Polly at 3-months

Polly has now hit three months old – a quarter of a year! The ‘fourth trimester’ / newborn stage is sadly over and it’s now a whole year ago that she was conceived. 

On Friday just gone Polly did her first ever laugh out loud. I’ve been trying to get a giggle out of her for weeks and typically it was Tabitha waving her Upsy Daisy wand about that got the laugh. Polly adores her sister – she happily sits in her bouncer chair and watches Tabitha playing.

I think we’ve finally cracked bedtime with Polly now and she is always asleep for the night at about 7pm – she usually wakes once for a feed about 3am. As I reported previously, she has slept through a few times, but I think that’s more of a rarity than the norm. We’ve now got her a cot which is set up in the corner of our bedroom. She’s still sleeping in her basket at the moment though and will do for a few more weeks until we’ve been up to Stoke. During the day she’s in quite a nice 3-hourly ‘eat, awake, sleep’ routine which is working quite well for us, although it does somewhat dictate when we can leave the flat. It’s not as easy to get to things on time anymore and I feel like we’re at home a lot at the moment, which is also partly down to Tabitha’s new love of staying in.

Polly is a very smiley baby and especially loves having little kisses on her face and being gently lifted up and down. This weekend she had her first go in the door bouncer!

  

I’ll be interested to find out how much she weighs and what percentile she’s in at her weigh-in on Thursday. I wouldn’t be surprised if she’s dropped down a bit as she still only has about 4-5oz of milk at a time. She’s also a very sicky baby and is regularly puking over herself or me!

Just another update

This morning Lucy text to see if we wanted to go to Jumping Jacks. My immediate reaction was to say no because a) it’s quite hard to get to with two young children and only one pram and b) we’ve only been once a long time ago so I wasn’t sure if Tabitha would enjoy it. But then I decided to give it a go and I’m so glad we did because Tabitha loved it. In fact when we first got there she ran in ahead and got stuck in with playing without even looking to see where I was once. The big bouncy castle was a hit and Tabitha enjoyed bouncing around with the older kids! It was nice to do something a bit different rather than head to Mortlake Hall for the fourth day in a row!

I feel quite bad that Tabitha has become a bit of a Peppa Pig addict of late. I wish I’d never shown her that we have back-to-back episodes available on Netflix as it’s all she wants to do now. She’ll sit for hours watching the same episodes over and over, and sometimes it’s easier to just allow it to happen, especially if she’s tired. I am going to have to reign it in a bit though, especially when she refuses to go out in favour of watching TV. She won’t watch anything else now either – not even Night Garden.

Tabitha’s skipped her nap quite a few times this week – she even went two days in a row without one which she’s never done before – so I don’t think it’ll be long before regular naps are a thing of the past. I must say I’m devastated by this and it suddenly makes the long winter ahead seem like a daunting prospect. My days have always been quite manageable with a natural break in the middle – even since Polly’s arrival – but without that break, each day will suddenly become one long tiring stretch. Plus it means my baby girl is growing up :(.

Yesterday I contacted the lady at the playgroup to see if they still have places for this October (when Tabitha reaches two-and-a-half), so that I can have a couple of mornings each week with just Polly. Part of me can’t believe I’m considering it – October is only a month away – but then seeing how Tabitha was this morning makes me think she’d be fine, and it is only six hours per week. It’s a huge step though and one I’m still not sure I’m ready for, even if she is, plus of course there’s the issue of cost. 

Polly’s got her next set of jabs next week including the new meningitis b one that has just been introduced. Tom and I have considered saying no to it as Polly will be one of the first babies getting it and we don’t know its effects yet. Plus I was a bit put off by the nurse saying to give Polly Calpol prior to getting there to keep her temperature down. However, if we don’t get it and then she gets meningitis, I’d never forgive myself. 

Parental decisions are so hard.

Ten weeks today

Polly has reached double figures in weeks and to celebrate she slept through the night for the very first time! Yes, for the first time since Polly arrived we were not disturbed by either child until AFTER Tom’s alarm had gone off, which is amazing. Needless to say I was awake on and off from about 2am – I’m not sure I’m capable of sleeping through the night myself anymore! Anyway, I was very pleased to reach this milestone with Polly and hopefully we’ll have many more nights like that. I know from experience though that a good sleeper at this age doesn’t necessarily mean a good sleeper forever. However, it is quite remarkable the difference just a few weeks makes; to think Polly spent her first few weeks unwilling to sleep in her Moses basket, only settling on me, and waking frequently through the night for feeds.

The weather is all over the place at the moment – today it is throwing it down, so we’re stuck indoors, whereas a couple of days ago it was over 30 degrees. We did enjoy a couple of picnics in the park over the weekend before the weather took a turn for the worst. 

I’m making a conscious effort to eat healthier at the moment after weighing myself the other day and finding I’m over 12 stone! I couldn’t believe it – that’s at least a stone and a half heavier than I’d like to be, and seeing as I barely do any walking or exercise at the moment, eating less is the only option. I had gotten into particularly bad habits eating-wise so it feels good to be being a bit healthier.

Polly at two months

It’s the 15th August, which means it’s exactly two months since Polly was born. It somehow feels like a lot longer than that already. 

At almost 9 weeks old we’re getting a lot of smiles from Polly and I don’t think we’re far off her first laugh. She also makes a lot of cute noises. I can already see so many similarities to how Tabitha was at this age, but I don’t want to draw comparisons too much as they are different children with different personalities. 

Polly likes to lay on her playmat looking at the Lamaze toys and will sit in her bouncer chair for quite a while too. 

She’s a pretty good sleeper although I already rely a lot on a dummy to settle her, so she’ll inevitably become a dummy addict like her sister. For the past couple of nights she’s only woken once in the night at around 4am, which is great. I’m yet to get her into any sort of bedtime routine, although I do bath her at least every other day. I do this after Tabitha’s in bed now as it wasn’t very relaxing for Polly doing it before.

She’s feeding about every 3 hours (to be honest I’m not very good at checking), but she never takes a huge amount at a time – sometimes as little as 2oz. She is thriving though and is a strong, long baby. 

Polly’s generally very content and easy to look after (I’m sure this won’t always be the case), but for now I’m really enjoying having her around! It’s so true what they say that having a second child doesn’t mean you’re stretching out your existing love, your heart just grows bigger!

Oh and I’ve got my first period.

Seven weeks old today!

It feels as if one minute I was pregnant, worrying about giving birth and having a newborn baby in our lives again, and the next minute I’ve got a seven week old who I won’t be able to call a newborn for very much longer. Where have the past couple of months gone? 

I must say all the worrying I did about coping with two alone was in vain as it all seems to have slotted into place. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hard work at times, but it’s do-able! I think I’ve hit double figures on the amount of days alone I’ve got through now. Go me! Being out and about is a lot easier too as Polly is much more content and will happily lay in the pram. I still tend to carry her in the sling until we get to wherever we’re going so that Tabitha can sit in the pram. If Tabitha’s on foot she usually wants to be carried (probably because Polly gets carried) which is hard work! Thankfully the weather hasn’t been quite as intense as it was a few weeks back.

My previous post about getting Polly into a bedtime routine has backfired as she is often still awake and unsettled most evenings. We occasionally manage to get her to go down, but it’s certainly not a regular occurrence at the moment. She does sleep well over night though with just one middle of the night wake and one early morning.

We’ve been for two play dates since my last post; both at big houses with gardens, which Tabitha has loved. This morning there was a small bouncy castle so she was having a whale of a time and needless to say there were tears when it got deflated. It’s becoming more and more apparent that we are the poorest people in a very affluent area – so many people I know have got big houses with gardens. We have chosen to live in what is probably the most expensive part of the whole country though, so have only got ourselves to blame!

I seem to have got a cold out of nowhere over the weekend so I am feeling pretty bunged up and grotty today. Still, I’m enjoying some peace and quiet while both my girls snooze! Operation: return to pre-pregnancy self resumes next week as I’m having my hair cut and highlighted. I can’t wait. I think we’re going to finally get Tabitha’s hair cut at the end of this month too. After two and a quarter years, I think it’s time!

Six week check up

Today Polly and I had our six week check up at the docs. All is fine with both of us and Polly now weighs 10.6lb. Annoyingly I’ve an appointment to get her weighed and measured at the clinic tomorrow, which seems rather pointless now. The doctor was surprised how calm Polly was; she didn’t cry once despite being wiggled and jiggled in various directions. 

It’s true, Polly is like a different baby to the one she was a couple of weeks ago; she now cries less, will happily lie on the sofa or sit in her bouncer chair for a while, and finally seems to be ok with going in the pram/basket. It’s making my life much easier as she doesn’t need to be held constantly meaning I can see to Tabitha’s needs. 

Polly also – touch wood – now seems to be going to bed for the evening rather than being awake until we go to bed. For the past couple of days I have given her a bath at about 6pm (Tabitha like to get involved in this by pouring water all over Polly’s head and face!) followed by milk and into her Moses basket by about 7pm – for the past two nights she’s slept through the evening until around 1 or 2am, with another wake up at about 5 or 6 in the morning, so fingers crossed this continues. Tonight she’s actually through in the bedroom rather than with us in the living room, so I hope this is the start of a routine that works for us. Tabitha is so loud in the lead up to bedtime (and for most of the day to be honest), so it’s difficult to create a calm, quiet bedtime for Polly, but she’ll unfortunately just have to get used to that. I always assumed it’d be Polly disturbing Tabitha, not the other way around. Goodness knows how they’ll ever share the same room!

All in all, things have improved vastly and I feel like I’m actually in control of the situation now rather than completely out of my depth. 

Five-and-a-bit week update

Well, I certainly don’t get as much time to sit and write my thoughts down now I’m not breastfeeding! 

Now that Polly is approaching the six week mark, she is definitely becoming more alert, contented, and dare I say it – easier! I think we’re even on the brink of first proper smiles and for the first time I can imagine enjoying having two children. Yesterday evening, for the first time in ages, Polly actually slept and allowed us to eat and watch TV. I think I’ve forgotten how to switch off and relax!

It’s been about a week since I stopped breastfeeding and my boobs are pretty much back to normal now, with just the odd small leakage here and there. It’s like their final sorry attempts to get my attention, and say “we’re still here”. I can’t believe we spent out on an electric breast pump for me to use it only a handful of times. Mind you, there are already lots of things we’ve spent out on in the hope that they might make life easier, but they rarely do: the Bugaboo board, Ewan the Dream Sheep, the Babasling – all largely unused so far. Yet there are still more must-have solutions that I’m tempted by. Having a baby is an expensive affair!

I’ve finally stopped bleeding too after well over a month, although now I’m not feeding, I expect my first period will arrive imminently. Next Wednesday we have our six week check up at the docs, and then two weeks after that Polly will have her first jabs. It all seems to be going so quickly, yet at the same time so slowly.

  

A final thought on feeding

Just like when I stopped breastfeeding Tabitha, I now have that pang of nostalgia and regret that I’m no longer feeding Polly. It seems to have happened very suddenly – I was hoping it’d be more gradual – and I’ve even had to stop expressing already as there’s barely any milk there. Despite my hang ups with breastfeeding there’s something very satisfying about being an instant pacifier to your crying baby when nothing else will do, and like Tabitha, Polly would fling herself off when she’d had enough and snuggle happily into me, which was adorable. As this is our last baby, it means I’ll never experience breastfeeding again, which is a sad thought, but at least I have had that experience to begin with.

On the upside, I’ve suddenly got loads more options when it comes to getting dressed as I no longer have to worry about wearing something that’s easily accessible, or something that could show up leakages – and I can finally have a glass of wine without worrying whether I’ll be intoxicating our baby!

The end of the breastfeeding road

After exactly one month, I think I’ve reached the end of my breastfeeding journey with Polly. As I gradually cut down the amount of feeds I do each day, naturally I’m slowly starting to produce less milk and during her last couple of feeds, Polly has been a lot fussier – coming on and off the breast and not feeding for as long – so I’ve had to top her up very shortly after with a bottle of formula. 

Today, I’ve only fed her formula and she’s sleeping longer and seems more content, so I think that’s that. I will continue to express when I get the time, until my milk dries up completely. I only ever thought I’d do a couple of weeks breastfeeding, so to have done a month has been great, but of course I feel like I should have done more. I managed five weeks with Tabitha, so a pretty similar amount of time, but I hated the experience first time around, because of how painful it was. This time, I have enjoyed it a lot more – apart from having to use those pesky nipple shields – and feel like I could have done it for a bit longer had it just been me and Polly. I must admit it’s so much nicer not having to sit and feed for hours at a time overnight! Plus I can hopefully start to establish some sort of feeding routine now although I don’t want to get hung up on following a strict routine.

I’ve been to get Polly weighed today and she’s now 9lb 11oz and tracking above the 50th centile. I’ve definitely noticed her filling out a bit more over the past week or so. I remember the rapid changes happening with Tabitha too.

Having now spent her third full night in her Moses basket, I think our co-sleeping days are over too. I’m actually quite relieved as I can get a better quality of sleep, albeit only a few hours at a time. 

Tabitha at two and a quarter

Our beautiful girl is exactly two years and three months old today. As mentioned in a previous post her talking’s really coming along now and she’s started to repeat words and sentences back after hearing them. She’s certainly not hit the full-on tantrum stage of terrible twos (yet), but she is very wilful and throws fairly regular strops. This is understandable though as suddenly there’s a baby Polly hogging all of Mama’s attention, and hog my attention she does. Poor Tabitha gets left to play on her own a lot of the time, which I feel incredibly guilty about. A lot of the second time mums I spoke to before Polly arrived said it’s the baby that gets left to cry in the corner while they deal with their toddler, which isn’t the case for us so far. Tabitha’s such low maintenance compared to Polly with her demanding needs. Of course I’d like to spend more quality one-on-one time with Polly too, but this is just one of the issues having two brings.

Whereas yesterday I felt like I could take on the world, today I’m afraid not so much. Polly had a good full night in her Moses basket again, which is great, but I woke up with a crick in my neck/shoulder and a splitting headache – both of which are still here. Thankfully Tom is on half a day so is on route home and my mum arrives again tomorrow. One full day on my own is clearly all I can muster up the energy for. Polly hasn’t been keen on having me put her down much today, which hasn’t helped either. Still, we made it through the morning and managed to get out to Tempo Tots. This week sees the final sessions of all of our groups before they break up for summer, which is a shame. Goodness knows how I’ll fill our days over the next few weeks.