Month: June 2006

A busy day! Bodypump in the morning followed by a frantic couple of hours zipping around Newbury getting the champagne and canapes sorted for this weekend’s festivities.

Will and I finally collapsed at around 4pm for a well-earned break (or at least Will did, after I’d fed and changed him, put him outside naked -which he loves – , removed the ensuing vomit and poo off his playmat, wiped him down and put him on a clean towel before realising all his scratch mitts were in the wash and he would shred himself if I didn’t do something sharpish so in desperation resorted to putting socks on his hands before attempting to read ‘Heat’ while he enjoyed the fresh air, until he realised I wasn’t paying attention and screamed until I was).

We are manically trying to get everything ready for the christening, I’m not sure what’s more stressful; worrying about the food or worrying about the garden. And don’t even get me started on how I”m going to make sure Will isn’t either going to vomit or do the Worlds Most Hideous Dump just before we get to the church.

Today he tried on his Tommy Hillfiger outfit on for the first time and thankfully it fits, although he does look a bit like a seventies Simon Cowell as his trousers are nearly up to his armpits and the collar on the shirt looks enormous. I’ve tried to find a belt for him but (typically) there was nothing in town.

Fortunately it’s Monday, so escape from the monotony of domestic life duly came in the form of our weekly NCT gathering, the highlight of which has to be suspending Will in Jude’s fishing scales to see how much he weighed. It’s an ingenious contraption; literally a black net suspended from a hook in the ceiling into which you’re supposed to weigh your prize Marlin or whatever it is you’ve caught. Today though, all it contained was several, very nervous-looking little babies (separately of course!).

William’s final weigh-in – a massive 14lbs 12!!!

Forget about routines, sleeping, weaning and all that easy stuff, I want to know how the hell to get the encrusted snot out of my baby’s nose. The problem is that you need baby-sized fingers to do it and Will hasn’t yet discovered the joys of picking his snoz. One suggestion has been to cultivate an extra-long fingernail on one of your little fingers. Otherwise it’s a case of shoving rolled up muslins/tissues and hoping for the best. Alas they’re sticky, stubborn little suckers so it’s easier said than done. The challenges of parenthood are endless.

It can be lonely at home with Will sometimes, particularly when I don’t have an ‘outing’ planned for a specific day where I’m going to see people. I get so caught up in feeding, sterilising, trying to stop Will from scratching himself to smithereens, planning our next activity etc etc, that when Eddie comes home I find it hard to resurface and try to be a ‘normal’ grown-up again.

Sometimes I feel like I’m a bit of a robot, my life is divided into two hourly segments. Will is fantastic, he makes me laugh and we have such fun together, but every now and again I realise the enormity of the responsibility of having a child and it almost overwhelms me.

Why are they not getting any smaller? Probably because of the post-exercise lunches we girls sit down to immediately afterwards 🙂

This week Will is working on trying to feel happier on his tum rather than immediately rolling onto his back giggling at his genius at having avoided the horror of being the ‘wrong’ way up. I’m also going to try to get him more used to sitting up and have bought this incredible sort of rubber ring for him to sit in. Alas being Will he just wriggles until he’s almost flat with just his head and feet sticking out.

I’m resigning myself to the fact that he’s not going to be the most physical of babies. Then again, judging by the amount he witters (a skill he could only have inherited from me), he might well be the first to talk instead!

…….?

We’ve started William on his first ‘proper’ food. After starting off with Baby Rice, which had a relatively positive reception, we’ve moved on to ‘Carrot’ (I have been pureeing frantically all week) which he was less sure about. Must try to take a picture of the expression of disgust as the fluorescent orange mush passed his lips. He didn’t know what to make of it at all. Tonight – ‘Sweet Potato’….

So far on the nappy front all remains relatively calm, but I’m waiting for things to get MUCH worse.

Let’s just hope he gets it finished before the christening…

Will becomes more himself everyday. He’s great fun, a really happy, smiley boy. Definitely a morning person when he’s full of energy and beams at all and sundry. His ezcema must drive him mad, but he never lets it get him down which I find amazing – I’d be so irritable if I felt that itchy all the time. He loves people and if we have friends round, or go out, he is riveted to the conversation. The downside is that he gets very annoyed if he’s left to his own devices for too long – about 10 minutes is the limit (on a good day) after which time he starts to complain very loudly until you turn up and then he switches on a Hollywood smile.

He’s a thoughtful boy, he takes everything in and thinks about how he wants to respond before coming out with either a smile or a comment. As for laughing, he is really tough to make laugh, although I try all the time. I think I’ve succeeded about 4 or 5 times only. Ah well, perseverance will get me results, it’s my mission in life to try to get Will to laugh because it’s such a wonderful sound, it cracks me up too.

Will is also a man who knows his own mind – if he doesn’t want to do something, he won’t do it. And God help you if you try to make him.