way away

Yeah, sorry - no news for two weeks because we've been away in Devon (Dartmoor National Park), and pushing forward on the house-purchase, and juggling balls, and being a mummy, and co-ordinating calendars, and looking for a baby-sitter, hosting visitors, planning Xmas day, etc etc.
Good news is that Christmas came early for me this year in the form of Keith's mum. While we've been away she's faithfully got up each morning at around 4am and fed Calvin so that I can sleep. Wow! I really do feel like a different person. He is thriving and smiling more and more. He can be very chatty and likes to gurgle and coo - it's all very endearing.
Zack has been a little bored being away with no other children to play with, and a limited selection of toys. That said, we made an effort to take him outside and "run him" around - the golf driving range, the trampoline, the grounds of where we were staying. You could say that he is still very spirited, and it certainly kept mummy and daddy on their toes with all the 'acting up' while we were away. Now that we're back in London, in a routine, with all the usual faces and activities, he's like a different child. Yesterday, he was the happiest I've seen him in a long while – rushing around with Kelly, hugging and kissing us all, playing games, singing songs and being the delightful Zack we know so well. Amazing!
Tomorrow is Calvin's follow-up appointment with Dr. Moncado and we'll see what she has to say about a) his weight gain b) his head control c) other concerns she may have thought of in the interim.

He's a genius I tell you !

Zack is totally a genius... take a look at this drawing and tell me he isn't years ahead of his age!

A scarecrow I am told... tho' it may be just a head, eyes and hair.
Still, I'm am way, way, way impressed with my son's drawing ability.

Ah, go 'n boil your 'ed

Whoop-dee-doo! Back at the health visitor again today. Calvin has gained all of 200g since last week - this means that he weighs nearly what Zack did when he was born (3.87kgs). The reason for the visit however, was the doctor's concern over Calvin's head control. As it turns out, they feel things haven't improved at all. That said, she also found fault with his breathing - as I've mentioned before, he has had a cold for sometime (in fact we all have), which makes his breathing quite laboured when he drinks milk. When he's relaxed, his breathing is just fine. She said that what worried her was that he may have a complication with his larynx - a condition she had seen before in slightly prem babies. And then the real gem: he has mottled skin ! She wanted to know if his skin had always been like that. I said yes, and that I had taken it for healthy fat. She did the pressure test to see if his circulation had been affected by the dread-mottled-ness. All fine!
I am completely defensive about all of this. I have a fat rant at Keith after each doctor's appointment. What makes me mad is that it is ALL negative news. Everything that gets discussed is under-this, behind-that, not developed-the next thing. There's not one mention of what's going right. If I wasn't a second time mum, I'd be a bit suicidal by now, in fact, I would've checked myself into the hospital to get this all sorted out - once and for all.
Apparently we'll get a paediatric referral if things haven't improved with his head-control, next time. Maybe that isn't a bad thing.

"Yesterday" – discussing time with Zack
Zack is growing more and more curious about time. He now often asks me "what's the time Mummy?", and when I pick him up from play-school, he'll say "it's not late ?". Our favourite though, is the use of the word "yesterday": Zack uses it for all things past tense. This could mean an hour ago, earlier today, yesterday (for real), last week, or even last month. It's really cute, but can be helluv confusing for anyone who's listening to Zack's story of what's transpired in his recent experience. It seems like yesterday was the busiest day in any human being's life, when in fact, it's just the concertina effect of time.

Breast vs. Bottle
I'm feeling a bit despondent about breast-feeding. I'm trying as hard as I can to keep Calvin on the breast, but he finds the bottle pretty easy to feed from (even tho' I'm using those 0+months teats), and loses interest in the breast after more than 20/25 mins. Sometimes it doesn't feel like he's completely drained it either. I keep thinking I should go back to breast-only, and that way my milk supply will pick up and stay up. In the current situation I feel like my milk production is slowing down as the formula-use continues (with no end in sight because of the weight-gain issues). Hmmm... what to do ?

shattered, but fatter

Hurrah! the child weighs 500g more than last week = 3.7kgs. Our efforts at extra feeding have paid off and the lady at the clinic is pleased too. I still have to go next week for the check-up regarding his neck/shoulder strength, but hey... small victories.
At what price ? Well, we are more sleep deprived than we've been in some time. I'm shedding obligations like a persian cat near a velvet jacket, in an attempt to stay sane. We're taking it in turns to sleep between 5am and 7am. Keith has an awful cough that he can't kick, which is keeping him up. We all have stuffy noses - thankfully, I seem to be getting over mine.

I don't know about you, but there are few things more yuck-O than toddler's green, slimey or crusty noses. If I get the chance I'm shoving a tissue at Zack and telling him to blow. This morning I had, had it, and got out some ear-buds and cleaned Zack's nose. He had a model nose after that for all of 30 minutes, until it started streaming. Tsk tsk... nice one Ruth.