Sweet Sweet Smile

1 Month Old Picture


5 Week Old Picture

Jackson had another appointment with the Child Health and Nursing Services this morning. He is all healthy and looks great! He has grown in length and is now 56 cm (22 in). And his weight is 3960 grams (8lb 11 oz). He is in the 50th percentile for his height, but only the 10th percentile for his weight. We are going to have one tall and lean boy on our hands, I think!

Lots of exciting things have happened this week: Jackson had his first babysitter. Her name is Mel and she is sitting with him on Thursday nights while I teach. It is good for me because I am still in the house... guess who has separation anxiety and it isn't Jackson! He did so well.... took a bottle and didn't fuss at all! He LOVES Mel.
Next, I got my first smile! It was gorgeous. I woke him up on Monday and he was fussy, but then opened his eyes and just did the biggest smile! They still remain elusive enough where I can't get a picture, but they melt my heart!
He finally had a 6 hour stretch at night. Unfortunately, it was only after I was too tired to keep getting up to cuddle him that I brought him to bed with me. He slept... I didn't. Hrumpf!
I have started driving again. Jackson and I have gone out for the past three days. It is hard running errands with a baby. Those errands where I used to be able to just run in aren't so quick anymore. Planning is essential.
And Nana, Aunt Holly and Aunt Mio come on Saturday!!! I am so excited! Not long now...just tonight of teaching and tomorrow of making sure everything is clean and setup. Then we leave about 3am to pick them up! And then in 3 weeks, Grandpa (we call him Bapa) comes as well! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

So back to recounting...the day after we came home from hospital, we had invited our friends Bianca and Jon over for dinner. Bianca is expecting a little one at the end of June. However, mid-afternoon, David started to feel ill and it wasn't long before he was sick. Pukey sick. And he is a horrible puker - it sounds worse than it is. I was IN TEARS! I felt so bad for him and at the same time couldn't help him because Jackson was demanding to be fed. I was also nervous it was a stomach bug and that if I got it so would Jackson and being a newborn blah blah blah... so I called Bianca to cancel dinner but asked if she could come over to reassure me. She is a paramedic and ended up bringing some stuff to make David feel better though by the time she got here he was on top of his game. Must have just been something he ate. But I was still in tears... worried about the color of Jackson's poop which was mustard yellow and liquidy (which, by the way, is exactly the color you want it to be in breastfed babies... my milk had just come in though and I had never seen it that color). I ended up calling the hospital and the midwife there reassured me that everything was okay and Jackson probably wouldn't pick up the stomach bug if there was one because a) newborns are resilient and b) breastmilk helps fight off those bugs. This was the start of a little period in new motherhood called the baby blues. I cried for the same time every night for about a week. Sometimes I was worried about something, other times I just had to cry. I felt great during the day, but once it started to get dark, I started to get depressed. Weird. I was exhausted and tried sleeping when Jackson slept, but also wanted to get things done around the house and the little man only seemed to want to sleep during the day! He got that sorted out in about a week. I guess it takes some time getting used to the outside!
I am really lucky to have such a wonderful and supportive husband. For a month, David did the shopping and cooking plus kept up his job.
My parents called every day at the same time to check in with me and Jackson.

Next blog hopefully will be the last in the catching up on the past month ones. Then hopefully I'll be able to just update. But for now, ta-ta as I have to go feed the little'un before an evening of teaching.