Week 32: The swing

Daddy and I took you to the park over the weekend to play on the swing. I remembered how much you loved the swing at baby class, so I was glad that our local playground had a baby-friendly swing that you can use.

Daddy took this video of me playing with you. I love how you shriek and giggle.

Here's another video, this time Daddy joined you on the swing even though he couldn't fit on the seat haha

I'll have to take you to the park more often!

Some more photos from the weekend:

Your annoyed face

Week 31: Hello again from Lucas (7 mths)

Hello fan clubbers,

It's been over 2 months since I last wrote a post. My first hello was back in July! I've developed so much since then. Now that I am 7 months old, my typical day has changed.

Last night I had my usual bedtime routine starting around 7.30pm. This routine has been the same ever since I was baby. Mummy changed me into my onesie and put me in a sleep sack. Daddy came upstairs to read to me. I get so excited when I see my bedtime book, Goodnight Moon. I like trying to touch the page and look at all the pictures. Sometimes Daddy cheats and tries to skip some pages. When I get older, I'll tell him that's not allowed. When Daddy finished the story, Mummy said, "Milk milk" and made the sign language for milk. As soon as I hear "Milk milk", I get even more excited and start moving towards Mummy's boob. I love cuddling up to Mummy and finishing my milk milk. When Mummy says, "Other side", I know it's time for round 2.

Sometimes I fall asleep while I am nursing but I usually wake up when Mummy moves me to my crib. I used to cry a lot when she moved me but I'm getting used to it now. Last night I gave a little whimper for old time's sake but I fell asleep quickly after Mummy gave me my hippo lovey and gave me a few pats. It was 8pm by the time I fell asleep.

I woke up again around midnight and called out to Mummy. She came over and tried to pat me back to sleep. I wanted a cuddle and some milk so I stayed awake. She took me to the other room and changed my nappy and I was wide awake after that! So I settled back into bed with Mummy and fell asleep again quickly while I was nursing. I don't even remember Mummy moving me back to my crib.

I woke up again at 3 or 4am. Sometimes if I time it right and it's really late, Mummy lets me sleep in bed next to her because she's too tired to move me back to my crib. Those are the best mornings because I get to wake up in bed next to Mummy and Daddy. This morning was one of those mornings.

I woke up at 6.30am and moved around a bit to wake Mummy up. I don't like crying when I wake up, I usually reserve my tears for when I'm really upset. Mummy felt me moving and woke up and took me for a nappy change.  Then it was back to bed.

Daddy is right next to me. I think I'll try to wake him up

Wake up, Daddy!

Mummy nursed me while Daddy got ready for work. He came back in to play with me before he left.

Love cuddles with Daddy!

Mummy took me downstairs for some play while she had breakfast. I love playing with my toys on the play mat. I can sit up on my own now! I love to grab my toys and eat them. After Mummy finished breakfast I knew it was the dreaded tummy time. Ever since gymbaroo class, Mummy saw all the other babies do tummy time really well. I can do tummy time too, I just choose to rest a lot. I totally sussed it out at the first class of gymbaroo and realised there's no need to keep your head up high all the time like all the other babies. You can totally lie your head down and just chill out during the exercises. Suckers!

Week 31: A good appetite

You've been on solids for over a month now and your appetite has steadily improved. You have lunch and dinner now and enjoy everything I feed you.

Today I took out the trusty self-feeder again and put in sliced paw paw from the fridge. You love  cold and sweet food so this one was a hit. Check out the video:

I just fed you a mash of avocado and banana. I mashed up half an avocado thinking it was too much and that I would eat the rest. You almost finished the whole bowl! I was worried I was feeding you too much so I stopped even though you were still reaching forward for more. I'm glad you are loving lots of fruit and veg, it's so much fun trying out new combinations with you and watching you enjoy your food. Now that it's warmer, I'll also be feeding you frozen fruit which I'm sure you'll love

Some photos from today:

Tummy time with Daddy in the morning

Daddy tickling you

Feeding yourself paw paw

Week 31: Funny faces

You started making funny faces recently. I'm not sure where you learnt these faces from exactly though I think it might be a combination of us playing peekaboo with you (and squinting our eyes before we say, 'boo!') and also making funny faces at you to make you laugh.

This morning while I was having breakfast, I noticed you making the funny faces again while you were playing. I couldn't resist taking a video:

Look at all these funny faces you made while I was feeding you lunch today!

Looking very serious!

"I'm not impressed"

Week 30: Our little musician

You played on the keyboard at Grandpa's house yesterday and had a lot of fun. Check out the video:

You have a new smile where you squint your eyes like this:

In case you've forgotten, this is how big your eyes normally are:

Week 30: The swivel

I put you down on your playmat and noticed you swiveling slowly around to get to your toys. Whenever you put your head down for a rest, you would twirl the hair on the back of your head. It was so funny! I watched you do this for a while and then had to get a video of it -

Some photos from this week:

Look how long your hair is!

My smiley boy after waking up

More photos of you in the morning

Week 30: Chicken and pumpkin

You tried chicken for the first time today. I wasn't sure if you would like it since it's not sweet like the apples and pears I've been feeding you. Surprisingly, you did like it!

Your appetite is really improving. Today you learnt to ask for more by pulling Grandma's hand towards your mouth. What a smart boy!

7 month sticker photos and video

You're 7 months old today! So it's time to take some photos with the monthly sticker, toy puppy and the blanket Grandma crocheted for you.

You've grown a lot this month and you're also sitting up very straight. As you can see in the video, you've got better hand coordination and love to grab things to put in your mouth. The last couple of weeks you've started making a 'mmm....' humming noise. You mainly make this noise when you are not happy with something. It's much more polite than crying :)

You've grown at least 4cm this month, you can tell in the photos your legs are much longer and not as chubby as last month.Your hair is also a bit longer, with a few stray strands that are very long in the front. I don't know when we should cut your hair but you look so adorable, I don't want to change anything yet.

I couldn't resist taking lots of photos today. You're so active and the changing expressions on your face are so cute.

Week 30: Nodding

Last week, Daddy and I noticed you would randomly nod while we were playing with you. You keep doing it at different times. A few days ago while Grandma was feeding you, you were nodding again, so we decided to have some fun in the video:

Here are some photos from the last 2 days (week 30):

Aunty Mandy requested some "Lucas love' today. So I took these photos after I asked you to "Smile for Aunty Mandy". What a sweet smile for the camera :)

Week 29: Apple - taste sensation

I fed you pureed apples last night. Your reaction to tasting apples for the first time was so funny! I think the flavours were too intense for you though I think you still liked it as you kept reaching for more.

I mixed the apple with pears today so that the flavours were less intense. Aunty Mandy tasted it and loved it. You really loved it too.

Here are some photos of Daddy reading you your bedtime story last night.

6 month family photos

We took family photos a few weeks ago with the photographer, Leah Kua at Woolwich Docks. She used a traditional film camera to capture the images. The results are lovely. She put up a small gallery on her blog. Here are some of my favourites from that gallery:

The last photo of you sleeping in my arms was one of the very last photos we took. Leah had wanted to take more couple photos of me and Daddy but you had other ideas. I think these photos of you sleeping worked out much better. 

Week 29: You can turn the page!

You've always loved looking at books. Ever since you were a few months old, you loved to sit still while we read books to you. You would look at each page with such interest, it really looked like you were reading! Today, your Grandparents were reading a book to you and noticed you moving your hands as if to turn the page yourself. So I took a video of it. I love this video, it's so adorably cute especially the satisfied smile you gave me at the end of the video.

Here you are with the same book:

Week 29: Mid-week round-up

Each day seems to speed by now that we are nap training. It feels like an endless cycle of eat-play-sleep. You're only supposed to be awake for 2 hours so I watch you closely after 2 hours to catch your sleepy signs. As soon as you yawn or rub your eyes, I whisk you away from your play mat and put you through your nap routine. It feels like an endless cycle of putting you down in your crib, saying good night and walking out then hearing you cry and shriek and having to go back in and comfort you. You seem to know it's nap time and you really try to fight it. Let's hope you will learn soon as I really need time to start packing up the house while you take your naps!

I think I forgot to mention that we bought a house last week. I can't believe I forgot to mention it! For you, the new house will be the only house you know but we actually became a family of 3 in this little 2-br townhouse. All 3 of us have been sleeping in the main bedroom together. It's a little cosy especially after you got too big for the bassinet and we had to get a new crib that would fit the room but I like having you right next to our bed when you're sleeping. I don't randomly get up in the middle of the night to check you anymore but I like being able to reach out and comfort you if I hear you getting up. You've actually done the same and reached out to touch me through the bars to let me know you're awake! It was so cute.

Anyway, all of this background is to explain why I haven't had time to take that many photos or videos this week! I've been busy packing and cleaning up. Still, I do have a few photos from what we've been up.

You started trying pears this week and you love it! Here's a video of Grandma feeding you pureed pears for the first time. I've never seen you lean forward to eat more until you tried pears.

Photos from this week:

Trying pears

"I want to feed myself"

Going out for a walk and watching Grandma talk on her phone

Week 29: Playdate with Ethan

Today we had brunch with Aunty Yvonne and Ethan at a local cafe. Ethan is only older than you by 1 month, so you're both very close in age. We've seen Aunty Yvonne and Ethan a few times now, mainly to watch movies at the cinema, though at the time you were both too young to interact with one another.

Today we put you both in high chairs and watched the 2 of you "playing" for the first time. It was so cute!

Week 29: More gurgling and toes

You did your sing-song gurgling again this morning while doing your new trick of reaching for your toes. Here's a video combining your 2 new skills:

We went for your regular checkup at the baby health clinic today. I found out you've grown 4cm in 3 weeks! We last measured you at the medical centre 3 weeks when we got your immunisations. You're now in the 50th-75th percentile for height. You also weigh 8kg, which surprisingly is only in the 25th-50th percentile. I thought you were chubby for your age but you're actually below average in weight!

I also started nap-training you today. I want to stop the habit of you falling asleep while feeding you, so I'm following the traditional routine of: Sleep-Eat-Play. I made sure I fed you first, then we went downstairs to play. I put on a nursery rhyme CD and sang to you. After you digested a bit, I gave you some tummy time. You've started doing the swivel on your tummy, moving almost 360 degrees as I moved your toys just out of your reach. When you started rubbing your eyes, I took you upstairs, changed your nappy and put you into your sleep sack. I held you while singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star (an easy song that everyone knows, so hopefully others will be able to put you to sleep). I turned on the white noise app and put you in your crib while you were still awake, gave you a few pats, sang Twinkle Twinkle again and gave you a kiss on your forehead, saying "Good night sweetie". Then I left the room.

Week 28: Falling asleep on your own (video working now)

You're 6.5 months now and still not sleeping through the night. I got 2 blissful nights where you slept for 8 hours straight when you were 4 months old and I thought you were improving as you only woke up twice a night. At 5 months you regressed and started waking up 3 times a night.

I spoke to the midwife at the health centre and we figured out it was because you would fall asleep after only breastfeeding on one side. I didn't want to wake you up to finish the other side but that meant you would wake up more often. After that, I made you finish both sides and you slept a bit longer.

At least we don't have too much trouble putting you to sleep at night. You start rubbing your eyes around 6.30-7pm and we go through a consistent bedtime routine so that you learn the cues it's time to sleep. You often fall asleep while I am feeding you but I'm trying to stop that so you can learn to self-settle and fall asleep on your own. Slowly you're learning to self-settle. You often have a bit of a whinge before you fall asleep. I recorded your whinging tonight, it was so cute because you learnt a new sound: 'meh meh meh'. You fell asleep a few minutes after I finished recording you.

Here's the audio with photos from this weekend (I've taken the privacy setting off now). The last photo was taken the day before. It was hot that night so we decided to take the sleep sack off. Without the sleep sack, you used your feet to move your body around the crib. When we came back upstairs to see you, we found you had moved 180 degrees in your crib. Daddy had to move you back because he was worried you'd knock your head.

You're getting really flexible and starting to suck your toes! Daddy was horrified when he first saw you do that and promptly took your foot out of your mouth. I thought it was really funny so I took a video and some photos:

Photos:

Week 28: Family reunion

Aunty Kat and Uncle Dan came back on Saturday from HK for a visit. They came to visit and play with you that night. Now that you're a bit older, you can recognise people and you're more wary of people you've only just met. The last time Aunty Kat and Uncle Dan saw you, you were only 1 week old! You took a little while to warm to them. Uncle Dan played with your toys a bit roughly, especially with your precious Sophie toy. You looked like you were getting excited playing with him but then we realised you were upset when you started wailing!  Today you still had not forgiven Uncle Dan and avoided looking at him. It was pretty funny for all of us though probably not so fun for poor Uncle Dan. They will be seeing more of you the next 2 weeks so I'm sure you'll be friends again soon!

We went to the city today for lunch and dessert with the whole family. You looked so cute in your outfit today. Here are some photos:

Sitting in a high chair at the restaurant

With the whole family

With Aunty Kat and Uncle Dan