6 weeks

Just over 6 weeks old and the boy is experiencing his first bout of man flu! Well to be fair to him he’s been far less hassle than any sickly male I’ve ever known and has taken it all in his stride with only a slightly deeper snore, the odd sniffle and now a cough. He must be feeling pretty awful, it’s 9.30am and he’s still in bed and even though he loves a lie in, he is usually up by now. I know how he feels, I’ve had it too and could barely move two days ago, so I feel rather sorry for him as he’s only little. Of course all I can do is raise his mattress, cover him in baby vapour rub and give him plenty of cuddles – shame it’s not that easy with my 10 year old and my partner who both have it too! It’s like the house of germs this week! I guess we were due an installment of some kind of illness soon, after all he’s due to have his injections in a week and a half and all babies seem to get ill just before their injections are due don’t they!

Despite not feeling 100% he’s still my happy smiling little boy, he continues to beam at anyone who happens to be in the vicinity and has started laughing already which is just the most adorable sound. He “talks” more and more each day and loves it when you copy his noises and have a “conversation” with him and kicks his little legs and waves his arms in excitement. Bath times are always lovely, he’s so chilled out in his bath just laying there without a noise and looking so unbelievably relaxed – at times he even crosses his legs and puts them on the end of the bath as if he’s sitting on a sofa with his legs up!

He continues to feed well and seems to be putting on weight at a rate of knots as his 0 – 3 month clothes are beginning to get a little snug already – I’d give him another 2 weeks in them! He feeds like a dream, the only time I’ve felt like I’ve had enough is when I was feeling particularly ill the other day and hadn’t eaten and it literally felt like he was taking every last little bit of energy I had left.

He’s still sleeping like an angel for about 8 unbroken hours a night, but still won’t go to bed any earlier than 11.30pm and if he does will always wake up again. Obviously I don’t want him to get into the habit of going to bed so late, but despite trying to put him to bed earlier, putting a routine in place and even trying to keep him awake during the day, he still won’t go to bed any earlier, so it’s a case of just waiting for him to decide when he wants to go to bed earlier I guess. Ideal if you like a lie in of course, which lets face it everyone does, not to mention if you like 8 blissful hours under the duvet each night, but it kind of comes unstuck when you want an early night! He still gravitates towards his dad at night, on occasion he’ll fall asleep on me when he’s really exhausted, but 5 out of 7 nights he wants his dad to hold him until he falls asleep or just put him in his cot, if I try it he screams blue murder!

I’m still feeling great, must be all the sleep he lets me get! I can remember feeling like death warmed up when I had my daughter with feeds every 2 to 3 hours all day and night, but because he lets me get probably more sleep than I ever used to get before even becoming pregnant with him I don’t wake up feeling like I’ve only just gone to bed. Of course breastfeeding means I spend a large quantity of time sitting on my rear end and the housework has suffered as a result, but then I was never a domestic goddess anyway so I don’t let it get to me – if I manage to have a shower, get dressed, get out for a walk, put some washing on, load the dishwasher, cook the dinner and remember to pick my daughter up from school I count it as an achievement these days, let alone remember my own name!