Thursday 18 December 2008

Merry Christmas

Just to let everyone know that I will not be posting again until after New Year! I am taking a break from all things pc related!

So Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year to all - I hope to find you are happy, healthy and well rested in the New Year!

Kerren

Saturday 13 December 2008

Oh happy Day!

The good news is that my strategy for stretching Daniel between feeds is really working. Each night (3 since I started it) has been an improvement on the last. We have generally got it down to only two wakings a night now. He has a feed just before we go to bed and then he will feed again around 01h00 or 02h00 and then will feed again between 05h00 and 06h00 - then I demand feed him during the day as much and as long as he likes. I am so happy that this strategy is working.. clever mommy!

Sorry Mel, but I have to blog about this..

My in-laws were round for dinner on Thursday night, and when I mentioned the trouble of Daniel not wanting to sleep, Mel, my Mother-in-Law said, "There is an easy solution to this you know". To which I replied, "Yes?" and Mel said, "give him porridge"

Give him porridge.. give him porridge??????? He is only 7 weeks old...and still 5 months away from needing solid food!

You see, there is a story behind this.. When Caleb was a few months old, we were having trouble with his sleeping as well at night.. and everyone in the family was putting pressure on me to start putting porridge in his bottles. They all said that he was waking because he was so hungry, and if I would just give him porridge, this would solve the problem. Well, when Caleb was 4 months old I caved under pressure and gave it to him. Needless-to-say it didn't help our lack of sleeping problem at all.. In fact, he gained absolutely no benefit from it at all!!

So the night before my in-laws came round, I was chatting to Adam and I was saying that, no matter how much pressure I was under, I was not going to cave with Daniel and give him solids early.. I also said, "lets see how long it is before your Mom suggests porridge". And what do you know, the very next evening Mel suggested it..LOL!

No offence meant Mel.. I know that we are all different in how we raise our children, and each mother has to do what she believes is best for her children.. I firmly believe that there is no benefit to giving a baby solid food before 6 months..Mel raised 3 happy healthy strapping young men, so I know it must have worked for her boys!

Anway, that is my story for the day!

Kerren

Thursday 11 December 2008

Daniel

Sleeping with Daddy
What a hard day!

So cute! look at those chubby little hands and cheeks.. now you see the benefit of his feeding every two hours!


Reminds me so much of Caleb in this picture!


Daniel

So Daniel is in a 2-hour feeding routine at the moment and it is killing Adam and I... this is how it goes at night:
Daniel wakes for a feed
Takes 40 minutes to feed and wind him
5 minutes to change his nappy (diaper)
30 minutes for him to fall asleep
Takes me 10 minutes to fall asleep
Then I sleep for about 30 minutes,
Then we start the process all over again..

So last night I decided that enough was enough.. and we started stretching him.. (his feedings, not his body..lol) and he managed to go for 4 hours between feeds, but still didn't sleep very well. So wish me luck that tonight will be better!

Sorry for the short and boring post, but due to the above, I am not feeling very creative.. I will make up for it I pomise!

Oh and if any of you have any tips on fixing the above problem, I am all ears.. or eyes as it were

Kerren

Tuesday 9 December 2008

Woe is me...

I am feeling kind of sad..:(

Like Max's blog, there are a few other blogs that I follow that are along a similar line. I also belong to a website called Babyfit.com and there are a few forums there that I follow which are also about pregnancy/infant/child loss. I know Adam thinks it is not good for me to follow these topics, but I do it for one reason - I do it because I try and offer some support emotionally to the women as they go through, what must be, the most difficult thing any mother can experience - the loss of a child.

As many of you will already know, I know all too well the pain of miscarriage and I remember from those times how helpful it was to be in contact with other women who understood my pain. As much as family and friends tried to help me, they could not truly understand the raw emotion of losing a baby..but I found that support from other moms who had suffered this type of loss really helped me. So now, I try to give something back by giving emotionally to the moms who are currently dealing with their pain..

A friend of mine asked me just last week to write to her daughter who had just suffered a missed miscarriage and perhaps try to help her through my own experience. While I always feel it is my duty and honour to try and offer support in these cases, I have to admit that it drains me and opens all those old wounds again.. On one hand I think it is good for me to be able to talk about it, but on the other hand there is a part of me that wants to just leave it in the past.

And yet isn't that a bit selfish? I have two beautiful boys asleep in their rooms.. I have a husband who loves me and family I can count on... I am blessed..

But sometimes I miss my lost babies as much as if they were people I had lost whom I had known all my life..

And so tonight I am sad..:(

Monday 8 December 2008

Monday Morning

Yawn.. another long night last night - Daniel was awake to feed every 2.5 hours, which, as you can imagine, is absolutely exhausting. He is asleep now (10:25) so I thought I would take this opportunity to post again..there is something specific I want to get off my chest..
I am not sure how many of you read the Sunday Times this weekend, but there was a story on about Page 3 about a young man who murdered his mother. He made a few comments which really had an impact on me.
He said that his only regret was that he had not killed her 20 years ago, he said that he deserved the toughest sentence possible and that he wouldn't fight it and he also said that he would not justify the public's curiosity by telling why he killed her, but that the members of the family knew.
I have been thinking about this story constantly since yesterday.. I looked in on Caleb sleeping last night, and I look at Daniel now as he sleeps and I wonder at that man's life - that he would grow up to feel this way? What drives a child to murder his mother and the fact that he does not regret it and wishes he had done it sooner?
I look at my sweet boys and know that I could never hurt them.. not intentionally.. and I think how sad it is that some women are called mothers, and yet they have absolutely no right to claim that title as their own.
A mother is one who knows the unique bond of mother to child. A mother is one who would sacrifice all, even her life, for that of her child. A mother is nuturing and loving above all else. It astounds me that we must have a license to drive a car, or carry a gun, and yet anyone can become a parent. Becoming a parent seems just as dangerous for some children as being in a car accident, or being shot! Look at Baby P..what a sad story.. I can't even think of Baby P without tears in my eyes!
There is a blog that I follow about a young mother who found out at 20weeks gestation that her baby had Trisomy 18. I wont go into great detail, but Trisomy 18 is a fatal condition. Trish delievered little Max last Friday and he lived for only 3 hours before gaining his wings. Trish is in a world of pain at the moment at Max's passing - Trish deserves to be a mother, and yet her arms are empty and her heart is broken.. the world is an unfair place!http://ourmiraclemax.blogspot.com/
Mothers go home this evening and love your children.. be grateful that you have them.. remember why you had them in the first place.. give them an extra hug before bedtime.. and know that you are blessed.

Kerren

Saturday 6 December 2008

First Post




So this is my first post.. I am not really sure how to start it, but I want to have a blog so as to be able to update family and friends on the boys progress.




Caleb had a really busy day - he went to swimming practice at 08:30 this morning and has been playing up with toddler tantrums all day. I think it's because Granny secretly gave him sugar for breakfast this morning! Caleb slept at their house last night and ever since we picked him up this morning he has been bouncing off the walls and when I asked him what he had for breakfast at Granny's house, he says chocolate spread (Nutella).. hmmm.. I am inclined to believe him because he loves to get Granny into trouble and tell me all about his secret sugar stash at her house.




Daniel has had a fairly quiet day - he has been slightly grumpy due to him having his 6-week check-up and shots yesterday. He is weighing in at 5.1kgs and he is 58.5cms. Which means he is right at the top of the graph for what he should be gaining! Even the nurse said, "Mrs Rennie, you know he is going to be one large lad don't you?"




Okay well that is enough for my first post, I have to dash and get Caleb into bed..




Chat again soon