Ohhh how ridiculously long it has been since I updated here!! Just no time, none at all! I can do little snatches of things online, but I always procrastinate when it comes to blogging because I always end up SO VERY long-winded, lol! And I don't have time to be long-winded, mostly. My laptop has had a rather unfortunate accident involving a glass of water (ahem), and has been away being fixed (oh I do so hope!!) for two weeks now. I'm so nervous that it won't be salvagable :( Anyway, meanwhile I have even less time online because of sharing the antique computer with Neil. BUT he brought a laptop home from work this week so I have a little more time than usual in the evenings! :)
So where were we?! I think Samuel was 8 weeks old last time I posted! He is now 6 months old and so verily scrumptious. I can't post photos because they're on my laptop (sob! though most are backed up, thankfully!) and so is all my camera software, so I'll have to wait to upload them when I get it back. There have been a few of him on my main blog since I last posted here though... I think?? I am not doing great at keeping up there either! :S
Samuel is so precious! He is wearing age 6-9 month clothes, and still squeezing into the larger 3-6 month ones. He is acting a bit teethy sometimes, but not too much. He bites on things really hard so I guess his teeth may be bothering him a little. Oh he's waking! I'll be back.
Back! I am not expecting him to cut any teeth yet, because none of his brothers have done so this early. The last two babies were nearly at their first birthdays before they cut their first tooth! Arthur was 8 months, and Matthew 7 months, so he could be more like them, or wait a good while longer yet! We'll see.
He's the most delightful, good-natured, easy-going baby! He rarely cries about anything, just fusses when tired or hungry. He beams and smiles at the slightest bit of attention, and not because he's short of it. He gets LOTS of attention, despite being the 5th child under 7 in this house! Oh his brothers LOVE him!! Especially Matthew. I wish I could show you the photos I took yesterday of Matthew loving on him. Matthew adores him, and spends as much time as he can with him. He will drop anything he's doing to run upstairs and be first to open Samuel's (my) bedroom door when he wakes from a nap - every single nap he takes! He loves going in and saying, "Hel-LO Samuel!" in a babytalk voice, as he approaches the bed, and seeing Samuel light up. Sometimes I want to tell Matthew NO! *I* want to be the first to get his sweet waking smile, hehe! But I let him. Sometimes I do get to see it though, and of course, I always always get the morning rays from that little man! :)
Samuel has still never slept a wink in a cot! My last three babies had all slept in a cot by now, Matthew from quite early on. Benjamin had his Amby Hammock of course, but he was in it for naps all the time from much earlier than Samuel's age. Samuel has my bed, and Benjamin's cot set up next to it (we bought a cabin bed to match the bunks in the boys' room, and Matthew sleeps on top of that, with a mattress on the floor for Benji underneath, and it worked VERY well from the get-go, so that's good!). Anyway, the cot just sits full of laundry, lol! I am SO enjoying co-sleeping with this sweet little baby. He breastfeeds on and off through the night, but who knows how often or how many times. All I know is it doesn't seem that frequent, but it's probably a few times - 2 or 3? I don't know. I mostly sleep! :) He does too, but I think I always smile, however sleepily, as I adjust my clothing to nurse him as he rolls in towards me in the dark. It's just so wonderful, so much more wonderful with each baby it seems, for me. I love love love and cherish it so very much that even half asleep I am just aware of smiling in the dark as I latch my sweetie pea on. Then I go to sleep, and when he's finished, so does he. In the morning he wakes me up and smiles at me. Gosh, I am blissful right now! :) Life is very full and hectic, and I am at my wit's end in some departments, but ohhhh the baby bliss!!! I happen to have a very "easy" baby, for which I am grateful as it makes things much easier for me, and I am enjoying having a little baby VERY much indeed! :)
Samuel is my first thumb-sucker! They have all had a short "go" at that, usually for a few weeks, and I've wondered if it would stick but it never did. Samuel sucks his thumb all the time really. He's the first of mine to self-soothe, and I think that is making life much easier. He is SO like Matthew in personality as a baby - laid-back and liking his sleep, and not wanting to snack snack snack on breastmilk like *some* little people have! ;) He only ever takes one breast for a full feed, and makes such an amusing face when I offer him more of the same or the other side after he's finished! He won't take any more, that's for sure, hehe! This week he has been nursing more frequently and wanting the other side, which he NEVER does, so I'm assuming (he's so easy to read!) that he's having a growth spurt. I think that's a typical occurance at 6 months, but I can't remember.
Anyway, he sucks his sweet little thumbie to go to sleep, ALWAYS. He nurses until full, pops off and rolls away and puts his right (always right) thumb in his mouth, all in one smooth movement. Then he sucks his thumb until he's asleep. He has been doing this for months now. He does often let his thumb go and roll back for a little more milk, and then repeats the pop off/roll/thumb. I have learnt to scarper out of the bedroom the moment he rolls away because lately he's a bit more restless if I hang around. If he rolls back and I'm there, he sort of pops on and off the breast, not wanting any more milk but getting fidgetty and fussy. If I am not there, I go quickly downstairs and watch him on the video monitor, and he rolls to where I was lying and settles there happily. It seems like I'm in his way once he's finished with milky and wants to sleep! ;)
I MISS him so much if he sleeps longer than 3 hours, day or night!! I always just want to wake him up and stroke his sweet little face or squeeeeeze him! He's so darling. Words can't describe how much I love him. I know all mamas feel this way about their tiny ones, but ahhhhhh how strong that feeling is!!! I wish I could record it properly here. Oh well.
Samuel's hair is growing in pretty well now. It doesn't stick straight up like Matthew's did! It lies flat, and has a little twist-curl at the middle of his forehead :) His hair is fair, like Matthew's - all the others have brown hair. I LOVE how like Matthew he is, especially given how much Matthew adores him. He is physically incredibly like Matthew to look at as well. We have photos for a screensaver on the antique computer, from when I was pregnant with Arthur until Nathan was just born. The baby photos of Matthew sometimes pop up and take our breath away because we have a hard time telling that it's not Samuel, even KNOWING it's not. We can see that it's Matthew, because it just IS, and he does have his own look, but otherwise... I think if these two were fraternal twins, they would constantly be mistaken for identical twins. It's hard to tell their baby photos apart sometimes, and seeing photos of Matthew a few months OLDER than Samuel is a weird experience. It sometimes looks like we're seeing a glimpse of what Samuel will look like cruising the furniture, or with more hair grown in, etc. Strange feeling! :) But I love how alike they are. Samuel's hair looks different in different light. From one angle it looks light brown, and from another it looks WHITE blonde. Mostly it just looks in between the two, or like both colours are mixed in there together. He still has a nice mullet of dark newborn hair, and at the sides too, haha! It's sweet but I will be happy when he's older and has lost the dark hair and only has his "proper" hair! We haven't really noticed that lingering newborn hair with the others because of their dark "proper" hair, and Matthew lost ALL his newborn hair in the first few months, so he didn't have this issue.
Samuel's eyes are currently blue blue blue, like Matthew's were, but just recently I am noticing a very subtle change around the pupils - the faintest hint of yellow/tan. I wonder if his eyes will turn out like Matthew's have - a sort of grey green with a tan ring around the pupil?
Samuel isn't crawling or anything near yet (Matthew and Nathan were crawling at 6 months, but Benjamin and Arthur not until 8 months). I guess he has spent less time freely roaming about the floor than the others, because of, well, the others! lol! We're STILL in our tiny 2-bedroom house. Space is limited for a little baby to be on the living room floor all the time. If I am in the room, I get him out of his bouncy chair and let him roll about on the floor. He LOVES the floor now. He would get tired of it and cry a month ago, quite quickly, but he loves it now. He is reaching and lunging forwards for toys, rolling all over the place, and swivelling round 360 degrees on his tummy. He started rolling months ago - at 3 months old I think - in both directions. I get nervous about him still napping on my bed, but we have a camera on him and make a pillow barrier all the way round the edges of the bed. Whatever we are doing downstairs, whether it's eating, doing school, housework - we always have his monitor right in front of us. If I am occupied at the washing machine or something like that, I often call a boy to check his monitor to see what he's doing, and they like reporting back to me. Pretty soon I think I will have to move him to the cot for naps though, to be safe.
He has started sitting without support this week! He did have the same 3 nights of HORRIBLY disturbed sleep that all my little ones have had before a brand new gross motor skill. Finally I have had enough kids and thus enough experience for me to actually recognise it BEFORE the motor skill emerged, lol! It's only taken me this long! ;) I felt triumphant when he sat up for the first time one day and promptly went back to normal sleep patterns! :) He is currently sitting steadily with support (me behind him, or in the activity ring that they've all used), and for 10 seconds or so without wobbling at all if he's chewing on a toy. The moment he reaches for something he topples though. He looks so much older suddenly, sitting up! :(
Samuel is my first baby NOT to have had any solid food upon turning 6 months old. I just am so content exclusively breastfeeding him, and HE seems completely happy. He isn't acting desperate for our food. He has been interested in it for a couple of months, watching us eat calmly but with interest. He reaches for food, but only in the same way that he reaches for the post, a toy, a pen, etc, if it's in my hand while he's on my lap. The other day I gave him a spoon to bite on, and he loved that. I sat eating an apple next to him, and he watched me. When I was down almost to the core, I held it out to him and asked him if he wanted a taste. He gave the apple a very calm look for the LONGEST time, as though he was interested but not that fussed. He didn't try to get it, and after a while just went back to chewing the spoon. The next time I held it out to him he was bored of his spoon and took it from me. He chewed hard on it but not like he wanted to consume or taste it, more like it was an ideal teether for his gums. He didn't seem too bothered about the taste either!
I was lamenting on Facebook that I wasn't looking forward to him turning 6 months and starting solids, because I was so enjoying exclusively breastfeeding him, and a couple of people replied to say THERE'S NO RUSH! :) So, I thought, why not wait a bit longer. And I have! :) Arthur's pestering me somewhat to give him a banana - he's looking forward to the milestone! When I do give him food it will be proper food, not purees, as we've done with the last three babies, but I am not in any hurry and don't particularly have a timescale for it. Right now I'm LOVING being his sole source of nutrition, and he seems completely satisfied so I'm happy. I have NO idea what he weighs! He hasn't been weighed since I was last writing entries here! I don't get chance to take him to drop-in centres for weighing, and I care less and less about what my babies weigh, what percentile they're at, and whether they are keeping to their curve, the more babies I have. I LOVE to know "stats" about my babies though, so that's the only nagging thought - I would like to know for that reason! :) But otherwise, pfthth. He will have a developmental check at around 8 months old, so he'll be weighed then, but that's probably it.
Ohhh there's probably SO much else to write about Samuel! But it's getting really late and I must go to bed!
I am on my 4th postpartum cycle now. Still can't believe how early it all started up again this time! I have been very loosely charting, only when my period arrives. I mostly forget to chart CM until LONG after the fact, and then I go back eventually and fill in the blanks where I can remember, but it's not that reliable! I chart what I can anyway. I think the last cycle was only a 3 day luteal phase - oh actually I think that was the one before. Last cycle, I'm not sure? I can't remember. Anyway. I am starting to chart more actively this cycle because I think I want more of an idea of what is going on with my body. I know I am ovulating, and that my luteal phase is short. Ovulation is getting a little earlier, and that's the time for me to start watching my cycles. Especially if parsnips are involved, so I'm starting to chart that too. I think there's almost zero chance of pregnancy right now because my luteal phases are very very short, and may well stay that way for a couple more cycles at least, but that's why I'm going to chart to find out. I am starting temping this cycle too, though I got started a little late. I think I might be ovulating today. I have been bloated all day, crampy increasingly through the evening, and the last 20 minutes I am pretty sure I am experiencing ovulation pain on my left side. Will chart it tomorrow, and see if it's actually true. And then probably get my period in 4 days, lol! If I had a normal LP and I am ovulating right now, I have a good chance of conception. But NOT a normal LP right now! ;)
Ohhh so looking forward and HOPING for more babies still to come for us! Arthur is hoping too - he was squishing my tummy wistfully a couple of weeks ago, and looking thoughtful. I asked him what he was doing, and he said, "Mummy, when can you go and wee on one of those stick things that tells us if you have a new tiny baby growing in your tummy again?" He clutched his fists under his chin with glee on the words "new tiny baby" :) Love that boy! And then last week (this week??) Matthew said he hoped God would bless us with more babies! He said he loves Samuel so much, and Samuel is his best friend in the whole world! Ahhh, where's the heart smiley when I want it?! :)
Right now, the reality of a new pregnancy would actually feel a bit overwhelming and scary to me. It feels really familiar from other times when I've had a baby aged about 6 months old. Once or twice I've thought maybe I could conceive that month, and it turned out to feel pretty scary in the reality of the moment! I worried about my milk for my baby boy, and morning sickness while still feeling like I was emerging from the postpartum fog, and HOW to do it all whilst dealing with the first trimester, etc. Not so much how to juggle another child, or how to manage with two very close in age, but more the pregnancy demands. I worry about whether my body is going to manage if I haven't had much time to recover from the latest pregnancy, especially my hips which were so very NOT happy this last time! I don't worry about labour any more. The whole thing just seems scary at this early stage, to me, but if it happened I would REJOICE because it would be a blessing from God. What's 15 months between babies?! It would not be so bad at all, and I would be so glad and thankful a year down the line - and during my pregnancy too. Just... the scariness! ;) BUT, fast forward a couple of months, to when I have an 8 month old or so... that's when I stop feeling this way and start getting proper baby fever! ;) Not really a coincidence that it is also when my body is about ready to conceive again. I love God's timing!! :)
I know that at any time, God could say, "That's it. Your family is complete". I know. I am so hoping He has plans to bless us again and again yet! I am now 35, and thus, for the first time, of "advanced maternal age". My mother, and her mother, and various other mothers before them (!) have started symptoms of menopause at age 40 and pretty much been done with it around age 42 or so. That's now only FIVE years away from me, which kind of makes me feel a bit clutchy around my throat! :S I don't mind getting old - I have never been someone who has issues with that idea - but I slightly panic at the thought of my childbearing years coming to an end. So sad! I hope these next five years are fruitful ones! My doula told me that if women continue having babies in their later reproductive years, it can delay menopause if it would have otherwise come on the early side. I hope she's right! I know it would be more tiring to be pregnant, give birth, recover from birth, and have a newborn (plus other kiddies) as I get older, but I don't care. TOTALLY. WORTH IT. :)
I shall be back! :)
