Playtime!

From the baby forums I've been browsing, it would appear that every baby is different, and some babies are OK with sitting in a bouncy chair or lying in a moses baskets while mummy gets on with other things (some babies are easy, it seems!) - Megan, however is not OK with that (Megan is not easy). She likes to be held at all times, with one exception - she loves to play on her changing mat! Thank goodness there's somewhere I can put her down without causing epic dismay. However, the mat is not a place of relaxation for Megan, it's an active play centre where she repeatedly works herself up into a frenzy. Relaxation only really happens when she's asleep, and sometimes you have to work pretty hard to get her to close her eyes too. On the play mat (no longer a changing mat!) she exerts herself physically and vocally - it's the only place where she tests out all of her cute baby sounds - little coos and shouts of delight, a constant commentary on her surroundings - all the while thrashing her arms and legs around.

In this little video (sorry for the poor quality!) you can see some of her favourite things: Mr Bear is the fluffy brown teddy on the left, and her face lights up when she sees him (thanks Auntie Emma!); the strange-looking Whoozit (on the right) from Auntie Carole is an award-winning developmental toy which has many fun features including a rattle, mini mirror, squeaky sound and high contrast black and white concentric circles; and not visible in the video is the lovely homemade mobile from Auntie Kate which hangs above the mat and is the only thing which brings Meg back to a state of calm after she's thrashed and shouted herself into an unsettled froth.

Sleep vs. Desperate Lullabies

Wow, I can't believe that the time has passed so quickly, it feels like Megan is growing and changing before our eyes! Well, of course she is, but I had no idea things would happen so fast - I've barely had time to catch my breath since the birth, and already she's five weeks old...

It's true what they say about babies - that once you think you've got a routine you can rely on, they go and change it completely... To begin with Megan was sleeping for nice long periods of a minimum of one to three hours or so, and when I put her down, I knew I would have time to have a bath, or do the washing up or put the nappies in the washing machine, or whatever. Now she may sleep for four hours, or four minutes. Nothing is certain! And the same applies to the night feeds - she was sleeping two to three hours between each feed and going back to sleep on the breast, but now she tends to stay awake after her second or third feed - which means I find myself singing desperate lullabies to a wide-awake baby at around 5:30am every night/morning. It's not been so bad, I've had to resign myself to doing nothing other than Megan-related tasks (a decision which has reduced my feelings of frustration and anxiety no end), and I can't be annoyed with her when she's so cute and smiley and playful.