Getting used to this sitting up thing

George seems to be adapting rather well to this sitting up malarky, although he does get a bit shirty if things remain out of his reach (don't we all?) Dinner with just-married-last-Saturday Vonce and Hannah tonight (both from NZ but living in London) at the always delicious Bistro Manchu (take THAT Jonathan). Tomorrow is a quiet one (I think), but on Sunday, George gets a brief morning visit from Paddy and Granny B. He is very excited and can't wait to show them how he can sit up, grab things, scream, and - with a little encouragement - throw up on them.

A few photos from this morning. One of George sitting up, one of his housemates lying down:

George's new roommates

When I went to get Bunky up at 7am this morning, his door was ajar - which could only mean one thing: that someone* hadn't close the door properly last night, and two of our housemates** had decided to head into the "forbidden room" and see what was going on. When I pushed the door open a little more, Ben was sitting there looking up at me with his usual indignant  "What?" expression on his face, and Poppy was fast asleep on George's playmat.  Both of them scarpered when I came in, little chickens.

Thankfully, neither of them had thought to jump into Bunky's cot (although I have caught Poppy in there once before), and Bunky was happily snoozing away with Hiphop.

* Mummy

** Of the feline variety

Sunday freakout

Poor little George had his first public meltdown today - Sam and Mary kindly invited us to dim sum at City Hall, and so we jumped in the KKmobile and headed down there just after 1pm.  The first hour or so was ok - George played nicely with Mary... but then tiredness took over, and the little man completely flipped out. He was completely overtired but couldn't get to sleep, and the poor little man had a complete freakout in the restaurant (thankfully it was one of those super large restaurants where a few hundred people were busy feeding their faces.  Sam and Mary were totally understanding about it (esp as we had no cash and needed to leave midway through the meal - so they paid for us), and the other tablemates were also really nice about it. We beat a hasty retreat to the car and then after a bit of lane confusion found ourselves going via the longer (but probably faster) way to Pokfulam - through the Aberdeen tunnel.  We had a few moments of silence in the car, but it wasn't until he was tucked up in his cot that he actually decided that he'd get some sleep and stop screaming. Poor wee kid.

Here are a few photos that obviously weren't taken during said meltdown:

Meanwhile, life goes on for our feline flatmates - here is a moment of slumber from this afternoon. Seriously, I don't know how Poppy sleeps like this:

More touching family photos...

A few from before and after bathtime tonight:

...one from after dinner as Poppycat hung out on the window seat:

...and one of George and Rachel using the computer camera (they emailed it to me at work):

A few random photos from my phone

Of course a little one of the kiddo:

...and one of Ben and Pop having a Sunday afternoon cuddle on the spare bed:

Please note that this is actually how Ben (on the left) sleeps - on his back and legs splayed.  He's so classy.

Sleep in

Whoops. We slept in by half an hour this morning, and when I went in to get George from his bedroom he was lying on his side with his eyes open, happily sucking his finger.  Bless. Had a lovely morning, during which I read him "The Very Hungry Caterpillar" for the first time.  I think he took most of it in (before proceeding to cover the pages in freshly manufactured drool).

Also took a few photos of the furry ones last night (with the borrowed lens I've been experimenting with).  Here's one of Ben.  Clearly he's starving and weak and has been deprived the necessities of life. Or... he had just hoovered up a small dish of tuna and whitebait and was feeling a tad lethargic.

Yawn contest

A few random photos

spacespacesap I took a few photos of little fella this morning while he was half sleeping and half flirting with his mummy - and I got a few of the world's most shy cat trying to look fierce (well, yawning).  I'm too sleepy to touch these up or go all  Anne Geddes on you, so enjoy them in their brutally unedited glory:

Two working days to go...

spacespacespace ...until New Zealand!

Here are a few photos from this morning in the lounge.  Daddy did the nappy change and hung with little man on the window seat in the lounge.  And then Ben arrived to check out his new sibling:

Another morning with Daddy

spacespacespace Quite possibly against her better judgment (which is questionable, given her choice of husband), Rachel left Little One with Daddy for the morning. A more extended babysitting gig than last time, this time so Mummy could hit the hairdresser for the pre-New Zealand touch up (her hair looks lovely, of course).

We ended up at FUEL coffee, meeting my photography junkie friend Angelo - who was about to hop on a flight back to San Francisco. Handy location, as FUEL is about three floors up from the Airport train station.  

Everything went well - Angelo took loads of photos of George (with a camera I would kill for) and even had a cuddle. The little punk (George, not Angelo) had the nerve to give Angelo nothing but smiles and giggles. False advertising, little one...

He snoozed and snoozed a bit more, and then I took him home.  Where he snoozed. And snoozed a bit more.  And at 1pm I had to physically wake him for his lunchtime feed of pureed steak and mashed potatoes.  Ha, just kidding. He got milk.

Despite his voice sounding a tad hoarse (hey - it's not like he has any actual words for us), the new sleeping routine seems to be working well. I still hate watching / hearing him cry, but he really is getting to sleep in a much more predictable way.  It's 11pm as I'm typing this, and he just went down again - four hours since his last feed, and with minimal fuss.  All good.

Anyway, here are a few photos from Chez Narly today. Oh yes - that is indeed baby vomit on my t-shirt. I didn't spot it until Rachel pointed it out after I had taken the photo. Little sod puked all the way down Wellington, down to Picton and possibly down to Kaikoura.

spacespacespace

...and just in case you didn't already know, Ben still has no shame whatsoever:

Daddy stayed home

Daddy took annual leave today, mainly to take the Poppy the cat to and from the vet (general anesthetic - dental work - all is fine), but also to hang with George and Mummy. We had a lovely day, most of which George slept through - and Mummy and Daddy even managed to go out for a civilised lunch at the Marriot (which George slept through).  now all is quiet in the house and I'm watching the ratbags sleeping next to the heater - I'm leaving it on all night so that Poppy can "recuperate" on a nice warm cushion (if the heater is on, it also means that they don't sprint around the house all night...) A few of the sleepymonster from this morning.  Or was it this afternoon?  I forget.

A better day

spacespacespace Well to be honest, beating yesterday wouldn't have been too difficult.  Today George got a new sleeping technique sampled on him - no more gentle cuddling and rocking for him.  Military school stuff now - in the bassinet, on his side, rocked and patted until he passes out. No more cuddles and lovey dovey crap.  I must say, I was a bit hesitant when I saw Rachel wobbling him like she was making a smoothie, but... he was out cold in well under half the time it usually takes to conk him out.  Not too shabby.

Also - little man did tummy time today, and mummy assures me that he pushed himself up quite happily. He's so clever.

Right - Georgemonster had a great morning on his playmat. And surprise, surprise - I had the camera handy.

A quiet Saturday

Little man was very well behaved today - we scooted down to Cyberport (about 20 mins walk away) to get some groceries, and he was the model of good behaviour (especially when he got his breakfast down there).  After a bit of a nap and another feed (oh, what a life) we headed into town and picked up a few things from various shops - with Daddy not actually working in CBD, trips into Central are a bit of a treat... When we got back he had a wee nap, then an iChat with his future mother-in-law (Anna) - and then it was time for a bath and his evening kip. He's currently crashed out with all of the excitement of the day.  Good little fella.

Tomorrow we're off to visit his sugar mama Evie, and apart from that - not much on the cards.

Oh - today's awesome news is that Emma and Mark had a wee girl this afternoon - Eva  :)

Some photos from today:

Firstly - some of Rachel and George this morning.  There was some lovely light in our room, so with George in a good mood, I took the opportunity to get a few good ones of the best looking members of our little family.  Can you guess which one he was farting in?

spacespacespace

Here's a photo of George in his new sleeping wedge.  He always faces left when he sleeps, and his doctor told us that we had to barbeque him evenly on both sides, or he would get a bit of a ridge in the back of his head. Check out the little fella sleeping on his side:

spacespacespace

And finally, I couldn't resist - here's Ben in one of his ludicrous sleeping positions this afternoon. Honestly, he is such a weirdo. Seriously, he's fast asleep.

Pop Quiz

Question:  What weighs 4kg and threw up on me at 4am this morning? Answer: See photos below.

(If the photos look the same as yesterday's ones, it's because he was in the same seat as yesterday and was sitting in exactly the same place as he was yesterday, and I was too tired to try and move him somewhere else after his morning antics...)

Vital Statistics

Today's discoveries - after 5 weeks: Weight: 2.94kg -----> 4.00kg (note he was actually 2.60 kg when he left the hospital)

Length: 51.5cm ------> 56.5 cm more like 54cm (nurse got it wrong yesterday)

AND...

... he peed all over the nurse's scales.

He's still in the bottom of the class in terms of weight, but that's probably because most of his new weight is concentrated in his cheeks.

spacespacespace

...and finally, something completely different - sunset from our balcony tonight:

Things we learned this weekend

spacespacespace 1) Little man sometimes just needs a quick burp or a fart in order to get back to sleep.  He had an ok night, except as it drew closer to the morning.  He usually gets a decent sleep after we have our dinner, then a shorter sleep from around 11pm to 2am or 3am, then a shorter sleep to about 4am and the the morning is kind of all over the place (that's just a rough guesstimate - but his naps do get shorter as the night goes on).  This morning after a fairly long stint of non-sleep to 5:30am, I went into his room with my phone and hung out with him while he slept (phone --> so I could surf internet news while he slept).  Whenever he stirred, I gave his bassinet a little nudge and rock, and if he started to cry properly I quickly grabbed him, gave him a burp, and put him straight back down.  He never really got a chance to get into a proper cry, and it meant he got a pretty solid 90 minute sleep when he ordinarily would have been up every 15 minutes.   We had an iChat with Anna (in London) this afternoon, and it turns out that she did a similar thing with Bella (George's potential suitor and "older woman")- she just sat her up and burped her when she grizzled during her sleep.  Hopefully this will help us for future sleep issues... we'll see.

2) Little people between 4 and 6 weeks old have a bit of a grizzly patch.  And he's certainly having a grizzly patch at the moment - it's mostly during the night, but we've been assured that the light at the end of the tunnel isn't far away.

3) The way I walk when wearing jandals annoys Rachel.  Pfffft.

4) George is rather taken with participating in video chats. He's also usually very well behaved when he's sitting in front of the camera.

5) If the nappy is full, it doesn't necessarily mean his bottom is empty (particularly at 3am)

6) Of all of the white noise recordings we have, George likes the vacuum cleaner noise the best.

7) Most babies we know have pooped in the bath.  George has not.  He is clearly more advanced than these other babies.

Right, it's time for the daily dose of ludicrous cuteness.  Note that the photos starring Rachel were taken during George's video chat with his possible-girlfriend Bella in London:

Impersonations

spacespacespace I used to think I did a pretty good Donald Duck impersonation, but this morning I really outdid myself - I did my first womb impersonation.  The little man - fresh from a night where he got all of about 45 minutes of sleep, refused to respond to the usually reliable "Sssshhhhhhhh" noises, so I resorted to making the noises that I remembered from the day that Rachel was in labour. For most of that day we had a fetal heart rate monitor set up, and when you flicked the volume switch on, it made this "waaaaor  waaaaoooor waaaaaaaaoor" noise  (make alternating "OOO" and then "ooo" shapes with your mouth, and blow out loudly as you're doing it).

Anyway, I tried this just now and it seemed to calm him pretty quickly... until he started crying again and flipped out.  After a bit of feeding, shushing, womb impersonating and hair washing (someone managed to puke milk in his own hair), we ended up going into town - which was a brilliant move.  I bought some new clothes (none of my old ones fit - I've shed about 8kg in the last 3 months with all of the lunchtime running), we had a lovely lunch at an Italian place (even George got some lunch, although his mummy provided it) and George had a lovely sleep in his stroller.

Oh - someone asked what stroller we are using (sorry, I can't remember who).  We have a Bugaboo Bee and a Maxi Cosi car seat to go with it. the Bee is pretty good - easily popped up and popped down, the seat bit comes out so you can make it face you or even travel with the car seat only, and it folds down into one piece - which means we can take it right to the aircraft door when the time comes (most airlines require you to check a stroller in if it folds down into more than one part).

Right - enough wibble.  Here's some cuteness from this morning (including some fake-Holga work on Poppycat).  I took another few photos about 2 minutes ago, which have actually defied the Laws of Cute, but I'll psot those later when he's asleep.  He's awake now, and I want to go and have a little play with him...

George finally accepts that bathtime is not the same as "waterboarding"

Little fella had a pretty good day, from all accounts.  He came to work with me in the morning and then went to the supermarket with his Mummy.  He was awake when we left here, but by the time we hit the supermarket he was out cold - he does love his stroller. Good thing too - it was pretty damn expensive...! I got home in time for bathtime - it would appear that bathtime is no longer his idea of medieval torture time, and he actually seems to enjoy his little evening dunk in the big green tub.  We still haven't had a "poop in the bathtub" moment, but given how much more relaxed he is in there, I suspect it's only a matter of time.

Final note for today - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY MOMMY! Some special photos for you (including one of your favourite cats cuddling up to each other):

A few pictures from the phone

spcaespace Just a few shots from my phone this morning, taken while I was watching the wee fella.  Clearly Poppycat was watching him too...

Chair time | Sheepskin time