#2 - Baby Daze (Four Weeks)

Miles is now four weeks old.... how on earth did that happen?!

Our little man is waking up more each day. Love seeing him being so alert and watching his dark blue eyes tracking his older siblings racing all around him! He is a tough little dude too, withstanding all the snuggles and smothering hugs from his adoring brother and sister.

Sleeping: Being the 'poor third child' he has been roaming the house in his bassinette till now - initially and mostly in our bedroom, then we started wheeling him into the lounge room outside our bedroom overnight (with bedroom door open). Only a couple metres away but enough to help me sleep better not hearing every little Snuffle&Squeak! Around 3.5 weeks he suddenly transitioned from waking twice in the night to feed (about 1.30am and 4am) to mostly only waking once at around 3.30am which is very reasonable, thankyouverymuchyoungsir! I can handle one feed a night!


So then a couple days ago, because we had insurance assessors coming to do stuff in our bedroom/ensuite  during the day (due to a little flooding incident which gave some drama to our last week!) I rolled his bassinette into the guest room which is going to be temporarily his till I do some more room shuffling. So there he has stayed as all that rolling around was getting a bit out of hand, haha! With both bedroom doors open I can hear him no problem at night and now that he is generally only waking once, there is not too much of me groggily staggering back and forth in the dark. My little bear seems happy wherever he sleeps and that now includes his 'temporary accommodations  of the guest room/nursery! All his clothes are in baskets around the room, with a change mat and changing gear all laid out on the guest's double bed - it's all very mish-mash but he doesn't seem to care! Ohhh, when I remember how precisely Lily's room was assembled months before she was born... things do change, huh!

With Miles in his temporary room for the foreseeable  future, the next stage is a bunk bed in Lily's room for Eli to move in and share, so Miles can then transfer to Eli's room/cot... then the next medium-term stage (seriously, so many stages!!) in probably a couple of years will be moving the boys in together with the bunks and Lily will have her own room. Phew. I'm sure that has confused every reader - if you need me to draw you a diagram just let me know, haha! And who knows if it will all unfold like that, we will just see how things go and assess and reshuffle as required depending on how everyone handles the changes. Thankfully with four bedrooms we do have quite a few options - but our preference is to keep the guest room as a guest room for when lovely friends and family come to stay! Plus, call me old school, but I think room-sharing is good for kids!

Teeny baby ears, hair, hands... every bit of him is so precious.

Routine:  Miles is still cruising along on a great little flexible three-hour routine. He is still feeding three hourly in the day - mostly I wake him for a feed or he wakes himself at around the three-hour mark. Sometimes I manage to squeeze in an extra feed or two if he wakes early. Over the early evening if he stirs, I will give him an extra feed to boost him up for the overnight stretch! I am watching out for growth spurts and also expecting some fussy/unsettled periods in the coming week as it's a Wonder Week approaching around 5 weeks. He is doing good with self-settling, just drifting off to sleep on his own most of the time when I put him down after the right wake time (which is currently 45-60 minutes, depending on sleepy cues). If he fusses, picking him up for a burp and a cuddle, then trying again usually sends him right off to sleep - or if that fails, giving him five minutes to settle himself does the trick.

Feeding: He is still breastfeeding with gusto and packing on the pounds. Friends are commenting how much he has grown already - not sure how much he weighs exactly but he is for sure getting chubbier and heavier. He is such a speedy eater (5-10 minutes on one side at the most) - I have no idea how he gets so much to eat in such a short time, but the rapid growth and countless wet nappies tells me he is getting more than enough!

And...Miles has just hit his 'baby acne' stage, poor darling! Even with his red spotty skin, we assure him he is the most beautiful baby in the world (gotta boost the self esteem, haha). His little neck is getting stronger as he tries to keep an eye on the family movements! He does well being toted around on family outings, though with Mark back at work full time as of next week, I will see how we go flying totally solo!

Having to bundle all three kids in and out of the car twice a day on my own for Lily's school days is a bit of a hoopla... ugh. Although Miles mostly sleeps through it now, I hate taking him from his cosy bed to put him in and out of the car, and I cringe at the thought of all the disrupted naps that will be happening throughout the year due to pick up and drop off. Trying to think through various ways to work around that, so will report on how that goes!

Well, at just four weeks there is not too much else to report.... he is such a sweet little fellow, and I am very grateful that the rumours I heard about the 3rd kid just 'slotting into the family' appearing to so far be true! Funny how quickly you change from not being able to imagine that new child to not being able to imagine life without them!

Month one has flown. The coming months will surely whip by too.... but not before I get my fill of newborn snuggles and smooches! I like to just sniff his little head when I rock him... (is that weird?!)