Jenson is two weeks old today and my mum is babysitting for a few hours so we can go out for Luke’s 30th. It’s weird knowing that we’ll be baby free and I wonder if I’ll be the kind of parent who wants to check in every hour… I doubt it as I know my mum is good with him and he’s seen her every other day of his life so far, so it’s not like we’re leaving him with a stranger. We’re going to see Jurassic World and head to The Cornish Barn for something to eat after – I’m even going to treat myself to a cheeky cider or cocktail. I haven’t had a drink since September so no doubt one will be enough.
Jenson is already outgrowing his clothes but luckily we have my favourite of his onesies in the first three sizes. He was 8 pounds 9 ounces when he was born and when the Health Visitor weighed him on Thursday he was 9 pounds 2 ounces. He’s also super long.
We’ve had ten days together as a family at home now and it has been great. Luke goes back to work this time next week so no doubt it will be a bit of a shock doing all of the feeds and nappy changes during the day. I’ll need to get in the habit of taking him everywhere with me – when I get dressed, make lunch, nip to the loo… And I need to master the art of changing him! I think I treat him too delicately because I always struggle to get those little bodysuits over his head and definitely favour onesies which have poppers all the way through – much easier, especially as he hates being dressed.
He hates baths too. I always thought I’d want to photograph baby’s first bath but as soon as he hit that water he started screaming like we’d thrown him into an ice bath or something. He has quite dry skin so he’ll need another one soon so we can rub some oil in. His umbilical chord stump dropped off on Sunday and was fine for a couple of days, until it started bleeding a little bit, so we have to remember to fold his nappy down during changes to help it dry out.
I know everyone is biased when it comes to their own children but Jenson really is such a good baby. Until a couple of days ago he only cried when he was hungry or being changed (full nappies tend not to bother him but we change him with each feed so he’s never in them too long) and he is getting better at sleeping. Sometimes he cries just because he wants a cuddle, which is fine most of the time but sometimes my arms get tired or I’ve not long put him down (or it’s 3am!) and I feel bad for not wanting to pick him up straight away. Sometimes he goes completely rigid when he’s crying, which makes for interesting Superman-style poses!
On Wednesday night he slept straight through for five hours! He tends not to settle until about 12 so even though we tried getting an early (11pm) night, it still took an hour to settle him but I couldn’t believe it when he woke for a feed at 5am. He then slept until 8am and it was the best night’s sleep we’d had yet. It probably helped that it was the first night in our new bed. After struggling with a super-low bed for the last couple of months it was nice to be higher up (not least because it made it easier to check on Jenson in the night) and the firmer mattress is easier on Luke’s back. The old memory foam one was great for my bump but I won’t be having one of those again!
The midwife signed him off on her second visit on Tuesday and the Health Visitor came out to see him on Thursday. It was her first time seeing him so she picked up on his jaundice (which we thought was pretty much gone) and wants us to take him for a check up at the hospital on Monday. He’s eating and pooping well (the picture below is post-epic poo. So epic that it was easier just to throw his clothes out! But he looks so angelic…) so there’s probably nothing to worry about. I think it’s just for her own piece of mind and it doesn’t hurt for them to check him out again. It’s gonna be a big day though because we’re registering him in the morning.
It’s crazy how much he’s developing each day too. Although we’re not fans of dummies generally, we do pop one in when he’s waiting for milk to cool (that’s the one thing I feel bad about when it comes to not breastfeeding – making him wait for food) and he’s already at the stage where he tries to grab it, as well as his bottle and my vest top straps. He’s a bugger for grabbing Luke’s chest hair too but it’s super-cute when he grabs hold of fingers.
I expected to fall in love with him straight away and I love him more each day but it applies to his Daddy too. They’re so adorable together.
I’m off to make the most of our last week at home together before real life kicks in!