William's First Year

William’s current favourite word. Boooo is another new one which he’s working on. For a boy with such a loud scream, it’s amazing what a very quiet speaking voice he has.

He’s reaching out for things now too, this morning it was Eddie’s glasses. He’s a real little smiler, and so much more settled now than he has been (I say that whilst glued to the monitor listening to him grizzling about being put to bed and praying to God it doesn’t escalate after an afternoon of solid crying no matter what I did….)

Last night he woke at 4am for a feed and was seriously cross when put back to bed. So I caved in and went to fetch him and see if he was still hungry – only to be met with the cheekiest grin you’ve ever seen. He was clearly very pleased to see that he’d managed to fool Mummy into letting him back into bed!

Yesterday we took Will to have his jabs and see the Health Visitor (‘Mad Auntie Hy’). Everything’s come at once a bit, my perfect baby has a strange rash on his face which nothing will shift and it turns out that the equally mysterious circular piece of dry skin on the top of his head is caused by RINGWORM!!! I was MORTIFIED. Turns out Molly our cat has worked her magic on poor William. ‘I’m a terrible Muvva!’

When it came to the million and one injections they inflicted on my poor boy, I’m afraid I had to look away, gulping furiously, while Eddie did the honours and held him down for the nurse. He was ever so good actually, but was very poorly later in the evening. Fortunately we had the Calpol on standby and it seemed to help (apart from the dose Eddie managed to administer just as William drew breath for another scream and nearly choked on it – suffice to say panic ensued and Eddie ended up performing a version of what looked like the Heimlich Manoeveure on poor Will).

He finally crashed out at 9.30pm, exhausted. Poor little mite.

Today we joined the people of Whitchurch to protest against the kebab shop next to Father’s shop and it’s application for ‘retrospective’ planning permission for its abberation of a chimney which has been belching out noxious kebab fumes for the past 3 years. It’s all part of his campaign to be a councillor for Basingstoke Burrough.

Great fun, tea, biccies and camaraderie. Will had his own special banner and we even got our picture taken with Grandpa for the Andover Gazette! William will be growing dreads and tunnelling under motorways before we know it….

Have just spent 40 minutes in a dark room rocking a loudly protesting Will to sleep. Parenthood gives you reserves of patience you never knew existed.

Tomorrow’s adventure – political rallying in Whitchurch. More of that + photo to follow.

I was going to write something twee about how fascinating William’s hands are – always on the move like two small, pink anemones.

But enough of that – after another fractious day, on top of a punishing (and depressing; I made the mistake of weighing myself) trip to the gym, I am absolutely exhausted. It’s not the sleep deprivation, because as you know, Will is an angel at bedtime, but it’s so draining keeping him fed/amused/awake/asleep/calm during the day.

Am eating the most enormous bowl of pasta with tomato and mascaropone sauce you’ve ever seen and then I’m collapsing in front of The Apprentice and Desperate Housewives.

I leave you with this piece of mindless baby trivia – Will has white bogeys. I’m not sure if that’s normal, the other mums say their babies’ snot is green. I wonder if London Babies have black bogeys?

Bleurrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhhh….

Day 2 of Eddie’s expedition across the World and we have survived our first night alone with William waking up just once at 3.00am! Mol kept watch all night in the corridor and I woke up every couple of hours paranoid about either the baby or potential intruders. East End is so quiet that I panic if I hear a car go past after 10.00pm….

NCT Sam came to see us with Jude today and we had a natter and then hit the hills with our babies strapped to us in their little papooses. It was arctic, but great to get out and breathe in the fresh air. As per usual Will fell asleep in his sleeping bag-esque blue pram suit which is still so huge his hands and feet are half way down the legs/sleeves. Still, at least it keeps him warm which is the main thing.

Otherwise he was, as ever, pretty grouchy (in other words, loud) and is feeding like a ravening beast. Maybe he’s going through another growth spurt?

Today I have taken the draconian measure of putting the moses basket stand away – scary, because sitting on the nursery floor and rocking him has been a sure(ish)fire method of getting him to go to sleep for us. Alas, there are now mere inches between the top of his head and the back of the basket, so the day is not far off before he has to be a big boy and sleep in his cot. From tonight, his basket is in the cot, to get him used to the view and to settling without an invisible hand rocking him to sleep.

Next stop – baby gro-bags! It’s non-stop excitement chez Houghton.

I was so worried that William was going to scream the place down again that I nearly didn’t go, but with Eddie away in Madrid and Joburg all week I decided festering at home was an even less appealing option.

My fears were completely ungrounded as it turned out and William behaved impeccably throughout! We even made it through Waitrose without so much as a whimper and he has subsequently sent himself off to sleep this evening like the little angel baby that he is. Soon he’s going to be too big for his moses basket can you believe it? We’re going to have to start aclimatising him to sleeping in the cot soon.

On the one hand it’s wonderful to see him growing, he talks to us now, cooing and ahhing with the most amazing smiles that melt your heart. He is so alert and has started reaching out for things now. He’s also much more settled – partly because of his age, but also I’m sure that the osteopath has made a difference. He loves to snuggle into my shoulder and even went to sleep there this afternoon – unheard of before.

William is developing his own, special personality, it’s wonderful to watch, but at the same time I miss my newborn Will sometimes. This year is absolutely flying by.

It only works if you keep walking… 🙂

Today I took Will to see a lady recommended to me by Anne, just because I’d like to know whether the trauma of his birth has any bearing on his behaviour. The osteopath was ever so nice and as she looked at William’s head, immediately said that she thought the back of his head felt very tight and could have been giving him a very mild headache all this time. He wouldn’t notice that it was there, but he would notice once it was gone. She also said that there is a slight misalignment in his jaw which could also be causing him discomfort. So she moved whatever she needed to move to eleviate the pressure, and we’re going to go back next week to see if things have improved.

I don’t know how much effect any of this might have on William, but he’s a bit ‘all or nothing’ and I’d like to see if it helps him settle for longer periods. Apparantly cranial osteopathy can either cause babies to be very grumpy or sleep brilliantly. I clearly got the latter, because William’s been shrieking since we got home and has only quietened down when fed….I’ve just fed him again, and he was fast asleep, but as soon as I pick him up to put him in his crib, he wakes up and starts crying. It’s a vicious circle.