Immunisations

Yes, we had our first immunisation experience on Friday. All in all it went quite well. He only cried as the needles were going in & then stopped as soon as Mummy picked him up. I had dosed him up with Panadol before hand as advised & he was generally content & happy most of the day. That night was a bit of a different story though. He still wasn't cranky, just very restless & not really sleeping all that well. That was probably due to the fact that although I had given him Panadol he was still running a fever. But now he's back to normal & none the worse for wear.

Bedtime Update

Well it's nearly 2 weeks since we intigated the bedtime routine & in general it's been progressing well. The first week he was usually settled for the night by 8:30 with only 1 or 2 resettlings. This week though he has decided to test the boundaries a bit & hasn't been settling until 9pm. But I guess even this is better than 11 or 12, so we'll just continue as is.

Bathtime

Joshua LOVES his bathtimes, especially since we got give the loan of a bath seat. He kicks & splashes & has the time of his life. He'd stay in there all day if he could I think. When it's time to come out he screams & lets everyone know that he's NOT HAPPY!!

Fathers comments

It's been a while since I've given my perspective on things so here is a brief comment
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz ohhh sorry slipped off again

I'm home alone with Joshua tonight, so far we are doing well.
He had his bath at 7, perscribed by his mother, had a bottle and then off to sleep. I got 15 minutes as well while he was settling, so it worked out fine. Now we'll just have to see how long he goes tonight.

Anyway, it been a hard couple of month. Things has been really busy at work almost driving every one crazy which doesn't make it a nice atmosphere. With Joshua giving limited sleep time hasn't made it alot easier and on top of that having your in-laws living with you. (no offense, it's been great having them, but it's just not the same as being just you in your own house).
Anyway with Gods help it's all worked out. Work is getting less busy, the in-laws are in NZ and Joshua is sleeping :-) God is great.

The different bible study groups have started up again and its been good. This is one thing the last couple of month has lacked. I havn't had much time to do any bible study.
Hopefully this will be better soon. I know alot of it is discipline and taking the time instead of turning on the TV.

Okay I think that's all I have to say for now.
Looking forward to 2½ month in Australia and I think Joshua is awake again.

Tom

The better of 2 evils?

We have decided to start setting Joshua into a routine of going to bed for the night around 8pm. There are 2 reasons for this decision.

1. We were getting so tired & worn out not going to bed til midnight or after. (especially Tom who had to get up at 6am & go to work)

2. We were getting absolutely no time together as a couple. Tom would leave for work while I was still sleeping & then the evening was spent taking turns walking around with Josh, before falling into bed exhausted.

The method we have chosen is a modified version of the controlled crying method & setting a before bed routine. So it starts at 7pm with a bath, then a feed, settling & into bed. If he wakes we go in, settle again without any talking or eye contact & into bed again. The difference between the normal controlled crying method & our is that there is no period of letting him cry, we go in as soon as he starts crying. We believe that this is better than letting him cry as it develops a sense of trust, rather than him feeling his needs are not met (based on the understanding that a baby cries to communicate a need). I won't go into all the theory here, but if you want to discuss/comment feel free to write to me.

So it's Day 2 of our routine (early day yet I know). The first night he didn't settle until 10pm with 4 or 5 resettlings. Then slept til 8am with feeds at 2 & 5, settling straight away after. Last night he settled by 8:45pm with only 1 resettling, but awoke at his 5am feed bright & cherpy & ready to start his day. He did finally fall asleep again after an hour or so & awoke again at 8am.

So so far I guess it seems to be going ok, Just hope he doesn't continue thinking 5am is time to start the day!! Will keep you posted on the progress.

Night Owl

My sister just posted an update on her newest addition & I realised it's a while since I did an update on Josh (a proper one anyway). Well he's still definately a night owl. He's over the change to wintertime & back to not going to bed til 11pm. Once a week he likes to pull a real latey & not hit the sack until 1! Now most times he's not upset (unless you put him in bed), he just sits in your arm & "talks", though he often likes you to walk around with him also. The good thing is that once he does go to bed, he's out for the night, not waking until 5/6am. He's also better at sleeping in the mornings too with generally a 4hr & 2hr sleep.

He's also still a real gut guzzler, eating every 2hrs. Thankfully though my supply seems to have picked up & he's only requiring top ups after his 2 evening feeds.

Developmentally he now weights 4.8kg & is 62cm long. He smiles, focuses on objects/faces & follows them with his eyes, bats at toys on his playmat & can roll from his back to side (hasn't managed to get o his tummy yet.