpetual astonished expression

Making Boy Trousers

I like sewing.

I have a little boy.

So I was pretty pleased to see that a couple of my favourite blogs, Made and Made by Rae, are teaming up for another series of Celebrate the Boy. Starting on Monday there will be two weeks of inspiration and tutorials for stuff to sew for boys. It's a good idea because, once you start looking, a lot of the children's patterns out there are for dresses. And whilst I don't have anything against boys wearing dresses per se, I don't think that's the way to go when I'm still choosing his clothes... ;)

I know my boy is only very little (I guess I really need baby projects rather than boy ones?) but I still think I'd like to join in. Especially as I've been planning to make a pair of dungarees for Asher out of some delectable dinosaur fabric which I've been eyeing up Fashion and Fabrics for over a year now. When Mum was here I confessed that I'd always liked it, and she very kindly bought me a metre to make something for my little boy. Thanks, Mum!

However, that's in the future. For now, here are the things I've already made for Ash:

Basic Newborn Pant - I think he's already outgrown these!

Big Butt Baby Pants

By the way, it's really tricky getting pictures of the baby in the trousers! Every time he's worn either pair we've been dashing out somewhere, or else he's been a bit grumpy and not really in the mood for being photographed. So here's a picture of the trousers by themselves. Here's the back view:

I opted to make the turn up cuffs on both pairs. They're made to look the same whether or not they're turned up, and they should mean Ash can wear the trousers for much longer. (There's a gap in the waistband for easy elastic adjustment, too).

I should say that I liked using these patterns. Normally I tend to make it up by myself so it was nice to have the first stage done for me. Although I made the red ones second they're less well executed. I'm not sure why, unless it was that I made them after I had the baby* and I was rushing to finish them before he woke up! Places I messed up were sewing the rear patch on - you have to turn it whilst you sew which makes it tricky to keep the seam allowance even - and the waistband - I always seem to get waistband puckers. You can't really tell when he's wearing them though!

Two simple patterns, both quick and easy, and both fitted Asher very well over either kind of nappy. Good stuff!

*I don't mean directly after...

[Un]Sulking

At first this post was a cross-with-technology moan. I thought iPhoto had lost my photos from the last three days somewhere between deleting them from the memory card and finishing the import.

But I found them! (In the "Today" section of Finder). Hooray!

This experience has taught me two things:

1. Never tell your computer to delete pictures from the memory card! Format it in the camera once you're sure the photos have uploaded.

2. What if something happened to my computer and I lost ALL my photos? `I seriously need to back them up. Anyone got any ideas of the best way to back up about 36 GB of photos? (36 GB sounds like a lot... should I delete some?!)


Anyway, thanks to Google, I am...

a) no longer sulking

b) able to show you the following delightful photos:

New skill (very handy when he needs soothing!)

Falling over on the sofa is hilarious!

Still funny! 

Chilling on his giraffe blanket

Having a chat with Mum

Sewing

This morning Asher and I did our usual morning thing: lots of feeding, a bit of charming time, getting dressed and telling him it was the morning. As usual he started to get grumpy around 10:30 so I thought I'd take him to the library to get him to go to sleep. (Not that he finds the library particularly soporific, but the motion of the pram is almost irresistibly soothing to him). However, Noah was working from home, and offered to whoosh him until I was ready to go.

And by the time I was ready to go, Asher was already asleep.

"He'll wake up in five minutes," I said confidently, and bundled him into his snowsuit, expecting a protesting squeal any moment.

But he stayed asleep.

This never happens.

I had him in the pram, all ready to go, but decided to stay at home and see how long he would sleep without the benefit of movement. I wandered over to my sewing table... and before I knew it I'd had time to make a money pouch (which we've needed for ages) and Asher was still asleep.

Here's what I made during Asher's (possibly first ever?) independent morning nap. I used this tutorial, and I messed it up a few times (when I came to turn it right side out I suddenly realised that a 2cm hole wasn't going to be big enough...) but I don't care - it works - and I'm excited to have had time to do something non baby related. More naps, please, Asher!

(I hope he wakes up soon though... I miss him!)

How to elicit squeals of parental delight

It's been quite a tricky week. I think Asher must be having some kind of growth spurt, because he's spent a LOT of time feeding and, when not feeding, rather more time than usual crying. Hard work for me!

Having said that, he has spent at least a few minutes each day being charming. During these periods he has exhibited his latest skill...

That's right! Asher can SMILE!!! This is of course ridiculously adorable and all that his besotted parents can do is watch him lovingly, responding to his smiles with high pitched squeals of delight as we go weak at the knees.

Has he grown?

We took Asher to be weighed this morning. Noah and I had a little bet on how heavy he would be. Noah won (which meant he got to choose tonight's dinner) but I was happy because our little chap is putting on weight at an acceptable rate. Hardly surprising, considering how often he wants milk!

Anyway, I thought I'd have a competition. Here's Ash this morning, looking all cute in his tiger suit:

How heavy do you think he is? Answer in the comments, and whoever's closest will get... kudos. Lots of kudos. And a cuddle with Asher at the next opportunity.

Noah, you may not enter. You've already benefitted once from this weighing!

Happy Boy

Here's what Ash had to say as I got dressed this morning:

This boy knows how to make up for giving us a sleepless night!

Bathing Baby

It is so much easier looking after a tiny baby when there's another adult around! It's been lovely having my mum to stay this week. She's been there to hold Asher so I could do things like having a bath (or even getting some sewing done!) and has been wonderful at cooking us delicious healthy meals and tidying up afterwards. Thanks, Mum!

Meanwhile, Asher has been eating (a lot), sleeping (a bit), crying (more today than usual; I wish I knew why!) and being sick (frequently, on everybody, especially if they're wearing something clean).

We've got a new bedtime routine in place for Ash, which involves him having a bath every evening. He does seem to enjoy being in the water and it really calms him down - although being taken out and dressed frequently negates the effect... After his bath we put him in his sleeping bag and I feed him in our bed, where he stays until he's settled. On a couple of occasions he has slept for 3-4 hours after this treatment!

How Asher sleeps these days

Anyway, I'm a bit nervous because I'm about to attempt baby bathing all on my own for the first time (except for the baby, obviously). Wish me luck!

One Month

Asher is one month old today!

He is already so big compared to when he was born. (Though still seems tiny compared to the three-month-old babies I know). He is starting to be able to do more things as well. He can follow an object with his eyes and sometimes even turns his head to watch something he's interested in (usually a black and white picture or his hungry caterpillar rattle).

When he's on his tummy he pushes up and sometimes lifts his head a bit. And he's starting to turn his head to look in the direction of an interesting sound (again usually his hungry caterpillar rattle - that was a good present!)

He still likes to feed every 1-3 hours, for anything from 20 minutes to (some evenings) four or five hours! And he still prefers to sleep in someone's arms. Although two nights ago we tried a new trick: I put his mattress on our bed and fed him lying down, with him on his own mattress, then when he was sound asleep Noah lifted mattress, baby and all into the Moses basket. It actually worked - he stayed asleep for two or three hours. Hooray!

Oh, he loves bath time - at least, he seems very content in the warm water, which is probably the closest we can get at the moment. He loves to look at anything bright - windows in the daytime and lights in the night. He has one particular favourite light - the one over the sofa in the living room - which he turns his head to look at whenever he can. For some reason he prefers the one by the wall to the apparently identical one in the middle of the room. Maybe it's really the reflections in the photo frames he likes to look at?

And he hates his arms to be enclosed. He always fights them out of the blankets, and he pushes against me if he's awake in the sling. He seems to like to arch his back and tilt his head as far back as it will go; his favourite sleeping position is with his head tilted back and sideways. It looks really uncomfortable. Crazy baby!

Some fun photos from this week:

Asher's first all-you-can-eat buffet
(Only joking... I'm his first all-you-can-eat buffet!)

The Speckled Hen

We went out for lunch yesterday at a local pub.

Here's Asher, looking somewhat worse for wear...

Posing with Daddy's cider

At this point I want to make it absolutely clear that we did not give any cider to our baby. Noah was holding him, decided to lie him on the table (at which point the waitress came in and asked, "You're not going to eat that baby, are you?") - before we knew it there was a HPO*. What can I say? We're going for a picture every day, after all, and we have to find some way to stop them all being straight up face photos.

Everyone taking photos of Asher

Anyway, we all enjoyed our lunch, and Asher did actually lie quite happily in his pram for about half the duration of the meal. Not asleep though.

Whilst amusing, the above photo doesn't really do justice to his cuteness. So here's one from today: Ash hanging out with Daddy, wearing the trousers I finished making just before he was born. They are from another Made By Rae pattern and took months to make because my old sewing machine broke before they were finished. I'm rather pleased because I finally got chance this afternoon to cut out the pieces for the next pair. It's nice having grandparents around!

I need to work out how to make t-shirts too

*Hilarious Photo Opportunity

Rocking

Asher had his first ever go on his rocking horse today (with a little help from Daddy).

This baby rocks!

He seemed perfectly happy (and looked very cute). He may be too small to actually appreciate such things, but he does generally enjoy a rocking motion, so who knows? Noah tried to fit his feet in the stirrups but of course his legs - despite the speed with which they are outgrowing his various newborn babygrows - were far too short.

This is the same rocking horse I mentioned at Christmas - the one that used to belong to my brother Thom 20 years ago, and which I had no idea was still rocking out in a distant relative's attic, having been enjoyed by various cousins. Quite the family heirloom!

In other news, Asher's receding hairline is making him look more and more old-mannish, especially when he wrinkles his forehead and pulls one of his comically grumpy faces. His head control is getting slightly better, although he would not reproduce the quite excellent push-up he managed to execute yesterday when the camera was nowhere in sight.

Tummy Time

And me? I had half an hour this afternoon when Ash was sleeping on Noah during which I managed to clear my sewing table. Whether I'll get chance to actually use it in the near future remains to be seen...

Bonus cute photo