Week six already! Time is passing so quickly that it feels that no sooner do we do a weekly update as it is time for another one. I guess that’s what they say about having fun, isn’t it. And we’re all having lots of fun at the moment.
More growing and more changing, and Ruben is a delightful little fella. We’ve discovered that he seems to prefer being out of the house and doing things than staying home too much, which suits everyone just fine. The mild weather this winter has particularly helped to make it easy to be out and about – we haven’t yet been out in a lot of rain just yet, and don’t have a waterproof sling. We have, however, seen some blue skies and bright sunshine, and when we were first out walking in the sun the other day it was Ruben didn’t quite know what had hit him and was trying to hide away from the sunshine. A few more days of sun though, and he seemed to get used to it, which was a relief… we joke about him being a bit of a Pommy, but he had us worried for a moment there 😉
Our big new adventure this week was Baby Yoga which we went to on Thursday at the Brockwell Lido (where we used to sometimes go for pregnancy yoga before he was born). We were in a class of about a dozen babies, two others were around Ruben’s age and the others were a few months older. Ruben seemed to really enjoy the class (especially after he’d had a feed and a nappy change – regular occurrences in Baby Yoga as you can imagine) and when he left he looked incredibly calm and contented.
Particularly useful was a little technique that we learned to help to get the babies to fart – Ruben is pretty windy down below and it often causes him quite a bit of discomfort as he’s pushing them out. So now, as we’re changing him, we can help him push a few out – it’s absolutely hysterical to do, but it also seems to make his life a little more comfortable, so that’s all good.
The boys were home alone for the first time this week when I went out on Tuesday evening to speak on a panel at a work event in town. The house wasn’t too trashed when I got home and they seemed to have a good time and do lots of sleeping, so that was all good.
We went to the movies, as usual on Friday morning and saw Juno, which was pretty cute. As usual, Ruben slept through the whole thing – I don’t think he’s even seen the big screen since we’ve started going to the movies… we can save that excitement for another week when he’s less settled perhaps.
Monday was a little sad as it was our last visit from midwife Annie. Ruben was in an appropriately grumpy mood and we will definitely miss her visits and the benefit of her baby wisdom. We have one last visit from Teresa next week and then it’s over to the NHS for us… starting with his eight week check up and first round of immunisations, and then we have to go to the baby clinic to see how much he weighs… I’m sure that will be the stuff of future exciting updates. At any rate, we gave great thanks to Annie for all her help and support over the past months and look forward to seeing her again at the next party 🙂
This week we went and visited the Vicar at the local parish church to see about getting Ruben baptised. His grandparents (maternal) and Aunty Anna are in town soon and we thought it might be a good timing. The vicar was very nice and was happy to oblige us with a quicky christening (we only gave him about two weeks notice) so we’ll be back on the 24th – assuming we’ve got Ruben’s wardrobe issues sorted between now and then. What does one wear to a christening these days?
Given the upcoming event, it seemed only right to stop by church on Sunday morning. We sat nice and close to the door to the creche but Ruben seemed to enjoy the beginning of the service and then drifted off to sleep and didn’t make a peep the whole time we were there, even when he got his very first blessing from the Vicar.
After church we went for a walk to Sydenham to go and check out The Dolphin, a pub we had heard did a good Sunday lunch. It certainly did, and we spent the best part of the afternoon there enjoying good food and lovely atmosphere, and a glass of red.
We visited our NCT friends Ros and baby Josie for a cup of coffee this week and had a very pleasant afternoon with them. On the walk on the way to their house we saw and heard a couple of woodpeckers in the trees on Cox’s Walk which was pretty exciting – they didn’t look much like Woody Woodpecker, but they sounded pretty similar.
Overall we had a pretty good week – there were a few lovely calm and relaxed days, and a few that involved quite a bit of yelling and not so much sleeping. Everything about Ruben continues to change apace and it’s a full time job keeping up with him at the moment – but especially in those calm and happy moments, and when he starts doing something new and gorgeous, it’s amazingly rewarding.
More new and gorgeous stuff next week I’m sure 🙂
nice cardigan!