Kayden's ugly scrowl

Kayden understands the word No by now and he can most definitely express his dislike for the word! It doesn't help when we laugh at him when he does it, he just scrunches up his face even more when we do. Yikes!

Routines at 9 months

I joke with my friends that these are not Kayden's routines, it is really MY routine.  It's all fun and games for him, and abit of work for me to do. With the help of a popular parenting book, I have followed the suggested routines with HUGE success. We got him onto the routine when he was 4 months old. He used to wake up at least once each night. Shortly after I put him on the routines, he slept right through the night.

And now, he wakes up and goes down for his sleep at expected times. I find it alot easier to plan a trip out, or to book for an appointment knowing what times he will be awake and ready to head out the door.

7am - Kayden wakes up. (He is almost like clockwork, plus or minus 5 to 10 minutes) Hubby gives Kayden a nappy change and his first milk feed of the day. Kayden goes straight back to sleep. By 7.15am he is fast asleep again.

10am - Kayden is awake and ready to start his day. Another nappy change and some playtime with me.


11am - I give Kayden his second morning milk feed.

12Noon - Lunchtime. He sits in his high chair, and I give him some finger foods (snow peas, carrot sticks, broccoli,etc) to feed himself with while waiting for his lunch to be ready. When it is ready,I feed him and have my own lunch after.

1pm - Kayden goes down for a nap while I wash up after lunch.

1.30pm - I do abit of housework, or some me time while Kayden is still sleeping.


2pm - Kayden is awake. Playtime.

3pm - Another milk feed, and maybe some afternoon tea of cruskits or some fruits.

3.30 pm - We head off for an afternoon walk if the weather is looking good outside.


4.30pm -  Back from our walk, I give Kayden some books and toys, sit down with him for a bit and then jump in for a quick shower while he's playing.

 5.30pm - I prep his dinner and leave it to cook while I give Kayden a bath.

6pm - Kayden's dinnertime. Sometimes he has some plain yoghurt with some fruit purees in it.

7pm  - Dinner with the rest of the family. If we're lucky, Kayden would be asleep by now. If not, he joins us at the dinner table in his high chair. Although these days, I prefer if he stays awake at this time as if he sleeps now, its like a power nap for him. Otherwise, almost for sure, he will be up by 9pm, wide eyed and fully awake for more play till late! We watch some TV together, read, play, generally just spending some family time together.

8pm - Kayden has his last milk feed of the day. 

9pm - Kayden goes to sleep for the night.

10pm -  Hubby and I spend some time together, catch up on some gossip and maybe a late night movie on some days.

11pm - Lights out.

A little spot of happiness

I love it when life gives you a little bit of a surprise sometimes. A little spot of a rainbow hidden in an overcast winter sky may just do the trick.

Those were the days...

Thankfully, the above isn't our routine anymore. He was just over a week old. No more of that 2-3 hourly feeds!  Look at my scribbling towards the end (or rather the beginning of a new day which I wasn't ready to start). I was losing it. I never slept more than 3 hours at one go. Geez, how in the world did I manage that! Sheer Supermommy power!

And of course, due to my pregnancy brain which is still hanging around, I didn't realise it actually takes a baby some time to get used to not being breastfed anymore. So instead of stopping the breastfeeds at 6 months as I had preferred, he stopped at 7 months.

In the times I was weaning him off, I still wake up several times in the night. Right up until perhaps 2 months ago I was still doing that. I remember even when Kayden actually slept for 3 hours straight in the early days, I STILL woke up anyway, just to check on him. I was afraid he was starving, but was just too hungry to even cry. I know of other moms out there who jump out of bed in the middle of the night because they thought they heard their baby cry. When you are a new mother, every little sound makes you think your baby is awake and needs you. When I went into his room, of course I found my baby fast asleep, sometimes doing a little baby snore. It was just silly me waking up for nothing. He was fine.

I still jot the times down in the sleeping diary till this day. I don't do it every single day like I used to, but often enough. I like going through it and marveling at how far my baby has come along since.

Today, he sleeps through the night. But he is still like clockwork with his routines! Check back again soon, it'll be for another post later on.

Kayden 9 months update

My baby is growing up right in front of my eyes each day. 9 months! Wow. Where did time go? 

Kayden is doing the commando crawl. To his delight, the treasures stored under the coffee table is now well within his reach. Or the remote. Or my feet. Or better yet, a FULL bottle of water that I stupidly left uncapped on the far corner of his playmat because I FORGOT he can now crawl. Thinking I will be back to claim my bottle in no time, I left it where I was sitting close to Kayden on the carpet right before I walked off . I was right in the middle of preparing Kayden's dinner, when my husband let out a shout and was scurrying around frantically, saying "Need some cloth!!!". He had found Kayden with a bottle of water which he was waving around in the air, the water still splashing out around him. The bottle was almost completely emptied out! Thank god it was not a bottle of red, and just water!

He also has a toy train which he loves. He's only had the train to play with for the past 2 months or so. His idea of 'play' is leaving his finger on a button which plays a tune for as long as he presses it.  Earlier today, I left him playing with his train and all of a sudden he lets out a frustrated cry. Tears and all. He looked devastated. Turns out that he has played with it so much, that it has finally gone flat. When I approached him, he lifted his little finger off the button and put it back on again, and then looks at me and back at his train as if to say "Mom!! It's dead!". I almost melted! Haha! I was amazed he actually knew how to communicate! 

My little baby used to be the length of my arm. Now, he is half my height! No kidding! People think Kayden is a one year old. He looks and behaves like it, except for the walking bit! No hurry with the walking, I am quite happy to cuddle my baby for now.

In denial much?

My real life emoticon

=P

I heart Sydney

 

Last weekend, our little family went on a little trip to Sydney. It was Kayden's first time on board a plane! He was a dream to be with. When he was not sleeping, he would be winning over the hearts of other passengers with his winning gummy smiles and baby laughter. He was happy and hardly fussed throughout the entire trip.

We had a blast during the short trip. The forecast was for possible showers for the weekend. But what are the chances that it was overcast when the plane touched down to only open up to big sunny clear blue skies when we stepped out of the airport? And started drizzling only when we were seated in the plane ready for take off, on our way home! We indulged in going on hunts for fresh food, lots of happy laughter, long brisk warm walks along the harbour, the breeze on a water taxi ride and at the end of the day, long warm relaxing baths to soothe the body and soul.

We all left our hearts in Sydney! Can't wait to head up there again soon one day!