A Few Random Things I've Learnt

Here are a few random things I've learnt from Little N and through taking care of her..

1. Forgive and forget - You can accidentally drop baby (er.. just to clarify, not that I did this.. though I did accidentally knocked her on her head *ouch, my heart*) or make baby cry (well, er yes, I did make baby cry.. all the time.. through not understanding what she wants) and you will still get a smile from her the next minute

2. Life's too short to care about what others think - It's perfectly okay to smile one minute and cry the next, or even do both at the same time

3. Know what you want and say it. And if you don't get it - it's ok to pout, cry and yell.. if you are a baby. I guess we adults have it easier because we can communicate and tell others what we want. I think our problem usually is that in spite of our ability to communicate, we often don't and end up bottling our feelings and getting all upset and frustrated

4. Naps are a waste of time. Again, life is too short for naps so they should always be resisted, with a fair amount of pouting and crying

5.  There is no better time. There is no better time to play than NOW. Even if it is 5am in the morning, you should attempt to play. Again, life's too short, so why miss out on the fun stuff.

6. Nails grow fast and sharp when you are on an all milk diet (My own observation - mums out there, let me know if you don't think the same)

7. You don't really always know yourself. I didn't know I'd obsess so much over baby poo, nose shit, ear wax and fingernails. Especially baby poo. I've googled, taken pictures, emailed pictures, sniffed and observed poo in greater details over the past few weeks.. much more than I ever thought I'd do.

8. Let go and let God. Sometimes when you cry with your fists clenched and eyes close, you miss out on things your Mum or Dad wants to give you. It's the same for us and our Father in Heaven, I guess. Happy explains this well here.

9. Some things are out of your control. This is something I'm still learning. Little N naps badly and it causes great frustration for me. The Husband reminded me that there's very little I can do about it and you know, it's true. I can provide her the best environment and conditions and opportunities for napping but if she doesn't or wakes up early and crying.. as much as I'm frustrated, there is nothing I can do to make baby fall asleep if she can't.

The most animated photo I have of Little N. Too bad about the focus.

10 weeks old

Little N is 10 weeks old now.

Time seems to fly by... At least during the day it seems so. When I wake up at night to feed her, time seems to be crawling and I can't wait for her to get older and sleep through the night.

Recently, she has become a lot more responsive - she gurgles and coos and smiles.  These and burps are my daily rewards for spending all that time with her.

Here's a photo of her showing her delight at seeing her musical mobile.

Baby doesn't sleep

My impression of babies is that they drink milk and they sleep.

When Little N first came home from the hospital, that's what she did.

Ah.. she also cried. She cried when she wanted milk and after drinking, she sleeps.

Of course, I also very quickly found out that babies pee and poo as well. A lot.

But just before Little N turned a month, she started crying more..

A WHOLE LOT MORE.

And not only when she wanted milk.

She cried and she cried. She cried when she wanted milk. She cried when she was drinking. She cried when we changed diaper. She cried when she wanted to sleep.. but oh, she wouldn't sleep. She'd doze off in my arms but once I put her down, she'd cry and she will not sleep.

Yes, that's right. She doesn't sleep.

She sleeps okay at night, waking up twice or thrice. But in the day, she'd stay awake almost all day, save for a couple of 15 mins or 30 minutes nap if I'm lucky. I started tracking how long she would stay awake and panicked when I realised she was up from 830am to 3pm.. and then 330pm to 8pm.

She'd wake up from her naps crying. Or she'd cry in her nap and then continue sleeping for a while more.

And the crying got louder and louder as she gets more and more exhausted.

Until she goes hoarse and her mummy also starts to cry.

Well meaning relatives and friends tell me "Babies do that."

"All babies cry."

"I remember my baby crying a lot too."

"It's colic. There isn't any reason why babies cry."

But I refused to believe that Little N is crying like that without any reasons. Finally, I suspected she had silent reflux and started the medication prescribed by the pediatrician. And thankfully, she got better.

Oh, she still doesn't always nap very well and still fusses at times, during some feedings and especially in the evenings.. but at least she naps once or twice a day for longer stretches now and doesn't cry as much.

Well meaning relatives and friends say "Things will get better."

This I believe and pray it'd indeed be so.

One of the rare occasion Little N nap in her cot. 

I tend to put her in a rocking chair so she gets rocked to sleep.