What a mischievous pair they're going to be in a few years!

Byron is still "telling himself off". The other day he started growling "By RIN" (a lot like I would if I saw him tipping juice on the floor). He thought that was hilarious. Today I was on the couch, and Byron was just out of sight at the kitchen table. I realized he was saying, "Byron! Byron!" and when I looked, sure enough, he'd snagged the camera and was pressing buttons, which he's not allowed to do. I took it off him, and not 5 minutes later, heard him saying "Sit down!". Sure enough, he was standing on the kitchen chair, waiting for me to notice and tell him the same thing! Later, I heard him say, "No No!" or something, and when I looked he'd covered Jasmine (completely) with her blanket. He thinks he's pretty cute. Well, ok; he is!

Jasmine is smiling so much that I think her cheek muscles have grown. She's lost a bit of her beerbelly, and has discovered her hands in a big way. They are great to suck, and can pick up "Smooch" (thanks, Melissa; she's a favorite!) and suck on her, too. They can whack the rattley ring that her mummy hangs in front of her. Soon they will be able to whack Byron back when he tries to pull her off mummy's lap.

Here they are watching "Fruit Salad" (The Wiggles). Byron is doing the actions.

Watching TV again... Playschool, I think. Holding hands. Awww!

On August 26, we tried Controlled Crying with Byron, where you leave him crying in his cot for 3 minutes, then 5, 7, 9, etc. until he's asleep, calming him down briefly in between. We got up to 15 before he conked out, exhausted, on top of his covers! Over an hour of angry screaming (and I'm sure even my family will have trouble imagining Byron doing that) ... he was quite croaky the next day.

I started my tally again, and he has woken up in the night 3 times in the last 20... the last was September 6! We didn't even have a repeat the second night; his little spirit was broken. lol!

Jasmine has been sleeping really well at night. She was grizzly as the evening wore on. Don't know why it didn't occur to me that she might want to go to bed before me. So now she goes to bed around 9, and sleeps for 6 or 7 hours. Then she'll drink and go back to sleep. What a good baby!

As for me, I'm doing some spring cleaning, today. I've taken a bag of old clothes out to the car, ready to drop in a charity bin, and I've emptied and repacked all my drawers. Always feels nice to Spring clean.

Babies

Byron had started sleeping through the night at a most convenient time. It was great! Well, a week ago (on the 21st) I'd just had my 6th night of getting up to Byron in the last 27. 6 out of 27 is pretty manageable. But that night was the first of 6 so far. Now it's 11 out of 32, and last night was one of the worst. Here's more or less what I wrote in Jasmine's little book:


2030 Gave Byron a bottle. In bed. I had a shower. Jasmine unsettled so gave her a big drink. B cried as I finished.
2220 Sat down in the lounge room with B. Asleep in about 5 min. Put in bed, but he woke straight up.
2230 Got him up. Gave panadol. Tired but waking when I moved and crying as if worried that I'd put him back to bed.
2300 Put him in bed by 11 (crying straight away) and sat in my room for a few minutes to see if he'd settle. He had seemed almost asleep, but I think was woken by small noises as I left his room. Up again. Went to sleep straight away on my lap, but lightly. Waking lots as if to check I was still there.
2330 Finally left him asleep in bed. Finally went to bed myself.
0300 Jasmine crying. Changed and fed.
0330 In bed 5 minutes. Byron crying again. Gave 200ml bottle.
0350 Byron back in bed.
0540 Byron woke just as Nathan left for work. Tried sleeping with him in our bed. He would settle for a few minutes, then grizzle and try to move around.
0630 Sat with him in the chair in J's room. Hard to keep him quiet. Jasmine still asleep.
0640 Changed nappy and put him in bed. Crying, but not as hard as I thought he would.
0644 Still grizzling. Bits of crying, bits of quiet.
0700 I give up. I'll put his pants on and make pancakes. Jasmine will soon be awake anyway.


Notice how much time I spend with the 7-week old baby? Hardly any. But something is bugging Byron, and I wish I knew how to fix it. That list doesn't show how frustrated I was or how much I just wanted to smack him!


Worked out I got about 4hrs 45 in bed, spent 30 minutes with Jasmine and about 3 hours with Byron. I put him into bed 6 times (not including putting him in ours).


Anyway, I was cross with him all morning (being tired and grumpy). I ended up falling asleep with Jasmine on my chest while he was watching “Raggs” on TV and running around. (He keeps climbing onto the kitchen chairs, then crying coz he's stuck.) I woke up at 11:45 (about half an hour later) with a stiff neck, and no Byron in sight. It was worryingly quiet... but then I spotted his stripey top under my feet. He'd laid himself down on the blanket (which I put there for that reason) and fell asleep. So I had a peaceful hour of snoozing/knitting. Then I fed Jasmine, and came into the computer room and turned on the computer. A minute later Byron came wandering in. He's had lunch, and now he's watching Hi 5 while Jasmine sleeps.


Nathan said yesterday that I should have a bath as soon as he comes home. I don't feel stressed now, but it will be nice. I've been reading the Narnia books again! (I think this is the eighth time, but it's been years.)


Byron is saying so many words... he will have a go at copying anything he feels like. He's quite good at “shower” because that's the latest thing (Nathan is giving him a few showers between his weekly bath, which he seems to like). But he'll try anything: See ya, bus, Blue Bear (boo bear), Playschool (pay soo), Hi 5 (ha fah), tea, door, food (foo), bikkies, rain rain rain, toast (tohs), milk (meh), ice, dryer, outside... he'll even say “no no no” when he's doing something he shouldn't, like reaching for my knitting! His favorite is probably “Jas-em”, followed closely by “more?”. I've been teaching him the sign for “finished” for 2 weeks (since Evan suggested it at MOPS) and he's doing it, after a fashion, while saying "shi shi". Didn't go to MOPS today, though I wanted to, because Byron's got a snotty nose. He talks fairly constantly, and chats on the “phone” as though he knows exactly what he's talking about.



He'll also do things when asked. I test him out, sometimes, and am surprised by how much he understands. I've said, “go and play me a song on the xylophone” and “there it is, over there... no, behind you, under the bouncy...” and “pick that up and put it on the table” and “go find Blue Bear and bring him to me” and “hey, there's the bus; go look out the window” and he's done it straight away. Cute. Today he was brushing his hair while giggling “with” his reflection. He's quite fond of his reflection. Hehe.



Jasmine is getting quite responsive. She'll stare at you and grin back at you, poke her tongue out at you, and look at the colorful things around her play pen (Bo is hanging on one side, and the curly phone cord is holding up a string of rings that bounce). Unless she's got tummy pains she's very settled and good, though still prefers to sleep while being cuddled (and preferably walked around with) at times. I love it when you start to see their little character developing. It's not much more than the odd grin, of course, but it's the beginning of all the many cute things to come.


Suppose I should go do some cleaning...

See, she's still alive

Not that she has anything to report, other than that it's 3am and she can't sleep.

I have been looking after Byron and trying to sleep through the day, getting more and more uncomfortable as I get fatter, and running out of hobbies. I can no longer read, knit, or play on the internet much if Byron is awake. He gets annoyed with me for ignoring him... or takes advantage of my lack of vigilance and climbs the bookshelf or something. I can't even nap during Play School. lol. So it's a bit annoying that I have insomnia when he is sleeping so well.

Not too many weeks to go. Then I'll have a new hobby for him to be cross about... playing with another baby!

Congratulations to Pam, who had her little boy the other day. They said in church it was the night before, so I guess it was the 28th. So glad she had a boy (and not just because I knitted her a blue-ish hat)... boys are great. I'd like all boys, except that I'm sure I'd like a girl just fine too. But all boys would be fun. Pam called her little man Eamon Henry (although I don't know how she spelled it) and I hope to meet him some time in the next few months.

Hannah's was first, though. Samuel was born ages ago, and I only found out weeks afterwards (nobody tells me nuthin) when I said to Kelly "I wonder when Hannah's baby will be born?".

Uh oh... the boy's awake. Better go give him a bit of milk and see if he'll go back to sleep. He woke up before (at 11:30, because of the wind outside, I think) and went back to sleep hugging his knitted Blue Bear tightly. LOL. Betty would be pleased about how much he loves it!

Oh, I'm so slack!

In my defense, of course, I've been keeping Byron's blog updated over the last... er... few months. I haven't been doing much that doesn't involve him, quite frankly. And the older he gets the more time he seems to take up!

Our new baby is coming in July, and it will have lots of little friends. My cousin Sonia is having her fifth, my friend Pam is having one, and her sister is having twins, my friend Hannah is having one, too, and of course, Nicole Kidman. There will be babies everywhere!

My brother's family has gone to Melbourne, where they're all doing school (except Ben and Ezra). My sister's coming back from America in about a month. I've read a few books. That's it... the rest is baby stuff.

hehe.