Mr Interested

We have just returned from a walk and bike ride (Frost riding, me walking, Wren wrapped in the Moby) in the cold evening air. It is a time of foundations and flowering - all around the neighborhood cherry trees are in bloom and the excavators are in full dig.

Wren has been practicing noises and making shouts and squeals whenver he is alert. He is starting to become more regular in his naps - a short one in the morning, a long midday or early afternoon nap and another couple of short naps before a 9pm bedtime.

Frost is very good at riding the new bicycle - just shows you that buying things cheap at a thrift store may not be the way to give your kids the right start. That last bicycle was a bomb from the start and Frost was just waiting for a better model to get the hang of it.

Ah, the stove just beeped that it is at 400 degrees and ready for the gratin and salm for dinner. Frost is going to play I SPY MYSTERY while I cook.

My global family is once again on the move. Mum has just left Adelaide, Australia for a 3 week trip to the UK to see grandad, Caroline, Mike and Brenda. Dad and Ingrid leave shortly for China and Singapore before Dad gets here around the end on the month. Frost and Grandad are in discussion about what chemicals they are going to experiment with.

Frost is impatient and Wren is kicking and huffing for attention. I am looking forward to a good bath later on if Josh gets home in time. Here are some pictures of Wren in the bath on the weekend.

Photo journal

My expecting club board is all about fun baby stuff. One section is called SCRAPBOOKING and gave me the idea of doing a photo journal of one day. I find it very reassuring to see other photo journals in which moms go through the same Wake, Eat, Diaper change routines as I do.

So, here is my homage to the photo journal. Unfortunately I gave up around 3pm when Frost came home from school:

Half of Friday in the Life of Wren
Wren wakes up around 7am but is really still sleepy. I put him in the swinging chair while I make Frost's breakfast, school lunch and my coffee. He is pretty happy in the swing and sometimes goes to sleep again. He likes to watch Frost who gets to watch TV.

Here he is in the swing. After I have made breakfast and all that jazz we do diaper change.









The Diaper change area is actually a bed but the changing table sits next to it, unused. Before Wren was born we didn't know if and when he would come home from hospital so we prepared a guest room for my mother rather than a nursery. As you can see the nursery is still in process:




Wren on the diaper change bed.






After diaper change we went outside to pick some flowers for Big Brother Frost. He wanted to take them to school to give to his kindergarten teacher who was leaving. Friday was her last day of school. It was pretty cold so I had my boots on. Wren had barefeet. Bad baby mother.







Then it was tummy time. Wren doesn't much like tummy time on the floor but this couch has a bit of an angle to it so he can look out and enjoy the view.





When Frost went to school with the carpool Wren had his first nap. He sleeps in a wedge supplied by the hospital for babies with reflux. We are not sure he has reflux anymore but he is so used to sleeping in the wedge that we are not messing with it just now. He loves that mobile too but I only turn it on at playtime.




After nap and getting another diaper change we head off to the library. Its around 11am already and I have done nothing except eat, dress and clean teeth. Oh, and check the boards.








Wren has another diaper change and some playtime on the diaper-change bed. Much of our best interaction happens on the bed because he is looking at my from the wedge and is always happy there. Here he is reading Goodnight Moon.



There was another nap somewhere then it was time to go and fetch Frost from school. He was quite excited to be fetched instead of riding in the carpool.

Wren at (almost) 14 weeks

Wren is 14 weeks old today and he is generally happy and always fat. He is becoming quite talkative and enjoys making noises in a conversational way.

I say "Wren, are you a fatty?"
He says "Hiyeee?" [grunt grunt]
I say "Are you kicking with your strong legs?"
He says "Aaayd"

We can converse like this for a long time before he loses interest and starts looking at the ceiling. Most conversations happen when he is propped up in his rainforest swinging chair or on the diaper change bed but he also likes to 'talk' when he is lying on his back on the floor.

He has tummy-time a number of times a day but still doesn't like to do it for more than a few minutes without fussing. Lying under the hanging toys in the gymini is still a favored activity and his hand-control has improved dramatically in the past weeks. When I set him on the mat it is only a matter of seconds before he has captured a toy or two and is grunting and tugging at them.

Watching him reminds me of a scientist learning to use a robotic arm. When I put a toy on his belly he opens his arms and hands wide and then brings them together in jerky movements to meet midway. He has trouble estimating distance from his face so his hands do not always meet with the toy, sometimes they clasp each other and miss the toy entirely. As soon as they meet or he grabs something he pulls it towards his mouth. Sometimes he scrunches up his face (plastic or felt toy) but if its a blanket or a hand he sucks on it and gets very slobbery.

Joshua is convinced he's teething. I am not sure. He has been fussy for a few days and chews on his fingers at every opportunity and he is always drooling so its possible. Still, I think Frost was like that for ages with without teeth coming.

One of Wren's favorite daily activities is bathtime. He lies in a little baby-bath which I lay in the filled bath for Frost. Wren kicks and puffs and waves his arms and hoots. He is very animated and gets so vigorous with his splashing that he often gets water on his face. Frost likes to play with Wren and I have to watch that he doesn't dump water on his face. He likes to take aim at Wren with the water pistol and other squirty bath toys. I have let him squirt Wren's belly but I think he is just itching to give Wren a full unsupervised drenching. As soon as I fix him with my beedy eye he starts kissing Wren and saying "I looooooove you Wren" in a parody or at least imitation of my behaviour.

Dinnertime is going well. We are all managing to sit together at table more often than not. Wren sits in his little purple chair on the floor and watches us and a mobile over the table. He is surprisingly content to sit there while we eat and only once has fussed to the point I have to hold him and eat with one hand.

Healthwise, Wren seems to be doing well. His feet are very pink and warm and his capillary refill time is much quicker than post-cath. When I squeezed his feet today the color came back almost immediately. He still breathes fast and gets mildly clammy when nursing at night (he is bundled for bed in PJ and swaddle) or after a lot of crying. He is almost over this cold and his eyes have cleared up but his cough was worse today and he spat up a few times because of coughing fits. If it doesn't improve tomorrow it will be back to the pediatricians at the end of the week to let them listen to his chest. I hope it improves - Josh is still coughing but Frost is now much better too.

Everyone comments how big and healthy he looks. He holds his head up well and likes to look at the mirror in the living room and the leaves of the bay laurel against the white sky. He is still keen on his crib mobile and the kuba textiles in his bedroom but being talked to is still his favorite activity. He is also a bit of a mimic. Today I practiced raising my eyebrows at him and he responded by raising his. He also sticks his tongue out a bit if you pull at tongue at him and once I made him cry by making a fierce face (I wanted him to copy me, not cry!)

Tomorrow, I hope to go to a postnatal yoga class with Wren. I hope he will be restful enough for us both to enjoy it. I shall post a few pictures tomorrow.