Byron at one month old

I'm a little late with my one-month-old post for Byron, and thought that I might include an update of Chels and the dog as well (for those of you who have been asking after them as well!).

Chelsea is doing well. She is definitely not as violent with Byron as she was in the first few weeks. She likes to rub his head and say 'ohhhh', and pat him tummy when he's crying. Which is a darn sight better than dropping brooms on his head, scratching him with one of my stray cotter-pins and trying to pull out his hair...



She has been especially sulky lately though, which is a challenge for Mark and I. We're hoping she will grow out of it soon. VERY soon! Last week I tripped over her cabbage patch doll, and was caught off guard by some very pretty 'makeup'. I don't know when she decided to do this to her baby doll! Probably while I was busy with Byron on one of the many occasions! :P




Byron is doing well. He gained another 500g last week, bringing him up to 5.7kg or 12lb, 9oz! Chelsea weighed this much when she was three months old! He's getting into a pattern with his sleeping now too, which is good for me as I can start to predict when he'll wake for feeds. He's not so obliging with his smiles though. Chelsea was giving out smiles quite readily at this age, but you have to work really hard to get one from Byron! And even then, they're only fleeting. I hope to catch one on camera soon.



And lastly - Mr Oliver... what can I say about him...

He has been quite naughty lately as well. He's just starting barking a lot. At everything and anything. At the worst possible times (ie. 2am in the morning after I've just gotten Byron back to sleep or 8pm in the evening after we've just gotten Chelsea to sleep!). So poor Mr Oliver has had his bed/house relocated to a special spot in the back corner of the yard. Mark has done an awesome job propping his house up off the ground and away from damp, and making him his own covered area to keep the sun and rain off. We're hoping that having him sleep away from our neighbours fence will prevent a lot of his need to bark. Fingers crossed!

Byron at two weeks

For lack of anything bear related to post about today, I decided to share some more photos of Byron. (I have a feeling that for the next little while the bears are going to have to compete with the baby for blog 'air time'!)

Byron is now just over two weeks old. I took him to have his hearing checked at the hospital yesterday, as he failed the first test they did (in a rush) before we were discharged. After waiting two hours, the test only took 5mins and he passed with no worries. But I knew he could hear! When Chelsea cries he stops and turns his head towards her. When Mark sneezes, he flinches. And he sleeps much more soundly if I leave the pedestal fan on in the room for background noise...

It was weird being back there again. All the pregnant ladies were sitting in the same waiting room I used to sit in looking very hot and sorry for themselves. A tiny premmie baby arrived in one of those huge humidicrib set ups accompanied by 4 paramedics and a flustered new mum. And a tired looking woman emerged from the birth suite, pushing her brand new baby girl in one of those clear plastic cribs on the way back to the maternity ward. I watched her shuffling along with the catheter collection tube and bag swinging precariously by her legs and thought how bizarre it is that I was walking that exact same hall just 16 days ago! It feels like so much longer, and somehow like it was yesterday all at the same time!



Mark goes back to work on tuesday next week, so I am a little anxious about that. If it was just me and Byron - I'd have no concerns about being able to care for him. Likewise for just me and Chels. But me, Byron AND Chelsea... that's a whole other story! But who knows, maybe she'll surprise me and be really helpful when its just the three of us... fingers crossed!

(oh, and I don't know if you can see that little bruise on Byron's arm in the photo above - just near the inside of his elbow closest to my body? click on the photo to make it bigger if you like. That is actually a self-inflicted injury! Not a Chelsea one, as I'm sure you thought I was going to say. He was looking for something to suck on yesterday when I took the two of them to playgroup, and before I knew it he'd given himself a hickey! Funny little guy.)

The Ticking Clock

Lately I've been feeling like time is really starting to get away from me. I'm 31 weeks preg tomorrow, which basically means a new baby in our lives in about 2 months. Possibly earlier depending on my blood pressure. This is a really exciting prospect, but also a really scary one. I think it really hit me when i found this image above. Baby is actually quite big already! He just gets a little longer and a little fatter over the next few weeks...

I think I'm mostly anxious because I've worked hard on Chelsea and have her in a really good routine at the moment. I know when she'll be going down for her sleeps which gives me time to do my crafty stuff. And she sleeps through the night... We'll be going all the way back to square one with a newborn again. Only this time I'll have a toddler as well as a newborn. I know I'll survive, but I think the bears will take a serious backseat.

I have so many ideas I want to get made before baby! It feels like there aren't enough hours in the day sometimes!



And then I look back at photos of Chelsea as a newborn, and I can't wait to have a tiny baby in my arms again. Ah, the conflicted emotions of a pregnant woman! :P

Bubba number two

When we were going through all of the uncertainty about the gender of bubba number two, I decided to have a 3D scan to see if that would help shed some light! It was an awesome experience, and we got a good look at what appeared to be 'boy bits'. (Then I followed it up with the urine test which also said boy).

Yesterday I took some my family - Mum, little sister, best friend, Dad, step-mum, mother-in-law, Mark and Chelsea, with me to have another 3D scan to see if we could get a good look at his little face (and maybe confirm the gender again).

Bubba didn't want to cooperate! They got me to dance around the room, drink cold water, get down on all fours with my bum in the air, lay on a pregnancy massage table so my belly could hang down... nothing worked! We got these six blurry images. (The package I wanted would have provided over 100 images!). They were very apologetic and didn't charge me very much, but I still felt disappointed. Especially as I'd dragged all my family half way across the city for it! AND - they couldn't get a look at his bottom either! So we've decided to have a girls name picked out as well - just in case!

We did get to see him yawn and suck his fist, and hear his heartbeat. So that was nice. I've labled some of these photos with some text to help you make out what the images show (click on the image to bring it up larger). Each one is taken in quick succession of the previous. It basically just shows him munching on his little fist! Pretty cute really. If you can see it! (

The most gorgeous 8-day old in the world!

I just had to share this picture of my friend's gorgeous 8-day old son that I captured today. He is the sweetest, easiest, calmest newborn I have ever met!


I whispered in his ear that I was putting a request in for one just like him when my baby is due in January! Lets hope it works!