Being Momma G: Day 73

Our plans for the week went flying out the window at 10.30am, when we received a very unexpected phone call from Tresillian.

2 weeks ago, during our all day stay at the Camellia Family Care Cottage, Margot had asked if we would like to be referred to Tresillian to help Sean learn how to sleep properly. It wasn't so much Margot asking if we'd like the referral as her telling us we needed it, for Sean was very unsettled on the day, and Margot thought a stay at Tresillian would benefit both Sean and me. Last week, I was phoned by Tresillian to "activate" the referral. The waiting list for the Tresillian residential stay program was well known to be a lengthy one, so we were told it could be weeks before we were able to be invited to undertake the program.

A phone interview with one of the nurses at Tresillian was a pre-requisite for the residential stay program, and that was scheduled for 3pm today. Tresillian called at 10.30am to say they had had a cancellation, and there was now a bed available for this week's program, and asked if we would like to take it. Our answer was a resounding "YES".

For the past few days, Sean had been very unsettled and his feeding pattern was also very "off". Sean was catnapping for 45 to 60 minutes and wanting to feed every 2 hours. This pattern of behaviour was reminiscent of the early days, so Jonathan and I both saw this as a backward step for Sean. Hence we welcomed the opportunity to take up the unexpected bed at Tresillian without hesitation.

Overnight, Sean woke at 11.30pm for a feed, followed by more feeds at 2am, 4am and at 6am. He was very unsettled after the 6am feed, so I brought him into our bed and we both cuddled to sleep until 8.30am when he had his next feed. After 30 minutes of play time with Jonathan, Sean slept for only an hour, and Tresillian called just as Jonathan had spent 20 minutes trying to resettle Sean.

I had lined up various appointments for the weekend, which now all needed to be moved or cancelled. Prior to leaving for the Tresillian Family Care Centre at Willoughby, I sat down to make a large number of phone calls and send a few emails as well.

As we were in the process of putting the St Leonards apartment on the market, I needed to meet with (or at least talk to) our real estate agent Gabi and our conveyancer Sveta (who was also our long time friend) to get the ball rolling on the contract and the sale campaign. I had hoped to sign relevant paperwork with both Gabi and Sveta today, but alas, I was left to organise everything over the phone. Thankfully, both Sveta and Gabi understood our need to drop everything for Tresillian, so everything was eventually sorted out over the phone. Both Sveta and Gabi assured me they would take care of everything.

I was to attend a strata committee meeting at St Leonards on Tuesday evening, but I would no longer be able to as I had no way of getting to and from the meeting, with Jonathan needing the car to get to and from home to see us at Willoughby. I called our lovely strata manager David with my apologies, and then notified our friend and fellow strata committee member Kerrie with the news. Sean and I were going to drop in on Kerrie prior to the meeting, so that Kerrie and her daughter Emma could have a play with Sean, and they had been so looking forward to our visit. I was a bit sad and disappointed that we would not see Kerrie and Emma this week, but there will be plenty more opportunities for future visits. Tresillian had to come first.

On Wednesday, as part of Sean's baptism, Jonathan and I had an appointment to meet with Michael Murphy, a church elder at St Francis Xavier to attend a pre-baptism course. I called St Francis Xavier to let them know we were unable to attend, and they in turn called Michael, who contacted us to rearrange a time on Saturday to see us.

My follow up appointment with our darling dentist Dr Lee was to have been on Friday afternoon, but this too had to be moved to Saturday week, the same day as the NSW State Election.

Last but not least, I had to contact my cousins David and Elaine to let them know that we would not be able to have lunch with them this week after all. I had been looking forward to meeting David and seeing Elaine and Maya again, but again, the bed at Tresillian was far too important to relinquish for a lunch with family. I was sure they'd understand.

After all the phone calls were made and all the emails were sent, we hurriedly packed a bag by throwing pretty much everything into the biggest bag we could find. Jonathan and I took turns to have a shower, and then we were off and racing towards Willoughby. We finally arrived at Tresillian at 12.20pm, and as soon as all the paperwork was filled out, we were shown to our room where I sat down to feed Sean. After another harrowing trip in the car, during which Sean became hysterically upset, Sean drank as if his life depended on it, and slept very well afterwards, albeit with a little help to settle into his cot.

While Sean slept, Jonathan and I were given a tour of the premises by one of the nurses Christine, who also gave us a run down on how everything worked at Tresillian. There were 3 units at the Willoughby Centre, each with 4 rooms. We were staying in Unit A, which appeared to cater to first time mums whose babies are less than 12 months old. We took some time to settle into our room, before going out to the lounge room / nursery to meet the other mothers in our unit. There were 3 other mums and bubs in the unit - Michelle and her baby Zach, Katrina and her baby Rhys, and Ginny and her baby Ari. Before long, it was time to head up to the Welcome Talk, where we introduced ourselves and met everyone else who were also staying the week.

We handed Sean's reflux medication to the nurses, as Tresillian was a hospital for all intents and purposes, and all medication must be issued by the nurses. Unfortunately for Sean, our bottle of Losec came by the way of Vinay, whose compound chemist friend failed to put a label on the bottle, so there was a good chance that the nurses would not be able to give Sean his daily dose of Losec during our stay. Jonathan and I agreed to take Sean off the medication, as Dr Arnold had wanted to ween Sean from the Losec by the end of March.

Jonathan left us at around 3.30pm to head home to start work, so I stayed in the lounge room to allow Sean some peace and quiet to sleep in our room. The little man kept sleeping for a while longer before waking up for his late afternoon feed.

While Sean was sleeping, the unit manager Juliette came and gave me a lengthy interview, to go through all the issues we were facing with Sean, including the fussy feeding and the sleeping / settling behaviours, and went through what we wanted to achieve by the end of the week. One of the things that we wanted to achieve was for Sean to feed no less than every 3 hours (preferably stretched to feed every 3.5 hours, if not longer), instead of snack feeding every 2 hours or less. Another thing we wanted to achieve was for Sean to sleep for longer periods of time. Hopefully, these would be achieved with the help of the nurses at Tresillian.

As we were finishing, Sean was brought to me, having been awake for almost half an hour and ready for a feed. Juliette and I finished the interview and I sat down to feed Sean. Sean had no trouble falling asleep afterwards, and as it was time for dinner, I headed up to the dining room along with Michelle and Ginny to get our meals. Sean woke while I was still having dinner, and the nurses tried valiantly to resettle him. An hour after Sean woke, the nurses gave him to me to feed; Sean never resettled for a sleep.

The little man was very fussy throughout the feed, and only fed off one side and turned his nose up at the other. In hope of getting Sean off to a good solid sleep, I gave him a bath which he enjoyed. Bath time duties were normally undertaken by Jonathan; I'd only given Sean a half a dozen baths in his short life, so I was hoping I wouldn't drop the little man in to the drink. After the bath, and after a lengthy massage with moisturiser, it was time for bed for everyone. As part of the program, mothers were given the option of a "time out" from their babies on the first night of the stay, meaning the nurses would look after the babies all night, and only wake the mothers for feeds. I gladly took up the offer and handed Sean to the nurses, so I could try and get some sleep and hoped it would make me feel better in the morning.

With Sean being settled by trained professionals, I am now in our room getting ready to sleep. Here's hoping Sean will have a good night - I'm certainly looking forward to getting some sleep.

Being Momma G: Day 72

After such a big afternoon / evening, we had hoped the little man would be so worn out he would sleep for hours on end. Alas, that was not to be the case.

Sean woke at 2am for a feed, which went well. He even went back to sleep afterwards. When he woke again at 5.30am, I was hoping for another easy feed. Sean had other ideas, feeding for only 10 minutes before refusing any more food. As a result, he slept quite poorly and woke far too early for his next feed.

Adrian woke around 7am to get ready for the start of his return trip to London, with the first stop being back to Adelaide where he had spent a few days prior to Sydney. Jonathan got up next to have a shower, before leaving to collect Mina. I got ready before bringing Sean out to have his last cuddles with Uncle Adrian.

Just before 8.30am, Jonathan returned with Mina, and it was time for me and Adrian to head off to the airport. I left Sean with Jonathan, and while I was gone, Jonathan gave Sean a bottle when Sean was due a feed. Sean only took 40mL of the formula, which was concerning as Sean should have been hungry enough to drink the entire 120mL bottle that Jonathan had made up for him. Jonathan told me later that Sean was quite reluctant about going back to bed, but he did manage to get some sleep.

Adrian and I chatted some more on the way to the airport. Our time with Adrian on this trip was all too fleeting, so we will now look forward to Adrian's next visit to Sydney, when he would hopefully stay longer.

After dropping Adrian at the airport, I hurried home to find that the little man had just woken up from a short nap, ready to feed again. We sat down to a feed, with the little guy being quite fussy throughout. I hoped Sean managed to get enough milk to keep him going for a bit.

Sean next woke just before 2pm, and had yet another fussy feed. I was getting quite worried about Sean's feeding behaviour, and hoped it was just a passing phase. Thankfully, the rest of us had had some lunch, so it was just a matter of feeding Sean and hoping he was full at the end of his fussy short feeds.

Jonathan informed me around lunch time that Mina was staying for dinner. Mina had asked to stay for dinner, but with no notice, it was going to be interesting to see what I had in the freezer. Luckily, there was a packet of mince, so we decided to make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner. I wondered aloud to Jonathan if we were returning to having Mina for dinner on Sunday nights, but he was none the wiser. Jonathan was under the impression that tonight was a one-off.

After lunch, we watched the recently released Tangled, the 50th animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The movie was largely based on the German fairy tale Rapunzel by the Brothers Grimm, and featured the voices of Mandy Moore (love this chick!) and Zachary Levi (from the TV series Chuck, which Jonathan and I watched for a while before Channel 7 shelved it). We loved the movie - it was fun for the kids, and kept the adults entertained. Plenty of jokes and funny bits for both the young and the old, and the movie went at a cracking pace without any part being deemed "slow and boring" by the little ones. Thumbs up from all three of us!

The little man woke again just after 4pm for a feed, and again was fussy. While I fed the fussy little man, Jonathan and Mina started making the meatballs for dinner. It had been some time since we'd had homemade meatballs for dinner, so we were all looking forward to them.

We were just about finished with dinner when Sean woke. Jonathan got him from the bassinet and Sean sat at the table with us and watched while we finished our meals. As Jonathan left to take Mina home, I started feeding Sean. This feed was slightly better than the previous two feeds, but only slightly better. It took a while for Sean to settle down afterwards, but thankfully, he did settle down to a sleep.

I'm hoping that Sean is unsettled and feeding poorly because of the massive weekend we've had. Everyone is tired, and I need to be on my A game tomorrow for the telephone interview with Tresillian Family Care Centre at Willoughby. Please, little man, sleep well tonight, so we can all try and recover from the big weekend.

Being Momma G: Day 71

Happy birthday to Vinay!

Today is my brother in law Vinay's birthday. Vinay is one of the nicest guys I know, so we hope he has a terrific day, being spoiled by my sister Grace and their kids Renée, Kiran and Danielle.

Sean has also reached a milestone of his own. Sean is 10 weeks old today! Where has the time gone???

Today was going to be a very full day, with lots happening. Sean was told a number of times yesterday that today was a busy one, so he took everything into account and had a good night's sleep. The little guy didn't wake until 4.30am for a feed, and went back to sleep straight afterwards. The next time he woke was just after 9am, and after a good feed, went back to sleep.

Jonathan had plans to go to Mina's birthday party, and during Sean's feed just after midday, he set off for Villawood (where the party was being held) on public transport. The trips to and from the birthday party would prove to be very interesting ones for Jonathan, due to track works and trains being replaced by buses.

Adrian had earlier sent a text message to say that he would be arriving at West Ryde Station around 1pm. After a fussy feed, Sean and I set off for the station to wait for Adrian's arrival. The train was a few minutes late, and Adrian finally alighted and met Sean for the very first time.

After offering to take Adrian for a bite to eat, which he declined, we came home and sat down to a catch up. It was really lovely to see Adrian and have our one on one catch up before the other guests arrived. Sean slept for a little while before wanting to play with Uncle Adrian.

Adrian and I chatted until Chuck and Kyung arrived. Soon afterwards, Jonathan came home from his epic journey by public transport to and from Villawood. And then we were joined by Emily and Penny, and the party got cranking!

With dinner in the oven, we sat down to some dips and crackers and a good old chat. Master Sean came out for a little while for a feed before going back to bed, and returned to join us after a short nap. After all, Sean didn't want to miss out on the party!

The roast chicken was cooked to perfection, if I must say so myself. Everyone dug heartily in to the meal, and I felt giddy having prepared and cooked a dinner for 7 in my own house for the first time in a long time. I even had a glass of red wine to celebrate the occasion! The wine was a gift from Adrian some years ago, and it was only fitting that we drank it tonight.

Emily brought a big pan of double chocolate raspberry brownies for dessert, and again, we devoured these. So yummy!

Soon after dinner, Emily and Penny had to go, as they had a big canyoning trip planned for the next day. Chuck and Kyung stayed behind and chatted, and watched Sean get his bath. After seeing the little man have his wash, they too called it a night.

It has been a long and exciting day for everyone, and we too are going to call it a night. Adrian has retired to his room and Sean is fast asleep, and have another big day ahead tomorrow with Mina coming to visit. What a wonderful night it was!

Being Momma G: Day 70

Go, little man, go!

The shopping trip last night must have worn Sean out, for he slept until just before 5.30am before waking. That's nearly 7 hours!!! Could it be? Could this be the start of something really beautiful? Could I soon be looking forward to uninterrupted sleep again?

Have I just jinxed myself by saying all this???

For most of the day, Sean ran like clockwork. The little man wanted to be fed every 3 hours, and slept relatively well throughout the day. After the 5.30am feed, Sean fed at 8.30am, 11.50am, and then again at 3.40pm. After each of the morning feeds, the little man was a bit unsettled afterwards and getting him to sleep was a bit more difficult than usual, but after some persuasion, Sean did sleep.

Sean was quite fussy during the 3.40pm feed, which was not good for us as I had an appointment to meet with the very lovely Gabi from Elders Neutral Bay to look at our St Leonards apartment at 4.30pm. Gabi was referred to us by our good friend Kerrie, with whom she had enjoyed a long standing professional relationship. Gabi was meeting us at the apartment to look at the property with a view to listing the property and organising an open house as soon as possible.

Of course, because Sean was fussing about, we were a little bit late. Thankfully, Gabi didn't mind too much by the time we eventually showed up at 4.40pm. When I made the appointment with Gabi, I had made him aware that Sean dictated time these days, and I alluded that we may be late. Gabi, himself a father of 2 strapping boys (one of whom - Jonathan - was with him today), understood.

Gabi, Jonathan, Sean and I went up to the apartment and had a look around. We then talked about the advertising campaign and what I would need to provide should I decide to use Elders as my listing agent. Gabi and Jonathan were so personable and helpful that I was happy to sign with them on the spot.

As a couple of parties had expressed an interest to purchase the property prior to my contact with Gabi, I mentioned the same to him and asked him what I needed to do about these parties. Gabi said it would be best for me to try and finalise these discussions before making any commitments with any agent to sell the apartment. I agreed it was the best course of action and made a note to contact the parties over the weekend, and then to contact Gabi on Monday with an update.

The meeting lasted nearly an hour, and by the time we left, I was sold on Gabi acting as the selling agent for the apartment. I just needed to contact the interested parties and see if they are still keen on buying the property.

Jonathan was staying back in the city for some after work farewell drinks for one of his colleagues, so Sean and I headed to Dad and Mum's for dinner. Sean had a feed before we started dinner, so I was able to enjoy Dad's fine cooking without any interruptions.

We finished dinner just as Jonathan was finishing up with his farewell drinks, so we drove into the city to collect Jonathan before heading home.

Sean did not appreciate the extra long car trip and exercised his lungs throughout the entire trip. Sean was also ready for a feed by the time we arrived homed, so we sat down to a long and relaxing feed the minute we walked in the door. After a nice long bath with Jonathan, Sean finished his feed before going to bed.

We have a jam packed weekend ahead of us, with Adrian coming to stay, and a dinner party tomorrow night, before Mina comes for her weekly visit on Sunday. Looking forward to all the fun and frivolity!

Being Momma G: Day 69

It took 69 days, but Jonathan and I finally had our first date night since Sean was born.

Earlier this week, I made a mention to Jonathan that I would like us to try and have a meal out somewhere. As we were already needing to head out tonight for our weekly grocery shopping trip, I thought we would kill two birds with one stone and try to have that meal as well. Jonathan had seen a hamlet of restaurants at Top Ryde Shopping Centre when he had caught the bus from work and walked home, so we thought we would go and have a look. I would save today's outing for our dinner date.

Sean was relatively well behaved all day. Last night, after the feed and top up, Sean stayed asleep until just before 2am. Sean fed in his sleep and stayed asleep, and he did the same for the feed just before 5.30am. Jonathan went off to work around 7.15am, and Sean and I stayed in our beds until he woke at 8.30am for his breakfast.

The pattern that Sean had been setting was followed again today. Sean and I had a little bit of play time after his breakfast before he went back for another sleep. I had my breakfast and coffee, had a shower, and tidied up the house and kitchen. The little man slept until just after midday when he woke for his lunch.

Sean was a bit unsettled after lunch, during which he was quite fussy, and did not sleep very well at all. It took a while for Sean to fall asleep, and then he managed 40 minutes of sleep before waking up just after 2.30pm wanting to be fed again. Thankfully, he fed better this time and was more accepting of sleep afterwards.

Jonathan came home just as Sean and I had started his dinner just before 5.30pm. Jonathan had a great big box with him, which turned out to be new housing for his computer. Apparently, the old was overheating, causing the computer to turn off by itself. While Sean fed, Jonathan set about pulling apart the computer and rebuilding it.

Once Sean was finished, we all got ready to head out for our weekly grocery shop and our dinner date. We headed up to Top Ryde Shopping Centre and Jonathan led me to the hamlet of restaurants, and wandered around looking at the various menus before settling on Bar Angolo Pizzeria, the restaurant with the most people in it.

We were invited inside by a staff member, who was very enthusiastic and proud of the restaurant. He invited us into the restaurant, seated us and told us about the specials. Jonathan had already decided on a pizza he wanted to try, so we ordered quite quickly as we were both hungry. Sean was asleep in the pram, so we were able to enjoy our yummy pizzas. Bar Angolo boasted authentic Italian pizzas and their pizzas certainly lived up to Jonathan's expectations. After spending a year in Italy, Jonathan knew what he liked about a good pizza base, and we were thrilled our local pizzeria served such gorgeous pizzas!

After such a lovely meal, Jonathan had a surprise dessert option for us - a delicious hot chocolate from Oliver Brown. I had a hot milk chocolate, and Jonathan had a hot dark chocolate, and they were the perfect dessert to compliment the perfect dinner.

We did the grocery shopping as quickly as we could, and went to pay for the trolley full of goodies. At the checkouts, I found we were standing right next to my former colleague Amanda, her husband Kris and their new baby Max.

It was lovely to see Amanda - she was always really lovely and sweet to me, and I'd found out through the grapevine that she was pregnant around the same time Jonathan and I started announcing our pregnancy to the world. I jokingly called Amanda my "cosmic sister" because her birthday was the day before mine. Our boys were to follow the "cosmic" trend, with Max born a day after Sean!

Max was fast asleep in the pram, and he looked absolutely gorgeous. Amanda and Kris looked very proud and chuffed to be showing off their beautiful little boy. Meanwhile, Sean squirmed and wriggled and protested against me catching up with Amanda.

We left Amanda and Kris and Max with our contact details, with Amanda promising to write to us when she found some time, and headed off home. Sean was very hungry by the time we arrived home, so we sat down for a feed before a nice relaxing bath with Jonathan and a bottle of formula to finish off the day.

The little man is now fast asleep, so we are going to head to bed as well. Today's been a good day. Hope it's a great night!

Being Momma G: Day 68

A pattern is slowly emerging and Sean seems to be setting the pace!

We have been able to limit Sean's feeds between midnight and 6am to 2 feeds, usually at around 2am and then again at around 5.30am. As we are now topping up the 9pm / 9.30pm feed with formula, Sean has been able to sleep until around 2am before getting hungry again. Now if only Sean would go straight to sleep after the 9pm-ish feed, and if we were to go to bed at the same time, we would all get a good 4 hour stretch of sleep!

After going to bed around 10pm last night, post feed and bath, Sean stayed asleep until just before 2am. I felt quite refreshed when I woke to Sean's whimpering, so the feed was easy. Sean was quite tired and could only manage one side, and stayed asleep while I put him back into his bassinet.

Sean woke again at 4.30am for another feed. As he had only drank from one side earlier, I wasn't surprised he woke a bit earlier than anticipated. I gave him a good drink, even woke him during the feed to ensure he drank from both sides, before popping back into the bassinet again.

Jonathan left for work just before 7.30am, just when the little man wanted another feed. We stayed in bed for this feed and even though he was awake for most of this feed, Sean put himself back to sleep after returning to the bassinet. The little guy was showing a great deal of progress with the sleep training! While Sean was asleep, I got on with my morning routine - breakfast, coffee, shower, laundry, tidying the house.

Just before 10am, Sean became hungry again, and again I was too surprised - he only really wanted to suckle on one side during the previous feed, so I got him out of bed and fed him in the armchair. We had a bit of play time afterwards, shared some cuddles, before I put Sean back to sleep again. I needed him to sleep a bit longer, as we were going to see my parents for lunch today, and I didn't want Sean to be too much of a grizzly mood.

With Sean asleep, I ventured out into the backyard and had a look at my rose bushes. I had been wanting to prune the rose bushes for weeks and weeks, and today, I tackled the task. I had never pruned rose bushes before, so I hope I was doing the right thing, based on what I'd learned from watching Better Homes & Gardens. Armed with my secateurs, I pruned until I was happy with the rose bushes, and stood back and admired my handiwork. Just hope I haven't killed my gorgeous rose bushes!

While I was on a roll, I went to prune the geranium that was extremely overgrown. I ended up with a full garbage bag of clippings, which I set aside while I watered the other plants. The frangipani was so full of leaves and flowers - I remember the branches being bare when we first moved in.

By the time I was finished with the garden, Sean had woken up from his sleep. I went and collected him from his bassinet, and together, we walked down to the bins with the garbage bag of clippings. We checked the mailbox while we were there, before walking back to the house and getting ready for our outing. Besides having lunch with my folks, I also needed to check on the painters at the apartment, who had been painting since 8am.

Sean was in a fairly good mood when we started our trip, but once we got going, Sean's dislike for car trips reared its ugly head again. By the time we got to Chatswood, the little man was hot and bothered. I put Sean in the Minimonkey sling instead of the pram, and carried him up to the restaurant. As he had been so upset in the car, I figured Sean would appreciate being close to me for a little bit to calm down and get a bit more of a sleep.

Dad and Mum and I enjoyed our yum cha, while Sean was perfectly behaved, and even fell asleep after a while to allow me to eat my noodles. Just as we were finishing lunch, Sean woke up in a very good mood. If Sean was hungry, he certainly didn't let on, so after we left the restaurant and bade farewell to Dad and Mum, we went to Borders for a quick look at their trash and treasure table.

Last week, Jonathan and I paid a visit to Borders and Jonathan bought two CaliBowls which were heavily discounted. After using them over the week, I decided I would like to get 2 more to add to our set. Luckily, there were exactly 2 bowls left on the trash and treasure table, so I snapped them up and went to pay for them.

While Sean was still in a good mood, we paid a visit to Medicare to claim more money back from the hospital bills, then headed down to our gorgeous travel agent Mel to purchase some travel insurance for our trip to Hong Kong in April. By now, Sean was getting a bit hungry, so we went to the Parents Room where I fed Sean. He was calm and enjoyed the feed, which was great.

I still had 2 more places to visit while in Chatswood - Priceline to get some hand cream for Jonathan, and HCF to claim more money from the hospital bills. Sean remained in a good mood while at both establishments but was starting to tire. The wait in HCF was a long one, and as soon as we got our refund, we headed straight to St Leonards to check on the painters' progress.

The painters were still painting, and they had done a good job on the walls and the ceiling.. Andrew estimated he needed another 45 minutes or so to finish everything, including hanging the curtains back up and putting the shelves back into the wardrobe. As Sean was getting hungry and tired, I told Andrew to drop the keys and his invoice with Scotty our concierge when he was finished, and raced home with Sean to feed him and put him to bed.

Once we got home, the little man had a very good feed, and enjoyed a very good sleep. Jonathan and I were able to enjoy dinner without any interruptions.

Jonathan and Sean are now enjoying bath time, after Sean woke up just after 9pm for a feed. I need to go and make up a bottle of formula to top up Sean's dinner, and then we're all going off to bed. It's been a good day today. Here's hoping for more of the same!

Being Momma G: Day 67

The sleep training might just be working!

After all the Hills went to bed last night at 10pm, the littlest Hill woke up just before 2am for a feed. We had a very successful feed; considering I'd had almost 4 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I was awake enough to make sure the little guy had a proper meal instead of snacking his way into our bed. At the half way mark, Jonathan got up to change Sean's nappy, and after the second boob was drained, we had great success in transferring Sean back into the bassinet, where he stayed until 5.30am.

Another good feed, and another successful transfer back to the bassinet, and both Jonathan and I managed to get a little bit more sleep before Jonathan got out of bed and ready for work. Sean continued to sleep until the bright sunlight streamed through the bathroom and into the bedroom just before 8am, which was too early for another feed. I brought Sean into the bed and we had some cuddles until just before 9am, when Sean's rumbling tummy told me it was time to get out of bed and feed our hungry little bear.

Sean was pretty tired throughout the feed, so it didn't surprise me at all that he went back into the bassinet without fussing too much. I spent perhaps 5 minutes helping to settle him, but once settled, Sean slept until 12.15pm, just as I was heating up my lunch in the microwave!

While Sean was sleeping, I ticked off a few things on my To Do list - shower, laundry, make the bed, return emails, play on Facebook, and finalise arrangements for our darling friend Adrian to stay with us this weekend. Adrian is my long time friend who lives in London, who paid regular visits to Australia to see his family in Adelaide and to stop by Sydney for work and leisure purposes. Adrian often stayed with me at St Leonards on his previous visits, and paid Jonathan and I the biggest compliment by flying to Sydney for a whirlwind visit to attend our wedding last year. Adrian was in Sydney this week for a work conference, and was staying in Sydney until Sunday, so we are going to be hosting him on Saturday night. Hope he likes my cooking!

With my lunch ready in the microwave, I fed Sean first before having some play time with the little man, who gave me so many smiles and was at his adorable best. As he became a bit more quiet and tired, I quickly got changed out of my "at home" clothes and into something more presentable for our trip to Mothers Group later today. Sean continued to do well with the sleep training, putting himself to sleep within 5 minutes of being wrapped and put into his bassinet. Go Sean Go!

Over lunch, which was now at eating temperature, I returned a call I received from Tresillian Family Care Centre, to activate our referral by Margot at the Camellia Family Care Cottage. Unfortunately, Tresillian and I seem to be playing telephone tag, so I left another message for them to contact me. I hope we will make voice contact soon!

As close to 2pm as possible, I got Sean from his bassinet and tried to put him into the car capsule without waking him. Sean woke up anyway, but seemed to be happy enough to be awake. We drove down to the West Ryde ECHC for the information session on solids, when to introduce solids to our babies and what kinds of foods we should be introducing and what to avoid, etc. I was pleased to see Saw Bee was running the session. There was a lot of information, and there were a lot of handouts for us to take home as well, which would be helpful when we are ready to introduce Sean to solids.

The usual suspects were all there, having agreed last week to attend the session. We all stayed and chatted afterwards, with most of us needing to feed our little ones, including me. Plans were made for us to meet up again next week, at West Ryde Library to either have a coffee or to visit the park. I am looking forward to staying in touch with everyone and seeing each other on a regular basis.

Sean might have been tired, but he was in a good mood, so we went to Woolworths afterwards and bought a few things. Sean smiled and happily sat in the pram for the entire shopping trip, and only started whinging when we arrived back at the car to come home.

After changing out of the soiled baby suit, and with a fresh nappy, Sean and I had a tiny bit of play time on our bed before I wrapped him up to see if he would be receptive to a nap. Again, I put him in the bassinet and walked away, and Sean fell asleep all by himself within 5 minutes. Good man!!! I was in awe of Sean today, having done so well with his sleep training. He napped for 45 minutes (one whole sleep cycle) before waking up for a feed.

We were feeding when Jonathan came home from work, and Jonathan and Sean had some Daddy and Baby cuddles afterwards. Jonathan had missed our little baby bear today, so he got some extra cuddles before we tried to put Sean back to bed for another sleep. However, Sean was very unsettled and had a lot of trouble going to sleep, and staying asleep once he dozed off.

Jonathan persevered with the settling while I cooked dinner. Sean eventually drifted off to sleep, but was awake again half an hour later, just as we were finishing dinner. Jonathan went to try and resettle Sean, but as Sean was now wide awake, he emerged from the bedroom and had some play time with Jonathan.

Sean had a rather poor feed, fidgeting the whole time. After 30 minutes, I had had enough of his squealing and handed him over to Jonathan for bath time.

I watched over Jonathan's shoulder as Sean enjoyed his bath. Our little man was almost too big for the bath; he can almost touch his head to one end of the bath if he put his foot on the other end and push off a little. I remember when he was just a teeny weeny thing in that great big bath.

As with last night, we decided to give Sean a top up of formula after the bath. We made up 90mL of formula and Sean drank it all. And wouldn't you know it, the little man went straight off to sleep by himself after the bottle.

Jonathan and I are going to have an early night again, thankful that the little guy has had such a good day today. Well done, little man, keep at it!

Being Momma G: Day 66

What a blur last night was. Mummy crashed around 9pm, while the baby stayed awake. Eventually, Jonathan got him to sleep. I was so exhausted - I felt Jonathan pull the covers over me, and I knew the baby eventually stopped crying, but that was the extent of my involvement at the time.

This is what I can remember - Sean woke just before midnight, I fed him, he woke again around 2am, I fed him, he woke again just before 5am, I fed him. Not sure what happened in between - although I was pretty sure though Jonathan didn't get any sleep - I have a fair idea that he was in and out of bed changing Sean's nappy and settling Sean repeatedly throughout the night.

No matter how many times I say it, I never feel I express how much I love and adore and appreciate my darling Jonathan, the best husband and father in the world. Thanks, darling heart, for looking after us last night.

Sean woke again around 7am, which was far too soon for another feed, and as Jonathan had to get ready to go to work, I took baby into my arms and rocked him to sleep for a bit longer. Finally, at 8.30am, I could no longer deny Sean food, so we got out of bed and fed. Sean had trouble falling asleep afterwards, and only managed just under an hour of sleep. When he woke, I tried for 30 minutes to resettle him with no success, so I left him to cry for 15 minutes while I did a few things before feeding him.

It was just before midday when we had our next feed, and afterwards, Sean and I had a little bit of play time before I put him back to bed. Sean didn't want to be there and whinged for a while before eventually putting himself to sleep. By this point of the day, I was being a bad mummy who left Sean to cry himself to sleep, although in my defence, it was not so much crying as whinging; he wasn't hysterically upset or anything like that.

While Sean was sleeping, I made enquiries with the Qantas Frequent Flyer Programme and Vodafone to change my name (from my maiden name to my married name). All I had to do was email them a copy of my marriage certificate and wait a few days, and my name change request should be complete. I did a little bit of shopping online - bought a book called "Save Our Sleep" by Tizzie Hall from AbeBooks. This was a book that was highly recommended by a number of friends who knew we were having trouble getting Sean to sleep in the first few weeks of Sean's young life, and I had finally got around to looking for the book. Around this time, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was 2pm, and I'd not had any food! How time flies when one's exhausted and not paying attention!

Sean woke just before 2.30pm, after sleeping for only an hour again. We were having a bad day.

I decided to feed Sean again. The feed took longer than usual, as the little man was so tired he kept falling asleep. In the end, he did fall completely asleep, so I let him sleep in my lap for as long as he would stay asleep. He really needed to sleep, and I didn't have anything to do nor anywhere to be, so we spent the next 2 hours on the armchair.

When Sean woke just after 5pm, we spent some time sitting together quietly. As reward for allowing him to sleep in my lap, Sean let rip a massive No. 3. When I say massive, I mean massive. Our Poozooka managed to shoot a lot of poo out the back of his nappy. In fact, he managed to get it all the way up to his shoulder blades. To say the least, it was absolutely disgusting. Thankfully, Sean was wearing a baby suit, otherwise, if he'd been in his usual "at home" attire of singlet and nappy, I would have been covered in poo.

After wiping Sean down and putting him in a new baby suit, and rinsing the dirty suit one handed while holding the baby (yay for multitasking), Sean and I had some play time before it was time for another sleep. I popped Sean into the bassinet and walked away, as per the usual practice, and he made a couple of noises before falling asleep on his own.

Jonathan arrived home around 6.30pm, just as I'd put the rice on for our dinner, and we sat and caught up on the day. Just as we were relaxed and ready to cook dinner, the little man woke up, after sleeping for only an hour again. Jonathan and I both took turns to try and resettle Sean, but he was adamant about staying awake, so I went ahead and cooked dinner while Jonathan continued to rock and shush in our bedroom.

By the time dinner was ready (Pork & Vegetables Stir Fry with Chinese BBQ sauce, served with brown rice), it was time for everyone to have a meal. Jonathan and I ate while Sean fed, and after dinner, Jonathan gave Sean a bath while I cleaned up in the kitchen. Sean was still wide awake after bath time, and considering how poorly he had been sleeping throughout the day, I asked Jonathan to make up a bottle of formula as a top up for Sean, hoping that the top up will see Sean sleep until at least 2am before wanting more milk. Never knowing whether Sean would take the formula or not, we nevertheless offered it to him.

Sean sucked it down without fussing.

The three of us enjoyed a little bit of quiet cuddle time on the couch afterwards, Papa Bear, Momma Bear and Baby Bear, just hanging with each other and talking softly. When Sean's arms started to become a little bit jerky, it was time to go to bed, but not before I pretended to be a baby and started jerking my arms and legs around and making squawking noises, just like Sean. This made Jonathan laugh, and the baby giggled at me. Pure magic.

We're all tired, so we are all heading to bed. We hope the formula top up does the trick, and we won't be needing to feed Sean until 2am. Sleep, little man, sleep!

Being Momma G: Day 65

Oh what a night.

Mina woke up just after midnight to go to the bathroom before going back to bed. Within 2 minutes of returning to bed, and without trying at all, she whimpered for Daddy and complained she couldn't get back to sleep. Jonathan got out of bed and stayed with her for 20 minutes to ensure she was asleep before returning to our bedroom.

Sean woke at 3am for a dream feed, and he stayed asleep enough for me to take him back to his bassinet. Good little man.

Apparently, Mina woke up again some time during the night, and again needed Jonathan to comfort her back to sleep. Lucky for her, I slept through that. My patience with this whole sleepover shamozzle was had just about worn through.

Mina did wake me, at 6.30am, by coming into our room to tell Jonathan that she had an itchy spot on her arm, which was now hurting because she'd scratched it. The rule that we had always asked Mina to observe when in our house for sleepovers was to not disturb us before 7am, but for some reason today, the selfish little shit came in and woke me at 6.30am. I don't get much sleep as it is, so I was pretty pissed off to be woken unnecessarily.

Jonathan got out of bed and took Mina back to her room and the two of them stayed there. Meanwhile, I was seething at being woken from my dreams, and Sean must have sensed my anger, as he woke up with a start at 6.45am. I brought him into the bed and fed him, and once he was full, I put him back into the bassinet and got him to sleep. Then I joined Jonathan and Mina for breakfast.

After breakfast, I decided to tackle the sleepover shamozzle head on. I sat Mina down and asked her, face to face, why she was feeling so reluctant to sleepover and why there had been such a kerfuffle recently. Mina told me that it was because she didn't have her special blanket and her teddy bear Marshmallow with her when she slept at our house. For this sleepover (and the last), Mina brought both, and she said that she was feeling a lot more comfortable about sleeping over now that she had her blanket and teddy. I wanted to interrogate at her about the temper tantrum a fortnight ago, but thought better of it.

If having familiar things around Mina will make her feel better about sleeping over, and have her resume the pattern of sleeping over 2 nights every fortnight, then Mina can bring whatever she wants to our house. I told her the same - if there was a special outfit she wanted to wear, or special shoes she wanted to bring, or special toys she wanted to sleep with, then she should ask the Evil Witch to pack her a bag and bring the lot. Anything Mina ever brought to our house would always return with her at drop off, so there was no threat of her not seeing her favourite shirt/dress/toy/blanket/etc for a whole week. Heck, if she wanted to bring the contents of her entire bedroom to our house, provided she was happy to make a full list of everything that came into the house so we would repack everything to go home with her, then I say "bring it".

I reiterated the point to Mina, that she could bring whatever she wanted to make her more comfortable and happier about staying with us, and I was fairly certain that she got the point. Here's hoping anyway.

Around 9am, I decided that I wanted to go to Church for the first time since Sean was born. I tried to go about 3 weeks ago, but failed as Sean was too unsettled and would have caused a big scene at Church. With Sean a little more settled and starting to show he is able to adhere to a routine, I decided to try taking Sean to Church. Sean and I got dressed, and we headed out to Sean's first Mass.

Sean was quite well behaved for his first visit to Church. He was hungry, and as we were sitting up the back of the Church away from the congregation, we had a surreptitious feed under a muslin cloth. During the feed, Sean's nappy sprang a leak, which I discovered when my lap started to feel warm and wet. At least it was only a wee - it could have been worse.

When Mass was over, all the ladies who were friends with Mum and had followed my pregnancy with keen interest came over to us and met Sean for the first time. They all cooed over the little man, and told me how adorable Sean was. Marcia, Mum's neighbour until she moved just before Christmas was there, and she had given Sean a gorgeous singlet with some delicate embroidery on the front, so it was fitting that Sean said thank you in person. Ever the charmer, Sean gave Marcia a great big smile, which was enough to melt all the hearts around.

Sean also met Father Paul for the first time, and we are looking forward to Father Paul presiding over Sean's baptism in a few weeks' time.

We had an appointment at St Leonards to meet with a painter to quote for the painting at 11am, so after a short chat with Mum, we got in the car to head towards St Leonards. I checked the phone just before we left, and saw there was a message from the painter, saying he was running an hour late and he wouldn't be able to get to St Leonards until 12pm. Stuck for something to do, I texted Emily to see where she was, and luckily, she was in the area, picking out carpets at Home HQ in Artarmon, so we headed over there to catch up with Emily.

Since Sean came home, I'd rarely spent any time with Emily, so it was good to see her and catch up with her. Sean and I helped to pick out a carpet for Emily, who had recently purchased an apartment. We had a coffee while at Home HQ, and Emily caught me up on her most exciting news. I was so behind with the times, I didn't even know she had been looking to buy a property! Emily's apartment was in a leafy pocket of Lane Cove, in a quiet street between Pacific Highway and Mowbray Road. Emily said the apartment needed a fair bit of work, with the bathroom and the kitchen both in their original conditions and desperately needing an update, the carpet definitely needed to be replaced, and the walls and ceiling (which was that awful spray concrete finish so popular in the 1970s) also needed to be refreshed. Emily was going to tackle the renovations one bit at a time, having deemed the carpet and painting to be the most important of all jobs and must be completed before she moved in.

I can't wait to see the apartment! I was so excited for Emily - such a grown up thing to do, buying an apartment. Emily and I reminisced about our days at uni and the wild parties and outings we use to have, and the late nights / early mornings / walks of shame. They seemed like such a long time ago, compared to our now responsible ways of home ownership and parenthood.

Just before midday, Andrew the painter called to say he was almost at St Leonards, so we left Emily and headed to The Forum. Andrew spent 10 minutes looking at the apartment before giving me a quote, which was in the ball park of what I was expecting to pay. I asked when he could do the job, and he told me he was available on Wednesday. SOLD! We locked in the details and I went to leave the keys at the concierge desk for Andrew to use on Wednesday.

The desk was empty, so Sean and I went to wait on the seat in the foyer. Just as we were about to sit down, Caitlin walked into the foyer and was delighted to see us. She got her first cuddle with Sean, who by this stage was getting a little bit grizzly. Caitlin and I had a quick catch up before I raced home with a hungry baby, who cried the whole way.

Sean was both hungry and tired after the big morning trip, and the little man had a good lie down after his meal. Jonathan and Mina had already had lunch by the time Sean and I arrived home, so while I was feeding Sean, Jonathan made me some lunch which I ate with one hand. Mina had been in a creative mood all day, and she and Jonathan had a creative morning and spent most of the afternoon making artworks.

We had a lovely Skype hookup with the family in New Zealand. Tammi, our gorgeous little niece, turned 1 on 27 February, and Jonathan's Mum and Dad were hosting a birthday party at their house in Papakura to celebrate the occasion. We chatted with Mum and Dave and Jolie and Jolie's mum, and we saw the girls Alyssa and Tammi. We talked a little bit about Mum and Nana's impending visit, which we are really looking forward to. As it will be a sleepover weekend, we are hopeful that Mina will have sorted out all her issues by then and return to enjoying her sleepovers with us.

We didn't chat for too long, as Mum had a house full of people she needed to get back to. We will have her undivided attention in a few weeks, so we signed off and wished them a good afternoon of fun.

The afternoon went by quickly, and as we'd decided to hit the shops at Rhodes Shopping Centre to buy Mina a birthday gift, we needed to leave around 3pm. We had hoped to also fit in a short play time for Mina in Småland@Ikea, but by the time we arrived, the waiting time to get in was 45 minutes, which meant Mina would have been lucky to get 10 minutes of play time before Jonathan took her home.

So off to Target we went and straight to the toy section we headed. Mina was allowed to choose something to the value of $25, and she decided to buy a game called Popcorn Panic, which shot out balls of toy popcorn that the players caught in popcorn boxes, and the person with the most toy popcorn won. I spotted 2 board games in a bundle - Junior Cluedo and Junior Monopoly - which scanned at $15 for the 2 games, so we ended up buying those as well.

There was still time for Mina to have a bit of play in the kids play area in the shopping centre, and she had a great time running around with the other kids. Mina was in huge demand that afternoon - after introducing herself to a group of girls, they all wanted to play with her and they were all calling out her name during the whole time she was in the play area. All too soon, play time came to an end and while Jonathan took Mina home, I did a little bit of window shopping before waiting outside Coles for Sean to wake up and Jonathan to return. Throughout the entire shopping trip thus far, Sean was asleep and slept well in the pram.

Sean woke up just as Jonathan walked up to us, so we hurriedly did the grocery shopping and race home to feed the little man. Sean was quite restless and didn't sleep all that much between the 6pm feed and the 8.30pm feed.

What a full weekend it had been. Jonathan will be working from the office next week, so Sean and I will be on our own during the day for the next 5 days. The little man is still crying as I type this, so I'm going to head into the bedroom and see if I can get him to sleep.

Being Momma G: Day 64

Happy Birthday Lucas!

Today was my nephew Lucas's 3rd birthday, and my sister Georgianna was hosting our family and her husband Tim's family at their apartment for an afternoon tea birthday party. When the invitation came through early in the week, I'd told her that Sean and I would be attending the party, but not Jonathan and Mina. I had not yet told Georgianna of the latest hassles with the Evil Witch, and she didn't ask why I was coming with Sean only, but she knew it was something I would tell her face to face.

Last night, Sean woke just after 11.30pm for a feed. We fed in bed and I was able to transfer him straight back to the bassinet afterwards. Again, at 2am, after feeding Sean in bed, he went quietly back to the bassinet without any problems. Unfortunately, the 5.30am feed resulted in Sean sleeping in our bed with us again. We really need to stop this co-sleeping thing.

We all stayed in bed until Sean woke at 8.45am, at which time we moved to the lounge room and had a proper feed in the feeding chair. We put Sean back into the bassinet straight after the feed, and the little guy went to sleep almost straight away. I had an appointment at 10am to see my old primary school friend Linda for a massage with Reiki and aura balancing session, so after Sean fell asleep, I had a shower and got ready to head down to Linda's house.

Linda is a trained massage therapist with 13 years of experience and lived literally around the corner from us. Through Facebook, Linda had created a group detailing her massage therapy sessions, and since it had been almost 12 months since my last back massage (if we conveniently set aside the one I had the day before we left hospital to come home with Sean), I desperately needed a pampering session. After seeing the information on Facebook, I contacted Linda and booked a session.

An hour and a half later, I was totally relaxed and my back and limbs were very very grateful. Linda was fantastic and her magic hands worked their healing ways, especially on my left shoulder where I had been feeling quite tight. I intend to become a regular client!

When I got home, Jonathan told me that Sean woke up while I was away, and it took him about 30 minutes to resettle the little man. Sean was asleep for almost an hour after I got home, and I fed him after he woke. Jonathan left just after 1pm to go and collect Mina for her sleepover weekend. After the last sleepover and temper tantrum, it was decided that Mina would have a one night sleepover weekend this weekend. And before you ask, no, German lessons still had not started.

Meanwhile, I got both Sean and I ready to head off to Lucas's birthday party when Jonathan got home. The birthday party was due to start at 2.30pm, and Dad had mentioned that he would be attending, but only for a short time. By 2.10pm, there was no sign of Jonathan. I called Georgianna to let her know we were running late and that we would be arriving closer to 3pm, and she told me to get there as quickly as we could, as Dad was only intending to stay for 30 minutes and she wanted to cut the birthday cake before he left. By 2.15pm, there was still no sign of Jonathan, and I started getting worried, so I called his mobile, only to hear it ring in the guest room. The minutes ticked by and still, there was no sign of Jonathan. I was left with no choice but to call the Evil Witch to find out if Jonathan had been to collect Mina, and if they were on their way back. Vomit.

The second Jonathan arrived home, I snapped at him to get the baby into the car and raced out with the nappy bag. I was in a pretty foul mood, and I brushed past Mina to get out the door and on our way to Killara.

For a change, Sean slept in the car and didn't scream like he usually did. Traffic was fairly light, so we made good time. Sean and I arrived at 2.40pm, to be greeted by a very surprised Georgianna who asked us if we had broken any land speed records, as we were the first ones there!

Lucas was very excited about his birthday party, and soon, all the other guests arrived. Georgianna's house started to fill up, and the nibblies came out. Sean was passed between Mum and Grace, who both got loads and loads of cuddles. The kids were treated to party games, and when Tim's parents arrived, they brought more food with them. As I'd not had any lunch, I tucked into the curry puffs and noodles with relish.

Finally, it was time to cut the birthday cake. Dad had long ago left the party, and the rest of us were eagerly awaiting the cake to be presented - a gorgeous sponge cake with strawberries and cream in the shape of the number 3, from my favourite bakery Breadtop. Lucas excitedly blew out his 3 candles, and we all tucked into the delicious cake. I made sure Sean had cake too, by eating 2 pieces!

The guests were starting to leave, and Mum was asking me and the sisters if we would like to join her and Dad for dinner tonight. At first, I said no, but on second thought, I didn't really feel up to going home yet, as I was still a bit annoyed with Jonathan being late home earlier today, and I really wasn't in the mood to deal with any stupid random tantrums that may be thrown at bedtime, so I accepted Mum's invitation.

Sean needed to be fed again before we left to go to dinner, so we had a quick feed before leaving with Mum in our car. Sean was on his best behaviour in the car, and didn't scream at all during the trip from Killara to Crows Nest. Perhaps he knew Por Por was in the car, so he kept his whinging to a minimal. Poor little darling must have been quite tired - he spent most of dinner asleep in the pram, another contraption he normally hates being strapped to.

We arrived home just before 9pm. Mina was fast asleep, and Jonathan was playing a game on one of his game consoles. Jonathan took Sean from the car; the little one had cried and screamed the whole way from Crows Nest to home. We went straight to the bedroom, so Sean could have his dinner. The day had worn Sean out, for he fell asleep straight after his meal.

Jonathan told me how his afternoon and evening with Mina went. They had a arty afternoon, with more clothes and clothing being made out of the fabric we bought a few weeks ago. Jonathan gave Mina her birthday present from us, which turned out to be a bust as the most important part of the craft kit (the glue and the string) was totally unusable. It wasn't a total loss - there were some good stickers that Mina could use for her arts and crafts, and Jonathan told her we'd get her another present, which was only fair. We made plans to go to Rhodes tomorrow to look for something that she might like.

The baby has been asleep now for an hour. Jonathan has a new series for us to watch called Boardwalk Empire, so we are going to watch the first episode before going to sleep. I'm going to get off the computer now so we can start the show!

Being Momma G: Day 63

Sean has been a real trooper today, and if we had to give him a score out of 10, we would have to award him a score of 8.

Today was our 2nd day of sleep training with Sean. We were trying to teach Sean that the bassinet was for sleeping, and that every time we put him in the bassinet, this meant it was time for Sean to go to sleep. On his own.

For the last few weeks, our settling routine comprised of patting and shushing Sean to sleep in our arms, and once he was fast asleep, we'd put him in the bassinet. If he woke up, we would rock the bassinet, but more often than not, we'd pick Sean up and pat and shush him back to sleep in our arms before returning him to the bassinet.

Also, we had been allowing Sean to sleep in our bed in the middle of the night. I was often so tired during the night feeds that I felt it was easier to bring Sean into the bed and feed him there, and after each feed, I'd often been too tired to take Sean back to the bassinet. I'd let Sean sleep next to me, so there was no danger of me dropping him between our bed and his bassinet.

In doing what we've been doing, Sean had not learned to sleep by himself in the bassinet. Going forward, Jonathan and I were going to suffer even more sleep deprivation than we are already experiencing if we didn't teach Sean to sleep on his own, and armed with the tricks and tips gleaned from our full day stay at the Camellia Family Care Cottage, we were going to slowly teach Sean to sleep without too much help from either of us.

Overnight, Sean woke at 2am for a feed. I think I must be learning to ignore Sean's cries, because Jonathan got out of bed, picked Sean up from the bassinet and dropped him on my belly before returning to sleep, all as I was adjusting to waking up from my slumber. Sean fed well, but just as I was putting him back into the bassinet, he woke up and had some trouble going back to sleep. Jonathan took Sean to get a fresh nappy, and he spent about 15 minutes patting and shushing Sean back to sleep.

When Sean woke at 5am for his next feed, I brought him into the bed again and let him stay there. Sean fed on one side only, which meant he would probably want more within an hour or so. Sure enough, Sean woke again at 6.30am and wanted more milk. Jonathan was already at work, so I fed Sean and tried to get some more sleep.

Just before 9am, Sean woke up and would not go back to sleep, so we got out of bed and went to the feeding chair for a proper feed. Afterwards, we went straight into the sleep training, and amazingly, it only took me 10 minutes to settle Sean and have him asleep again. Sean slept for 2 hours before waking for his next feed at midday.

Again, after this feed, we had another session of sleep training. Jonathan wanted to try putting Sean to sleep, but within 10 minutes, Jonathan was starting to lose his patience. I took over and after another 20 minutes, the little man finally went to sleep. Margot had told me yesterday that it was normal to take around 30 minutes from the time Sean was put into the bassinet to when he fell asleep.

Regular as clockwork, Sean woke at 3pm for his next feed, and the sleep training continued. It took almost 30 minutes to settle him, but again, the little proved to us that he was capable of learning new tricks.

Unfortunately, he didn't stay asleep until his next feed. Sean woke around 4.30pm, and with a planned outing at 5.30pm (we were due at the Strata Committee meeting being held in Jeanette's villa), I put Sean in the Minimonkey sling and let him sleep for a bit longer.

At 5.30pm, Jonathan and I wandered over to Jeanette's villa and joined the meeting. Ana (No. 3) and Carol (No. 8) were already there, as was Rita (No. 5). Marie (No. 7) was to have been represented by her son Tony, but he was unable to make it. Lena from No. 1 was away in Italy, and is expected to be in Italy for another 6 months, so she was an apology right from the start. By the time Jonathan and I arrived at Jeanette's villa, we were waiting on Ming from No. 4. Jeanette popped over to see if he was going to be able to make it, but as it turned out, Ming was looking after his daughters as his wife Jessie was out, so he wasn't going to be able to attend.

The only villa unrepresented with no apologies nor notification was No. 9. Jonathan and I were to find out later that the lady who lived in No. 9 was a tenant, and the villa was actually owned by her son-in-law, and she was a bit of a trouble maker. Jonathan had had a couple of conversations with the tenant, and he's walked away from both conversations shaking his head. The first time Jonathan spoke with her, she asked how we were enjoying living in the complex. Jonathan told her we were enjoying life in Denistone and loving the neighbourhood and our little complex, and she told Jonathan rather ominously "It's not what you think". She went on to tell Jonathan that she had had a few run ins with the Strata Committee, asking for various things to be done and the Body Corporate not being forthcoming with assistance. The list of issues she brought up made Jonathan wonder what they had to do with the Strata Committee when they were all issues that she needed to resolve and did not fall under the Strata Committee's obligations. More on the lady at No. 9 later.

The meeting was very casual - Jeanette chaired the meeting, and Tony was re-elected as Chairperson and Secretary, with Rita re-elected as Treasurer. Ana, Carol, Jonathan and I were elected as Councillors, and the accounts and budget reports were passed without any problems nor too much discussion. The levies were to be raised to cover the rising costs of electricity, water and insurance, and the upcoming pest inspection, by $10 per quarter, which we were more than happy with. Jonathan and I would have been happy for the levies to be raised $40 per quarter.

There was very little correspondence, and very quickly, we arrived at general business. Jonathan and I asked if we were able to get a better back gate installed, to allow for easier access than the current chain and padlock system. When we first moved in, I had a lot of trouble with the chain and the padlock one morning on my way to work in the rain. I ended up with rust all over my hands and nowhere to clean them by the time I had finished struggling with the chain and padlock. Jonathan wasn't too enthused about the chain and padlock either. We were given a brief history of how the gate came about, and how the chain and padlock came to being in the gate. We requested that a proper Colourbond gate / door with a handle and a lock be put in, and it was agreed to be added to the 10 Year Plan.

Carol wanted to discuss the possibility of putting solar panels on the front roof of her villa. She had seen our solar hot water system from the bus stop, and had previously gotten quotes to put a solar hot water system into her villa, but was told by the installers that she needed to put her panels on the front roof of the villa, or raised on stilts on the back roof of the villa to get enough sun to power the system. There was also a matter of costs as well - the panels on the front would cost less than the panels on stilts on the back. Carol had previously asked the Strata Committee for permission to put the panels on the front, but the group denied her request, stating that it would ruin the uniformity of the complex. With new owners (us) on board, Carol again asked the Strata Committee to reconsider her request, hoping that we would support her. Jeanette and Rita were both against it, and Ana was indifferent. Jonathan and I love the uniform look of the complex, and we both thought any solar panels on the front roof of one villa would destroy the look and devalue our property, so we voted against Carol. However, if Carol was to install the panels on the back roof of her villa, then we would not have a problem with it. Carol was pragmatic about the votes, and resigned herself to having the panels installed on the back roof of her villa.

Then came the discussion about the lady at No. 9. Her name was never mentioned, so I'm going to call her Niner. Everyone groaned and rolled their eyes when Jeanette brought up the subject of Niner and her complaints. Jonathan and I told the ladies about Jonathan's conversations with Niner, and the others rolled their eyes some more. More stories emerged about Niner and how uncooperative she has been since moving in. Niner poisoned her pine tree, and told anyone and everyone who'd listen that she'd poisoned the tree. Niner also steadfastly refused repeated requests to maintain her garden at the front of her villa, which was overgrown with weeds and looked very ugly. The Strata Committee wanted to pass a by-law to state that each resident was responsible for maintaining the garden patches at the front of their villas. This was the last ditch attempt to force Niner to do something about her ugly garden. We all agreed unanimously to pass the by-law.

There were more stories about Niner. She was exceptionally rude to anyone and everyone who didn't agree with her or benefit her. She had tried to enlist the help of several people to weed her garden, but instead of asking for help, she demanded it. Niner had ordered Warren our gorgeous gardener to weed her garden, and had been so rude to Warren that he now refused to have any dealings with her. Niner had also tried to order Lena's son to help her, as well as Ana's son, and Carol's daughter as well. Niner's latest complaint was that she had metal eating bugs in her house.

Niner had badmouthed Jeanette and Rita to our neighbouring properties, and everyone in the area was well aware of Niner's loony tunes. Niner had threatened to sue Jeanette and Rita for some reason, back in the day when Jeanette was the Secretary of the Strata Committee. After Niner threatened to sue Jeanette, it was decided that Tony, Marie's son should be the Chairperson and Secretary, and Tony was more than happy to tell Niner where to go with her unreasonable demands. Niner had also made a name for herself with our complex's insurance company, as she was known to contact them to get things done instead of speaking with the Strata Committee. The insurance company had a black mark against her name and refused to engage with her directly. What a trouble maker.

I suspect there were more stories about Niner and the trouble she'd caused for everyone thus far. However, Jonathan had to get back to work, and as there was nothing else to discuss, the meeting came to a close and we thanked Jeanette for hosting us, and walked back to our villa. I would have loved to have stayed for a gossip, but I already had one crazy nut in my life, I really shouldn't go looking for more crazy! I couldn't help but think how well Evil Witch and Niner would get along.

Sean was ready for a feed by the time we got home, so we settled into the feeding chair and enjoyed our special mother and son time. It took only 20 minutes to settle Sean, who was doing such a great job with the sleep training.

I kept expecting Sean to wake up, but by 8pm, he was still asleep, so I went and cooked dinner for me and Jonathan. We watched a bit of TV while we had dinner, and reflected how well Sean was going on Day 2 of the sleep training.

It's almost 11pm, and Sean has been asleep now since 7.30pm. He's going to be one hungry boy when he wakes up! Here's hoping that after all the sleep he's had today, he will sleep some more at night without too many problems.

Being Momma G: Day 62

After such a traumatic day yesterday, the little guy spent most of today in recovery mode.

Last night, after we fed Sean some Baby Panadol, he was finally able to go to sleep, albeit on Jonathan's chest. I fell asleep watching Sean's eyes get heavier and heavier, all snuggled up on Daddy. After a while, Jonathan was able to get Sean on to the bed in between us, and we three went to sleep. Just after 2am, Sean woke up for a feed, and Jonathan sat up, picked Sean up, dumped Sean on my chest, laid down, rolled over and went back to sleep, all in one fluid movement.

Sean woke at 5am for his next feed, which turned out to be a snack feed, for he woke again just before 7am for a much better feed. The little man was still sleepy after this feed, and was very receptive to the our sleep training. We put him in the bassinet and he was asleep on his own within 10 minutes. This allowed me to get up and do a few things around the house while Sean slept and Jonathan worked.

We had an appointment to see Dr Siva today at 10.30am, and right on cue, Sean woke up at 10am to have his breakfast. We got through a full feed in record time, and were only a few minutes late to see Dr Siva. She too was running a few minutes behind schedule, so it all worked out perfect.

Dr Siva was happy to see Sean was doing well. We told her that we'd been to see Dr Arnold, and that he had asked us to stop the antibiotics. We also told her about the increased dosage of the reflux medication, and of the new products we were recommended to use on Sean's sensitive skin. As a result, the rash was looking less angry and Sean's skin was very slowly showing signs of clearing up. All in all, Dr Siva was happy to see everyone happy and healthy, and we were hoping that we won't need to be back in Dr Siva's rooms again in a hurry.

We went straight to Chatswood after our appointment with Dr Siva. We had arranged to meet up with my parents for lunch, and when we were a little bit early arriving in Chatswood. I took the opportunity to go to Medicare and make some claims for the hospital bills, while Jonathan took Sean and paid a visit to Borders for a look-see.

There was practically no waiting at all to see someone at Medicare, and I was in and out of there in 5 minutes. I went to Borders in search of Jonathan and Sean, but got distracted by the magazine display on the way. I stopped and read a few magazines that I was unlikely to pay for, and Jonathan ended up finding me. Sean was asleep in the Minimonkey sling, so we looked around a bit more and then at the various items on the "Sale" table before heading into Kam Fook for lunch.

Dad and Mum arrived 5 minutes after we sat down, and we enjoyed a scrumptious lunch of dumplings and other yum cha treats. Jonathan loves yum cha, and my folks love having us join them for yum cha. With Jonathan working from home every second week, we are going to make an effort to have yum cha with my parents at least once during those weeks.

After we had our lunch, it was time to feed Sean again, so off to the Parents Room Sean and I went while Jonathan did some more window shopping, this time in the games shop. Sean and I were finished quite quickly, which was just as well as our Poozooka had filled his nappy and it desperately needed to be changed!

Jonathan timed his arrival to the Parents Room well, just as I was finished with the nappy change. I could never complain about having to change a dirty nappy - Jonathan was our Chief Nappy Changer, and had changed many a full and gross nappy since Sean was born. And lately, Sean's nappies were extra stinky too, so for me to have to change one every now and again, I was a on a good wicket!

We hurried down to Chatswood Chase to do our grocery shopping, with me carrying Sean in the Minimonkey. As quickly as we could, we piled our groceries into the trolley, so that we could head home and let Sean have a good long sleep. Sean had been such a good boy all day long, so he deserved a long lie down.

We got home just after 4pm, and Sean had a good long drink. In light of how tired Sean must have been feeling, there was no playtime after the feed. We wrapped him up quickly and popped him straight into the bassinet. It took just over 30 minutes to settle Sean, who was quite unsettled after such a long day out. After he fell asleep, Sean stayed asleep for 4.5 hours!!!

Both of us were too tired to want a cooked meal, so for dinner, we snacked. I got myself some Continental Cup-A-Soup and some crackers, and Jonathan nuked a couple of frozen pies for him. They certainly hit the spot.

We patiently waited for Sean to wake up from his long sleep, and he finally did at 9pm. Straight afterwards, Jonathan took Sean to give him a nice relaxing bath. Sean was popped straight back in the bassinet immediately after the bath to continue our sleep training. The little man went off to sleep by himself - no help required.

It's been 90 minutes since we put Sean down, and he's still asleep. Jonathan and I are so tired - our eyes are hanging out of our heads. But I'm confident our little man is going to have another good day tomorrow learning to sleep by himself. Go Sean Go!

Being Momma G: Day 61

If there was ever a day when Sean needed to show how unsettled he could really be, today should be the day. And boy, did he show off to his full extent!!!

Today was our all day stay at the Camellia Family Care Cottage with Margot. Margot had paid us 2 visits in the past, both times Sean was on his best behaviour. The first time Margot was at our house, she had some trouble settling Sean. Sean was only 2.5 weeks old at the time and Margot put Sean's unsettledness down to him being a brand new baby and was learning, amongst everything else, how to survive on the outside. Margot assured us that Sean would eventually learn to sleep.

The second time Margot paid us a visit at our house was when Sean was 5.5 weeks old, and on the day of Margot's visit, Sean was fast asleep and did not need any help to settle. Margot offered to stay that afternoon to help settle Sean if he woke up, so that I could go and have a lie down, but Sean was on his best behaviour and I was wide awake, so I declined Margot's offer. During that visit, Margot booked Sean in for an all day stay at the Cottage, and while it seemed so far away then, the days flew by and we found ourselves at the Cottage, ready for some sleep training with Margot.

Sean had had a fairly good night and early morning, waking twice for feeds at 3am and at 6.30am. I got out of bed at 8.15am to get ready for our day out, and we arrived at the Cottage just after 9am. Sean was due to be fed at that time, so I gave Sean his breakfast in the lounge room and the sleep training commenced straight after. Margot spotted the very early signs of Sean's tiredness, so I wrapped the little man up in the Miracle Blanket and Margot and I put him into the cot in the bedroom and walked away. Margot and I went back to the lounge room and had a chat, and Sean seemed happy enough for about 5 minutes. Then he started crying, and Margot waited another 5 minutes before walking into the bedroom to settle Sean.

It was hard going, and it took just over 30 minutes, but after all that effort, Sean finally fell asleep. Margot and I went and got a cup of tea before returning to the lounge room for a chat about things. Margot wanted to know what we had been doing at home, and how Sean and I both were generally. After a while, Margot left me to relax and told me that she would resettle Sean if he woke up. Margot told me to sleep, or stretch out, or read a book, or watch TV - everything to do with Sean was under control.

Sean slept for just over 30 minutes before he woke up crying. Margot tried everything to settle him, to no avail. Then it was time to feed Sean again, so he had some lunch and Margot tried again to settle Sean. It took 40 minutes this time to settle Sean, and as soon as he was asleep, I went to heat up my lunch - leftovers from last night's sweet and sour chicken - and ate it while it was still hot.

I managed to read a few pages of the book I brought - The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets' Nest - before Sean woke again. This time, he managed to sleep for 40 minutes before waking. Margot went to resettle Sean, while I stayed in the lounge room waiting to see if Margot's bag of tricks would work. Sean continued to cry and scream, and eventually, Margot came out to the lounge room, all flustered and frustrated that no matter what she did, Sean was still awake and upset and crying. At this point, I went to join her in the bedroom to see if I could be of any help.

I was of no help. Sean was awake and refused to go back to sleep.

Margot and I spent the next 45 minutes trying to settle the wee man. We rocked the cot, we shushed, we played white noise, we patted, and we did a combination of all of the above. Nothing. Nothing worked. Sean just kept crying and crying and crying.

In desperation, I gave Sean another feed at 2pm, and hoped that he would settle down for a sleep before we headed home. No such luck. Sean was even more resistant to sleep after this feed, and facing defeat, I packed up our things and told Margot we were going home. Margot was quietly confident that Sean would eventually learn to sleep on his own, and today, being the first day, was a bit rough on the little guy. Margot said Sean was a good natured baby and she had every reason to believe we would succeed if we persevered with the sleep training. As an added tool, Margot would be referring us to a Tresillian Family Care Centre in Willoughby, an organisation that provided expert parenting advice to families during the early years.

We thanked Margot and came home, to a Daddy who had missed his baby all day long. Sean had some cuddles with Jonathan while I changed into my "at home" clothes, and got ready to give Sean a proper feed. I told Jonathan that Sean had shown Margot his true colours today, and Jonathan was pleased that Sean gave Margot quite a good show instead of pretending to be a perfect angel and doing all the right things.

After such a long day, Sean was even more unsettled after we came home. After the feed, I tried to get Sean to go to sleep in his bassinet again, with no success. In fact, I wasn't able to get Sean to fall into a deep sleep - I managed to get Sean to close his eyes, and fall into a shallow sleep, but the second I put him in the bassinet, Sean would make this awful high pitched squawk / squeal followed by a sustained and extremely upset crying fit.

As Sean was well beyond overtired, I put him in the Minimonkey sling and carried him around to see if he would fall asleep in the sling. Thankfully, Sean did sleep, and slept for just over 3 hours. In that time, Jonathan cooked dinner for us - chicken kiev in the oven - which we both ate before the little man woke up.

Sean woke at 8.15pm for a feed, and had a bath with Jonathan straight after the feed. Baths usually relaxed the little guy, so that getting to sleep afterwards was always a bit easier than if there had been no bath time. Tonight, though, the bath did not help Sean sleep, and he remained awake all he way through till 10.40pm when I decided to feed Sean again just to shut him up. Sean returned to his unsettled self after the feed, and I was really quite worried by this point, as the little guy had had a total of just under 5 hours of sleep since 8.30am, when he should have had at least twice that much.

At around 11pm, it finally dawned on me that Sean may have been in pain. The high pitched squawk / squeal followed by a sustained and extremely upset crying fit was different from the usual "I'm overtired" or "I'm very hungry" cries. My only idea was to give Sean some Baby Panadol. Thankfully, Sean calmed down after that.

Just in case though, we are going to keep him in our bed with us tonight to monitor his sleep. I'd like to think we would all get some sleep tonight. Let's see if my bright idea works enough to keep the little guy asleep for longer than 30 minute stretches.

Being Momma G: Day 60

We have a gorgeous 2 month old baby!

Sean is 2 months old today - can you believe how quickly time has flown?

We love our wee man, and in the past month, Sean has learned to smile more and more, and he's started to laugh. He has so much to tell us, and often provides quite a bit of chatter after his meals when he's at his happiest. Sean has also gotten stronger by the day, with quite a bit of power behind those long legs of his, and his neck muscles are so so strong - he's able to hold his head up by himself and look around. When we have tummy time, after being propped up on his elbows, Sean is able to push his head and neck up and stay this way for quite some time. Sean recognises my voice, and follows me around with his eyes.

Sean has almost outgrown his bassinet. I remember how little he looked sleeping in the big bassinet only a few weeks ago. The singlets that we "sub-legally acquired" from the hospital are all getting too small for Sean. We use to be able to pull the hem over his bottom; now they barely cover his belly button!

I always thought I'd have a chubba bubba, and while Sean is almost 5kg, he's a long and lean baby. He has such long arms and legs - I bet he is going to be taller than me by the time he turns 6.

Sean is truly magical, and we fall in love with him more and more as each day passes.

I can't say I was so in love with him early this morning though. After feeding just after 10pm last night, Sean slept through till 2am before wanting more. With both of us being tired, I brought Sean into the bed and fed him there, and left him in the bed with us. The little mite woke at 3.30am and again at 5.15am for more milk, which meant I didn't get a lot of sleep at all. Jonathan got out of bed for work at 6.30am, at which time Sean was happily asleep in our bed and I was wide awake.

I did get a little bit more sleep before Sean woke at 8.30am for another meal, and he was able to go straight back to sleep after the feed. Jonathan and I spent the morning rearranging a few things in the laundry. Sean made a good effort with his sleeping, and didn't wake again until 11.30am for his lunch.

After Sean went back to sleep, Jonathan and I got ourselves some lunch, and took turns having showers and getting ready for Mothers Group. I always loathe waking a sleeping baby, but by 1.45pm, Sean was still asleep and we had no choice but to wake him, to dress him and head to Mothers Group.

We arrived at the West Ryde ECHC in good time, and sat down to wait for the GP who was coming to talk to us and answer any medical questions we had. There were lots of questions from the other mothers, which were answered efficiently and effectively by the doctor. Sean wanted a feed almost as soon as the questions started, so I fed him and kept him quiet. Sean was so well behaved today during the session, with very little to whinge and whine about. Jonathan and I took turns to hold Sean during the session, and as soon as the questions were all answered, we raced into Catherine's office to start the 6 week check up.

Catherine asked how Sean had been in the week since we last saw her. We told her that he was good, albeit with a skin irritation. We told her that we had been to Dr Siva who prescribed some antibiotics, and we saw Dr Arnold yesterday who told us to stop the antibiotics immediately. We also told her that Dr Arnold thought the rash was a bad reaction to the Mustela body wash. We told her that the paediatrician was happy with everything, so we hoped she would be too.

Catherine went to start the check up by looking in Sean's blue book, and found that the 6 week check up had already been completed - by Dr Siva when we took Sean to see her for his 6 week jabs! It dawned on us that I really didn't need to drag Sean out last Tuesday when he was so unsettled! Catherine didn't seem all that impressed that she didn't need to do the check up, but still made us weigh Sean on her scales and measure Sean on her ruler, even though Sean was weighed and measured yesterday by Dr Arnold. In fact, when Sean was weighed at the West Ryde ECHC, the scales said he was 5.1kg, and using Catherine's measuring tools, Sean was 59cm. Jonathan and I made comments about him being 4.95kg and 60.5cm yesterday, and Catherine snapped and asked where we were yesterday to have a different set of numbers. When we reminded her that we'd been to see Dr Arnold, she shut up.

Jonathan's impression of Catherine was that she was an alarmist. Any little thing that appeared out of the ordinary with the baby was blown slightly bigger than it should be. There really wasn't any point in alarming me and upsetting me so much last week, but unfortunately, Catherine was able to do so because I was tired and frustrated with a very unsettled baby, and she was alarmed by the sight of the pimply spots and rash on Sean.

Once the non-event of a check up was over, Jonathan and I headed back out to the meeting room to talk to the other mothers. I introduced Jonathan to Candy, Rachel, Suzie and Janet and their babies, and talked to Daisy for the first time since we started Mothers Group. Daisy often attended the sessions with her husband, and they always left almost as soon as the information session was finished. Daisy attended today's session with only her baby, and she stayed to have a chat with the rest of us.

We chatted for a while, and the mothers were a bit wistful now that the "official" Mothers Group sessions were finished. We all agreed to return for the information session on solids next week, so that we could try and plan for future meet ups and stay in touch with one another.

As Jonathan had to get back to work by 4.30pm, we left the West Ryde ECHC and went to Woolworths to pick up a few grocery items before heading home. As Sean didn't really have a sleep after the feed at Mothers Group, he was a bit unsettled, so after we got home, I fed him again and hoped he would settle down for a sleep. That was not to be, as Sean remained quite unsettled for most of the afternoon and into early evening. I was able to get Sean to sleep, but within 10 minutes of being put into his bassinet, Sean would wake up again. Sean and I repeated this over and over again - I settle Sean, Sean falls asleep, I place Sean in his bassinet asleep, Sean stays asleep for 10 minutes, Sean wakes up, I re-settle Sean, etc.

By 6.30pm, I was over it. I was getting hungry and wanted to cook dinner, but I couldn't prepare and cook dinner when I had a screaming baby to settle. After a full hour of trying to get the little man to sleep, I was so fed up with Sean's unsettled pattern that I stormed out of the bedroom and went straight to Jonathan. Even though he was suppose to be working, there wasn't a lot for him to do except monitor some data transfer progress, so Jonathan was surfing the internet and waiting for something to happen. At the sight of this, I got a bit angry and blurted out that I found it hard for him to be working from home, especially when I was hungry and wanted to cook dinner, but the baby refused to settle and sleep, which meant I wasn't able to get away from the baby to cook dinner. I told him that I felt guilty asking him to settle the baby, especially if he was busy with work and he physically couldn't walk away from the computer and go and settle the baby. Jonathan asked how he could help me, and I told that I simply couldn't settle the baby and cook dinner at the same time. Jonathan then offered to settle the baby, and I huffed off to the kitchen to get dinner ready.

All day long, I'd told Jonathan that I wanted to make sweet and sour chicken for dinner. We usually had rice with sweet and sour chicken, and we had recently discovered the joy and goodness of brown rice. Brown rice took twice as long to cook as white rice did, which meant that even though I could prep the chicken and vegetables, I still needed the rice to be cooked (or almost cooked) before I could cook the chicken. I estimated that by the time dinner was ready, Sean would want another feed.

And I was correct. The rice was ready, the chicken was ready, and Sean was ready. No food for Mummy!

I love my husband, but I don't love the fact that he sucked at planning. I sometimes wished he was able to plan, or think about planning, as it would make life a little bit easier for me. For instance, tonight, if Jonathan had thought about dinner, he may well have put the rice on while I was settling the baby. It would have taken 2 minutes to get the rice cooker out of the cupboard and plug it in at the wall, measure out the rice, put the rice in the rice cooker bowl, rinse the rice with cold water, put in the appropriate amount of water into the rice cooker bowl, put the lid on the rice cooker and turn it on to cook. Instead, he was happy to wait until I was ready to cook, which had a real chance of not happening at all with an unsettled baby. And even if I was able to settle Sean and get the chicken going, the rice was going to take half an hour to cook. If I had do it all, we weren't going to have dinner until 10pm at the rate things were spiralling. And I was hungry. Very hungry. And I wanted dinner now.

By the time I came out of the bedroom totally frustrated with Sean not wanting to sleep, I was upset enough to deliver Jonathan an ultimatum - either I settled the baby, or I cooked dinner, for there was no way I could do both. But damn it, I was hungry, so what will it be? I left Jonathan with no choice but to go to the bedroom and take over.

After Jonathan settled the baby, and while we were waiting for the rice to cook, Jonathan and I had a chat about how we could better manage dinner time when he was working from home. I told Jonathan that I would be happy to cook, provided someone else could look after the baby if Sean was unsettled. If Jonathan was busy with work, then we would have to look at other meal options that Jonathan could handle, like Latina pasta and sauce, or ordering home deliveries or pizza.

Sean started crying just as dinner was ready, so Jonathan ate dinner while I fed Sean, and afterwards, Jonathan took Sean for a bath while I ate my dinner. By the time I was finished with dinner, Jonathan and Sean were finished with bath time as well. Jonathan had to go back to work, so I took over trying to get Sean to sleep. After 45 minutes with no success, I asked Jonathan to make up a bottle of formula as a top up for Sean, as he seemed to be hungry. Sean practically inhaled the 60mL of formula!

Even though he was full, Sean was still unwilling to settle down and sleep. Again, I was able to get him to sleep, but the second I put him in his bassinet, the little man would wake up. In the end, I propped myself up with all the pillows, so that I was able to lie down in the bed with Sean snuggled up in my arms. This was the only way he would sleep, and I was too tired to fight it.

We stayed this way until Jonathan finished work just after 11pm. By this time, Sean was asleep enough to be put into the bassinet without waking. My shoulder is hurting so much right now, it feels like it's on fire. But the little man is asleep, so thank goodness for small mercies. Jonathan and I are both wrecked, and Sean and I have a big adventure tomorrow, when we will be spending the whole day at the Camellia Family Care Cottage with Margot to learn how to sleep. I certainly could do with some new techniques to put Sean to sleep, and Sean needs to learn to sleep on his own. It's going to be an interesting day.

Oh, one last thing. Happy Birthday to Mina, who turned 6 today. Hope she had a lovely day!