19 and 20 weeks

I had to re-count the weeks just to make sure I was right. This boy wants to move and he doesn’t want to miss out on things. He’s trying so hard to roll over and is starting to get more movement in his body and will twist around very strongly if you dare to hold him facing you rather than outwards. He has found his thumb to suck, loves to chew on things or shake his rattle. He is sensitive too, one particularly challenging night I had a little cry and he saw and then he started crying too, so of course I had to stop. Everyone comments on his hair, and he loves to give them a smile, a bit like his brother. His tummy can still be very sensitive, and it makes him uncomfortable and he grizzles, but in a way that is his way of talking. I swear he says mum-mum/mama too, but it’s usually when he’s crying and so maybe just the sound of it rather than the meaning of it. He is less put out by Elroy and increasingly more interested in what he is doing. He cut his first tooth over the weekend - so early - (bottom front right) and the one next too it is almost there too, this explains the six feeds in one night over the weekend, far out that was hard. We also started him on rice cereal and while not super into it, he’s not hating it and it’s nice that he’s eating something with us at dinner time.

It’s been a big fortnight for Rufus!

weekend

Not many photos from this weekend. I’ve been a bit tired to be honest. Rufus had his four month vaccinations on Thursday, that night he slept well, but since then not so much waking - every two hours or so. I pretty much feel like the walking dead, ironically also if I drink coffee I can’t get to sleep early at night...and then I don’t sleep anyway and really need that coffee in the morning...I know it’s not forever but I am looking forward to better nights.

We had a pretty quiet weekend, I snuck in a quick pedicure for myself (really trying to get one short outing alone over the weekends), tried to rest when Rufus slept and ignored the fact that the house needs a really good clean. Maybe it’s the lack of sleep (it definitely is) but I’m feeling a bit flat, I need a new book to read and to get started on a few of my Christmas projects.

17 and 18 weeks

When Elroy was a baby I did the 52 project and wrote about him every week and I really want to do the same for Rufus. I need to make sure I take plenty of photographs and write things down, because time is flying this second time around and I feel like things are slipping through my fingers a bit. Knowing this is my last baby is bittersweet, especially because I’m enjoying it so much without the anxiety I felt the first time.

It hasn’t been easy with Rufus, the reflux and colic were incredibly challenging, and while I don’t think he is over it yet, we can definitely see the growth and shift - things are better, he can do things that in those first months I never thought he would. We can now take him in the pram/stroller without him scream crying constantly, we don’t always have crying for end of the day pick ups, he smiles a lot, will sit in his rocker for longer than five minutes. It’s so good! Sure, we are going through the four month sleep regression and there is the usual fussing during leaps but it’s all normal. He likes being out and about, and is very observant and alert, he is increasing interested in Elroy and what he is up and does occasionally show a fear of missing out. He wants to join in too!

four day weekend

Somehow the October show day long weekend is over already. This year is going by so quickly, I wish it would slow down just a little bit. We were lucky enough to have Matt home for a four day weekend, and we really packed things in. On Thursday the weather was fantastic so we headed to the beach for the first proper visit of the season, Elroy got to try out his new-to-him wetsuit and played in the shallows (the water was absolutely freezing!), Jerry had a good swim and even Rufus dipped his toes and grizzled about the cold. It was so good, I really can't wait for more of those days over summer. We did venture to the Hobart show on friday but the weather had really cracked by then and they closed down all the rides and the show bag area (not bothered about that), fortunately Matt and Elroy and Matt's parents got one go on the dodgems before they shut down. The next two days we had family catch ups and we were all pretty tired by the time we got home yesterday evening. It was all really good, and in a way felt like a mini holiday.

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I’ve missed a few weeks with posts. Lowering self expectations means that some things have to wait, and because Rufus decided to drop day sleeps the other week my time was limited. This week he’s been much better (and he’s sleeping in his cot now - pretty sure that’s come around faster than with Elroy) but I got Bruny by Heather Rose to read and I’ve been sucked in. I’m currently not sure what to think about it, it is certainly a departure from Museum of Modern Love (which I really liked).

The last few weeks have felt busy, time is flying scarily fast. We have been catching up with friends, out for lunches, to Mona, working on garden plans and I made a long list of cleaning/organising jobs that need to be done (great....). I also signed up for Tim Coulson’s photography course which I’m hoping helps give me some hints and inspiration to improve my skills.

The best thing we’ve done lately is buy a new turntable. Our old one was given to us by my grandmother and I loved it for sentimental reasons, but it wasn’t working properly anymore and so we stopped listening to records. The new one is fantastic and actually looks a lot like the old one. We have been playing lots of music again, not that we stopped but it was all Spotify and mostly Elroy’s choices and it had become background noise. It has been interesting how many records we’ve bought (Matt and I always gift each other records) but not even opened, and now it feels like musical Christmas and we can play them all.

100 days with Rufus

Today marks 100 days with Rufus! As they say we’ve come a long way baby. From that moment in the middle of the night of day three, when the nurses at the hospital said he was so very unsettled, it felt like this time around was going to be testing. And it has been, challenging, tiring, upsetting and at times when he was clearly in pain, rather distressing. It still is all these things but they are fewer and far between and Rufus smiles and engages and seems happier. He’s sweet but a bit cheeky I think. Knows what he likes and can whine when it’s something he doesn’t like. He hates the car with a passion, is ok in the pram now he sits up in it, he is observant and when he feels ok in his body is actually a pretty relaxed baby.

For me I am loving this time, I have so much less anxiety than I did with Elroy. I wish there was a way of knowing with your first child that everything is actually really ok. Life is more chaotic and I let myself off for not getting some things done, but Rufus and I have three days home alone with Elroy in care and I do love that time. I’m trying hard to be very engaged with Elroy too, and he loves Rufus so much. He tells him so several times a day. It’s the sweetest thing.

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We had a fairly quiet weekend, I think we needed one, but I took more photographs than I realised which was nice. We really didn't do a great deal - went to the garden centre, the park, watched the amazing skies on saturday night, had some friends over.

Rufus has been a bit trickier again lately, so I'm a bit tired and taking things slowly this week. But there are a few things that are making me happy -

* Thom Yorke’s Desert Island Disks
* news that a new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album is out next week (I also thoroughly enjoy getting his Red Hand Files letters
* reading Family, Food and Feelings
* seeing my garden coming together slowly
*planning to bake a cake with passionfruit icing - I picked some up from the grocer and they are going to be good!