Burp - Sun - Bloat - Snooze

This is what Ethan's 2 week old life consists of right now... can you see his little tummy is slightly bloated? He usually has a strong chest and slim waist (from Dad perhaps?) but he's quite bloated so has been taking smaller feeds and waking up more frequently. He's not upset so its not cholic but we can't get all that wind out... tips anyone? Last night he woke up 3 times to feed cos of this so poor Mum is very tired. Dad amazingly slept through every single one of them -special sleeping gift of his!

Burp Bonanza

Urrrrpp! Ethan seems to be getting more wind recently so we have to be more conscientous at burping him. Otherwise he quickly wakes up and gets irritable. After a good feed from Mummy he loves to get burped by Dad. He used like the sling-over-the-shoulder position but he seems to prefer resting on Dad's chest. He promptly fell asleep soon after this photo was taken and is now sunning himself again in his favourite place in the whole world... his bed. Nothing like a good snooze after a good meal.

A Rushed Bath

Silly me, got changed and almost left the house today and forgot to bathe my son! As a result, I think he sensed I was rushing and fussed a bit more than usual. He usually looooves bath time with Dad, but cried more than usual today. He was whimpering most of the time, but looks happy in the pic below cos he loves the camera!

Sunbathing

Poor Ethan had a tougher time these last 2 days. He has a slight yellowing, so we're sunning him to treat the mild jaundice. It affects his sleeping though cos he doesn't like being in the open and would much prefer swaddled tightly. He's a trooper though, and puts up with most things with some soothing from Mum and Dad. It helps that he has inherited our giftedness in sleeping and this is proving to be a good asset in our household.

Can you see that after a few washings, the mittens have shrunk and now fit him properly!? And after a few bathings he now seems to enjoy bath times with Dad almost as much as Ivan does. Today, he thought it would be funny to squirt Dad with an extended gush just as he was being carried to the bathroom...

My Baby's had a Baby

Ah Kong & Por Por came over with lunch today and were reminiscing about how Mummy was once as small as I was! Here's the other matching 3 generations picture to complete the post from yesterday.

When the Cat's Asleep...

Heh heh...... now that Daddy's asleep where did he keep the keys to his motorbike?!

3 Generations

Grandma brought lunch today! Here is a 3 generation picture with Grandma, Son and Grandson. Ethan had just finished his own lunch, interrupted with some wind in the tummy and some fidgeting. We are holing ourselves indoors with the aircon on today cos the smog is awful. Rain rain come today and drive that forest-fire smoke away...

Father and Son

After Ethan's morning bath today, father and son had some special time just one to one. Ethan is sleeping well. After his big evening meal he knocks out for 4 hours at night. This is very considerate of him so that we can sleep relatively well...but we're still very tired!

First Encounters

Holding Ethan in his first few days was a new yet strangely familiar encounter. Although I had often wondered what it would be like meeting each other face to face for the first time, nothing could prepare me for his disarmingly beautiful eyes, his tiny fingers from which came an amazing depth of expression and the little sounds that often brought his Daddy to mind.

Yet in the midst of this exploration and my gingerly clumsy attempts to care for him, I felt a warm familiarity as I felt him moving in my arms -- movements, flutters and instinctive reflexes that I had been feeling inside me for the last 9 months... except now I could both see and feel them! These were the knees that throbbed against my upper belly and here the fingers that secretly tickled me during those long committee meetings...

Welcome to our world, Ethan -- I think you will be a source of joy and wonder to Mummy & Daddy for many years to come!

Venepuncture

Uh oh... Ethan is in the clinic for a regular visit. A bawling kid just left the room we're going into. It's called "Venepuncture Room". Ethan seems to think that the sign on that room doesn't sound too pleasant.

On the brighter side, Ethan slept really well last night. Ivan bottle-fed him with expressed milk at midnight (first time), then there was one wake at 4am until we all got up at 8am so we had a good rest with only one waking!

First Bath by Daddy

Oooh, Dad is giving Ethan his first bath at home! Amazingly, he didn't cry and seemed to like the warm water. Last night was tough (biggest and messiest nappy poo Ivan has ever seen) but quite good considering it was the first night home. We're slowly getting better at changes and cry-diagnoses. Ethan is so far a very good-natured baby!

Ethan's Own Bed

This is the very first time Ethan is home in his own bed. It looks so huge with tiny him inside. You can see the 18 Sep, Waiting for Ethan entry where the cot looks empty but tiny! Now he can actually fit width-wise without a problem. He's starting to gain weight already. For the baby-learners, it's normal for newborns to lose up to 10% of their birth weight. At one point, Ethan lost 7% but he is now on the rise. He'll be bigger than Ivan soon, who was less than half Ethan's size when he was born!

Going Home

Daddy is taking mummy and baby Ethan home today! His jaundice has cleared and both sets of grandparents are coming over. It's nice to have the home full of smiles again. Ivan was up til 4am last night putting more touches on Ethan's nursery room.

Milk Bar

Cool. We just pumped our first batch of milk. So tonight Renata can sleep more cos the nurses will use the milk for one of Ethan's feeds. After much of Ivan's online research we decided on this Avent Isis IQ electric pump. It's infinitely variable on pressure and speed and convertible to manual mode. Like tiptronic transmission for breast pumps!

Photo-Therapy

Poor little fella has a slight bit of jaundice. Because of this he will have to stay one more night in the hospital and Renata will stay too. Perhaps that's why he was a bit grumpier today. Here he is getting some photo-therapy. He's been getting so many photos recently but I guess some more therapy isn't a bad thing!