Sleep is for the weak

That's right, we've entered a phase of Jakson's life where sleep has become very, very, very rare and i'm really, really, really tired.  It's leaving us a bit baffled to be honest.  Jakson has been a pretty good sleeper for a long time now, few hiccups here and there but for the most part he would go down between 7-8, wake up once, maybe twice for a feed and go back down until somewhere between 6 and 7.  Not a bad sleep pattern for a wee little one.  However, the last couple of weeks have literally been waking every 1-2 hours all night long.  He still goes down around 7/730 but instead of a long 5-6 hour sleep before waking up for his first feed he is waking in 3 hours and then every 1-2 until he wakes for the day around 6.  There are a number of potential drivers of this: we think he's teething, 4-month sleep regression (I think I mentioned this a few posts back), gas pain (he farts ALOT), etc. So we just keep plodding along with our bed time routine and just hope eventually this phase passes.  And I'll just catch as many zzzz's as i can during the day when he seems to be napping like a champ!

When I'm not catching up on sleep in the day I am finally getting out and about a lot more.  Last week included a trip to Borough Market to have lunch with a friend from AKQA who has a 6 month old.  Jakson was a little angel the whole day, including a bus ride of about half an hour there and back.  This outing turned out so well i thought i'd try again and this past Friday we grabbed the bus to Canary Warf to visit Rob at work.  Jakson was again really good for most of the trip...but i think the hour long bus ride back was a bit too much.  I'll keep that in mind for the future...hour long journeys on public transport are probably not the best idea :)

Another area that has taken a rather unforeseen turn is feeding.  We are still breastfeeding and it's all been going really well...until recently when Jakson decided he no longer likes being held when feeding.  Not sure why but he just will not be held anymore, he squirms and screams and throws a complete wobbler.  Luckily my friend Michelle is a BF expert (hi Michelle) and gave me some tips on how to get him to eat.  So now we feed laying in bed as this is the only way he will eat, except for when he wakes in the night.  So it's not so easy to take him out and about as he can't be held to eat.  Not like i can lay on the floor of a shop bathroom to feed him, eh?  Oh well...just another couple of months and we'll be ready to wean him...so i guess i'll be getting those much needed zzz's when the wee man is hungry...which these days is about every 2 hours.  Fun times :)  But definitely worth it.

The last exciting update is that we've finally booked a summer holiday and are going to Portugal at the beginning of September.  YAY!  I'm in dire need of a sunny holiday and this is just what the dr. ordered.  We've rented a villa in the Algarve region of Portugal are going with Rob's parents and some family friends so there should no shortage of help with Jakson.  Double Yay!  I can't wait to chill out in the sun for a few days and just relax.  Has been quite a while since I've done that!

And an update wouldn't be complete without a few recent pics of the wee man. 

All dressed up for our visit to Borough Market.

This baby just loves to stand! 

Time for teefies?

I'm pretty sure Jakson is teething.  What is giving me this idea?  Well, let's see...he's been very fussy lately, sticking every/anything in his mouth and madly chewing on every/anything he can get in his mouth.  This has been going on for a fair few weeks now so i'm pretty sure there are some teeth to blame.  My fear is that this is the beginning of a very long process...this could go on for months before any actual teeth surface.  Eeek!  So here is a glimpse into how Jakson spends most of his time:

nom nom nom

4 months old today!

Happy birthday boo!!  Such a cutie!!

I'm 4 months old today!!!

The Sound of Happiness

Jakson is a very happy baby most mornings, it's very rare that he wakes up without a smile on his face.  One of his newest ways to express this happiness is by screeching...I had to share:

Another reason Jakson is feeling so happy this morning is that *I think* he's finally passed his 4 month sleep regression (fingers crossed!).  We've had 3 consecutive nights of pretty good sleep with last night being the best.  He went down for bed at 730 like a good boy and slept all the way through until 330 am.  He had a quick feed and then back down until 545 am.  Now, I don't know about you but for me that is still a wee bit too early to call it morning.  So, i didn't turn on any lights and kept him in his room for a quick feed and after about 10 minutes he was back down until 645.  Awesome!  So we are both bright eyed and bushy tailed this morning to start our week. 

It's also makes it much easier to be "bright eyed" after a good weekend with daddy.  On Saturday we went to Livvy's 1st birthday party which was a lot of fun.  Jakson was the youngest baby there so i was a wee bit worried about the crying and fussing around with so many people but by all accounts he was an angel!  He let a number of strangers hold him without a fuss and didn't cry much at all.  Here are a few photos from our visit to the Threadgolds for this momentous occasion:

Our only family photo!!  Thanks, Adele!

Jakson rides a pony for the 1st time.

Then on Sunday Rob let me sleep in and catch-up on some much needed zzzz's (especially after the last couple of weeks of sleep regression).  So I slept in and enjoyed a fairly lazy day while Rob exemplified the term 'daddy duty'.  Love him - best hubby ever!  Then we had a visit from Auntie Clare who watched Jakson for a while so that we could run to the store for some groceries.  This is how we found them when we returned home:

I love to cuddle with Auntie Clare!! xxx

My favourite part of this photo is the distinct difference in skin tones.  Auntie Clare has just returned from a lovely beach holiday in Portugal so she is a nice brown tone, while Boo's skin has yet to be exposed to the sun, so he's a lovely pale baby.  So sweet together :)  Love them both!!

Growing Up So Fast!

The wee boo is nearly 17 weeks (on Monday) and we are having so much fun!  It seems he's becoming more and more active, alert and excitable by the day!  He has such an awesome smile that just makes you want to squeeze him so tight and he does some of the cutest things.  Examples:

Mr. Froggie!!!

Look at me!  I'm a big boy!!!

While Jakson has been lots of fun in the day, On the other side of the equation is the sleep chaos that started a couple months back.   I know I've posted about how well Jakson was sleeping...but that has certainly turned on it's head over the last few weeks.  Boo went from sleeping for 5-7 hours at a time to barely making it 3 hours in a stretch. More often than not he's only been going 1-2 hours at night before waking up and needing to be settled back down.What I didn't realise until just recently (thanks to my friend, Michelle) is that babies go through what is called a four month sleep regression.  What this means is that around 4 months babies go through a major developmental spurt which affects their ability to sleep soundly through the night.  The result, lots of sleepless nights!  We've had a couple of weeks of pure sleep hell but last night we may have turned a corner back to normalcy when Jakson went down at 730ish, woke at 1230ish for a feed and then not again until I woke him at 430 for a feed.  Fingers crossed it continues!!

Another Milestone!

This is so exciting!  Today marks the day when Jakson first rolled over from back to front!  He's not even four months yet and he can roll both ways - front to back and NOW back to front.  I can't believe it!  All of the reading I've done says babies don't typically rollover from back to front until around 6 months.  And Jakson is doing it well before his 4 month birthday!?  This must be special ;)  He also loves to "stand up" as you can see from this video:

And here is a quick video of Jakson rolling over from front to back:

The last week has been quite exciting and fun for us as Rob was on holiday.  We had many grand plans and things we wanted to do, first we talked about a trip to Spain, Portugal or even France to spend some quality time in the sun.  But in the end we didn't get Jakson's passport sorted in time to go.  I think we were both ok with it as it seems like a lot of agro to travel by plane with a little one and I wasn't sure if it was worth it as i don't think it would be the relaxing beach holiday we remember from pre-baby times...

The next plan was that we'd take a trip down to the south coast of england, thinking either Brighton or Bournemouth.  And we had the best intentions...until the weather poo-poo'd those plans.  It literally rained all week!  So depressing but I suppose it allowed us to get a lot of stuff/errands done we'd been planning to do. So we thought let's get all our stuff done early in the week and if the weather improved by Thursday/Friday we would take a long weekend down to the coast.  Wrong again!  About mid-week I started developing a nasty cold and within 24 hours Rob had it as well.  We both felt awful (and still sort of do) so our plans for a little weekend getaway were a distant memory!

By the end of it all we ended up not doing much of anything, which i suppose is ok.  Rob got to spend some quality time with Jakson, I got to catch up on sleep and we have a well advanced baby on our hands.  Seems all is well in the world, eh?  So now we look forward to September when we are thinking of going away to Spain...at least we hope.  And this time we've made sure Jakson's passport won't be an issue.  We got is passport photos this week (one of our many errands).  Look at the little chunky baby:

And here are some other photos from our fun this week:

Looking trendy for a visit to the mall.

Post-bath happiness with Mummy

Mid-roll attempt under the play gym.

Other exciting happenings of recent include Rob and I having our first night away from baby Boo to attend a wedding.  Jakson spent a whole 24 hours with Nanny, Grandad and Auntie Clare.  And by all accounts he was very good indeed.  And I think Rob and I enjoyed ourselves as well - on the evening at least.  It's safe to say that the following day was a bit rough but luckily we were at Rob's parents to pick-up Jakson so we could take naps and recover.  Here are a couple of shots of my work lot enjoying the post-wedding festivities:

We also believe Jakson to be teething these days, which I'm gutted about.  I love his gorgeous gummy smile.  He is drooling EVERYWHERE and constantly chewing on his hands.  He also has a little chapped, red cheek from all the drool which is a sure sign of teething.  Now I know this can be normal for many young boos but there is just something about it that tells me it's only a matter of time before the little teeth start sprouting.  I sure hope I'm wrong!!

A snoring boo

I had  to post this video for my mum as i think she'll get a kick out of it.  The wee man fell asleep in his bouncy chair as he was so tired.  Can you tell from the manly snoring???