Malcolm is today 5 months old and we're a little stunned at the pace of life. It's all happening so fast!
Unfortunately my days still manage to be completely filled up with things other than my to do list. Malcolm worked out pretty quickly that life is too interesting to sleep in the day time, so he keeps me on my toes. We spend our days eating (his one difficulty, aside from refusing to sleep in the day, is that is he a remarkably slow eater and burper, taking more than double the time of other babies his age), playing, singing, reading, going to various medical appointments, doing Malcolm's neck and back exercises (!), Malcolm's swimming, shopping, chores, admin....
Our little prince / dinosour is an absolute joy and we're overwhelmed with wonder at him every day, I really had no idea parenthood would be so awesome. This is in part thanks to those parent hormones and in part to Malcolm's lovely and obliging personality. His a very smiling and chilled out baby - even by objective standards - the other mother's at playgroup all agree. He babbles constantly, and often with such a serious expression that we're sure he's trying to talk through the meaning of the universe with us.
And he patiently puts up with being taken along to muddy races and bike events, without so much as a whinge when we were out in the poring rain during the storms brought by the tail of Cyclone Yasi. And after much cajoling and pleading and a few tricks (like pouring a large bottle of expressed milk down his throat while he's mostly asleep at 11pm), he hasn't woken during the night since he started sleeping through at 16 weeks. He wakes every morning with a massive grin to start the day. He's brilliant and we are completely besotted.
So now we are getting around 7 hours sleep every night (not quite unbroken, his loud sleeping noises still wake us up and I supposed will until I'm comfortable to turn the monitor off), and we are back on the bike again. It almost feels like our lives are back to normal. It's quicker than expected. We've even been to a couple of races where we have managed to tag team the care of Malcolm. We also get some very generous baby sitting which gives us time together to do things we love as a couple (riding, swimming, ok the odd movie too), something we still miss a lot even though we do 'see' each other a lot since we spend more time at home than we ever have before.
I've learnt that the reason parents talk about their children all the time is not necessarily because the're obsessed, but because there is so little else going on in there lives that their left with nothing else to talk about! Sean is back at work full time, a little regretfully but necessary for the moment, at least until we can swap places. I'll be at home for a little while yet, perhaps until the middle of the year.
I finally managed to finish my masters. having assessment to do for the first few months of Malcolm's life was a huge strain and I'm now feeling considerably lighter and happier and more capable.
Unfortunately my days still manage to be completely filled up with things other than my to do list. Malcolm worked out pretty quickly that life is too interesting to sleep in the day time, so he keeps me on my toes. We spend our days eating (his one difficulty, aside from refusing to sleep in the day, is that is he a remarkably slow eater and burper, taking more than double the time of other babies his age), playing, singing, reading, going to various medical appointments, doing Malcolm's neck and back exercises (!), Malcolm's swimming, shopping, chores, admin....
We've been going to a play group once a week that was arranged by our maternal and child health centre, and shortly we are going to start going to a spanish speaking playgroup too. I had dreamt of doing exciting things like baking scones and gardening, but I still haven't found time for extra-curricular pursuits yet. It's funny that despite not working, I currently feel like I have less time to get my own things done (like write emails or read the paper) than I've ever had in
my life.
And yet, I have never been so happy or fulfilled. Contented sigh...
