Mellow Zach

I feel like I have been scraping by for the past couple of months- we have been trying to tackle Zach's cheeky night feedings for three months and his need for daytime milk from me was getting more and more obsessive (11 months old,  8+ times a day and he would scratch my face and neck from start to finish and was also getting a bit to keen to try out new acrobatic positions). On top of that he developed a new trait two months ago... extreme separation anxiety. He really would get very upset when he was held by anyone else, I was NOT allowed to leave the room and whenever we went out to anything in the village he clung to me. He was also at the height of his blood-curdling scream phase! Wo betide Oliver ever needing my attention,  poor good boy!

On one particular witching hour (4/5 o'clock-ish) in my despair I rang my Mum (on hands-freee, I was holding Zach is one arm and cooking the dinner with the other) quizzing her on whether she ever put any of us in childcare a morning a week!!! Her answer was... "It will pass"! And how right she was (as usual...)

Now I can type this because my dear second boy with the cute face has mellowed beyond belief. I decided that milk was a bit part of the problem, so over the past three weeks I have weaned him entirely off my milk. Life is truly blissful. He naps for two long stretches every day, Ben is able to put him to bed, HE HAS STOPPED SCREAMING! He has let other people hold him a couple of times for a couple of minutes each and there was even a smile once! Over the last three or so days he has been able to play a couple of metres away from me which is such a huge step for him! And, *drumroll* the past three nights he has SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT. He is back to being a joy to be around, and no longer drains everything I've got! I have ENERGY to do be a better wife, Mum, look after myself and am focusing on looking after other people. One friend was even concerned at quite how energetic I was- she called me manic!! Brilliant :) To top it all off it is SUNNY, I have a wonderful family, fabulous friends and going to church and living what I know to be true makes me so happy. Ahh, cloud nine!

Major Breakthrough!

... Oliver has just gone off to bed WITHOUT his last milky feed. I have been feeding him for a couple of days shy of 13 months now and despite a very painful first few weeks have absolutely loved it!! He has been weaning himself off gradually quite happily but today was the first time I've pulled one- milky before bed. So far we have both lived to tell the tale!! He whimpered for ten minutes or so and now he is fast asleep. Ahhh, a bit of time off being a Mummy milk cow... until May :)

Our new house and other news

Look at our new house!!!

We just got back from a wonderful time in Aberdeen, house hunting and exploring our new surroundings. I loved it, and the scenery on the drive up there was incredible! 

It has a garden, nice furniture etc, two bedrooms, it's in a lovely quiet Crescenty area with a church, park and community centre nearby and it is just lovely and the right price!! Hooray!! We're moving in on 10th Sept.

In other news...

We stayed with friends on the way home- Emily and Widge Guy - which was just fab since we haven't seen them for over a year which was very sad!! They were wonderful hosts and we had a great time with them and look forward to seeing them again soon. While we were there OLIVER SLEPT THROUGH THE NIGHT for the first time in his life!!!!!!!!!!!!! He went to bed at 9pm and woke up at 7.45am, with no milky in between!!!!!!!!! Wahoo. Last night it was back to business as usual and I fed him twice, but at least I now know that it is possible!

And Oliver is getting more impressive by the day, because yesterday evening I felt his first tooth! I can see it poking through and everything- it was a bizarrely emotional moment :) His cousin Seb has 8 teeth and he is only two months older, so we are glad our little Squeaker is starting to catch up!

And here is a sad piece of news from Ben: he had an intense medical for going offshore with BP (which he passed, by the way) and they told him that he has a " mild irreversible hearing impediment" in one of his ears, or something along those lines, probably from listening to loud music?? We don't really listen to any so I'm not really sure what caused it. Either way, I tease him by speaking in his other ear and nice and slow, but we hope he won't need a hearing aid before he's 40...!

The greatest night of my life for nearly six months!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wahoooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!

You can probably guess what has happened: after two months of tearing my hair out with Oliver waking up 5 or 6 times a night, and reading lots of books and working out all the methods and extra food I am planning to give him as soon as he gets to six months, yesterday a Mum at a group I go to suggested that I put him in his own room (This was earlier than I was planning- I thought I shouldn't do it til 6 months, and since he wakes up so frequently anyway I was dreading it!) So last night he slept in his cot in the second bedroom, went down at 8pm, woke for a feed at 12 and then not again until 6.45am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Woahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, my best sleep EVER! (Although I actually was awake for a while at 4.30 and 5.30 when he woke up, chatted to himself and went back to sleep. Cos he wasn't too sad I just left him and he didn't wake up Ben since he was quieter on the monitor). 


Wahoooooooooooo! I will be doing the same thing every night from now on, and not start the poor boy on three meals a day today after all :) Life is ESPECIALLY good today.

Oliver's latest achievements!

Oliver learnt how to roll over on Wednesday (Uncle Eddy's 18th birthday!) and he has been rolling, both ways round ever since! It is quite amusing to watch his tilting dangerously just before he flips over. So, at 5 months and a little bit old he is finally on the move a bit more! I also saved him the other day, when he had magically managed to get out of his bouncy chair! He was hanging out of it, held on by only his head... Ben and I have now worked out that we've got to strap him in (it wasn't an issue before since he couldn't move even if he wanted to).

We also started going to 'Sing and Sign' classes on Friday afternoons, where we learnt a bit of baby sign language. It looks like it's going to be fun.

As always, the downside is always night times... Oliver still wakes up to feed five or six times a night, every night, and has done for more than two months now....!!!! But isn't he cute?? I still adore him.

Amazing news I can't believe I forgot to mention...

Olly Woo slept his longest stint EVER last night. He went 5 hrs 45 mins between feeds and he didn't even sleep in our bed either!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's 1 hr 45 mins longer than his previous personal best- woo! :)