in patagonia with Joaquin

In Patagonia,
In Esquel, with my family.
Joaquin is asleep in the cabin, he is sleeping only one sleep a day but I think he is still very tired. He does sleep well at night, going to sleep at 9.30pm and waking up at 9am already full of beans.
He is a very funny little boy, he loves to put crayons together and likes to pile things of similar structure together.
Yesterday he was playing with the crayons on a cushion and lined them up together.
He can hold a pencil and we all saw him walking around with my mother's notebook and a pencil making notes holding the pencil in his hand as if he was taught at school, yet he is only 15 months old. He knows how to draw with crayons on paper as well.
He is eating well and still enjoys veges with tomato based sauce.
Jas and I think it is so cute how he calls Jas "Dadi" with such a strong English accent. Were does he get that from?

Saturday night

Last night was quite good out. We went to the pub with a few friends for another friend's party. Joaquin had a ball, he flirted with women and even got to play the pokies. Not not really! However he did hang out with my friends, and was very smitten with a particular lady who we all just met: N boyfirend's flatmate. She was playing with him on the lounge and talking to him and he just talked and hugged her and forgot about his parents "Mama and Da Da".
He was walking around a lot, thankfully instead of crawling on the dirty pub carpet. He really wanted to walk to the poker machine room, even though children are not allowed inside. I wonder WHY?, bright lights from the poker games may attack children to want to play and live the rest of their life gambling in a smoke-free alcohol ridden establishment. RRRrrrrRR isn't that want pubs want? Future gamblers, future drinkers.

We had dinner at the pub. Joaquin had fish and chips, from Jas's plate. I on the other hand tried to go a bit fancy and ordered noqui with pesto, olives and chicken and realised "Never order anything that is not pub food at a pub, no noqui, no pasta, no fancy shmancy, just chips, fish, burgers, steaks. When in Rome do as the Romans. I keep forgetting that. I do.
Well Joaquin was very sociable with everyone and had rosy cheeks and a smile on his face most of the night. My friend latter confessed to me that my son "is a credit to me and my partner, as he is confident and sociable and really happy little boy". Ahaa that is nice, makes me feel good in the tummy... nice.
I hope he is happy, I hope we are good parents. Are we good parents taking our little boy to the pub on a saturday night where there are drinks and pokies and drunk people swearing and screaming? I do not know. No se. I honestly do not know.
We stayed at the pub till 9pm and at 9 Jas volunteered to take Joaquin home and get him ready for bed. He is a great dad and I on the other hand stayed at the pub and drank a gin and tonic and tried to enjoy myself sans family.
I did have fun reminiscing with my friend about our youth but I did secretly yearn to be at home with my two favourite boys, snuggled in bed. In the end I got a lift home with a friend and was at home by 12. Not a late night but it was good to get out. Joaquin was already sleeping and Jas was up watching a movie hanging out with his Iphone. He does not need me now, he has his beautiful black Iphone.

at home on saturday

Today was a beautiful winters day, the sky was gorgeous blue and the sun out but a cool southern wind was blowing bringing icy cold air from the southern oceans.
I have been sensitive lately, and upset about little things. I try to keep the house clean, look after my son, I am trying to run and get fit and trying to do some paleontolgy.
I have so many things to do but in the end the pile just keeps growing just as the laundry. I even have began to iron Joaquin's clothes, and Jas mocks me saying that he "does not want me to be a domestic goddess". I do not know why I have started to iron, I guess I do not want to see my baby in wrinkly clothes nor for that matter do I want to see any family members in wrinkly clothes, but if someone has to take it for the team I guess I will stay in wrinkly un-ironed clothes and my two boys can be wrinkle free.

How do mothers do everything? How do they keep their clothes wrinkle free is a mystery to me. I should research this but then I would probably spend hours in front of the computer looking for blogs about ironing and women.

Anyway today was a great day. We started the day with scrambled eggs on toast made by J. S. A and Joaquin seemed to enjoy his. I do have to spread it on his toast so he mistakes it for vegemite, but I also was able to give him some in a spoon. He loves eating and watching morning tv JJJ (the music video show with the doctor) listening to music and dancing along in his high chair. He loves music.
After breakfast I managed to get an appointment with a hairdresser for Jas. Yes he was gay but his salon was around the corner and like I told Jas, "I would rather have my hair cut with a gay man than a woman", gay men have so much more style.
While he was having his locks treated, I stayed at home cleaning and trying to get over our little fight over putting clothes away. I asked Jas to put his clothes away and he said something to the extent "that I am bossy woman and why should he do as I say". Anyway after I threw all his clothes around the house in my hysterical fashion I calmed down and he was able to put his shoes on and go to the hairdresser, while i stayed sitting on the lounge feeling sorry for myself.
I was then able to get out of this ridiculous state and clean up and get ready to go outside with Joaquin, who was just playing on the ground unaware of our fights, well not really I am sure he knows when we fight and get upset.
In the end I texted him and we met up and I said sorry and asked him to also apologise for not listening to me or doing what I ordered. I just want a clean house, a clean bedroom that is my reason for being a cranky old fart.

After we said our sorrys we went for a walk up the road as I had to buy a friend a birthday present. Jas actually looks younger with his hair cut, clean cut and nerdish.
On our walk, while taking about how bad a person i am, and how Jason's hair looks Joaquin managed to get so bored with our conversation that he fell asleep and slept in his pram and we then managed to get to a cafe (Bellagio Cafe) and had lunch. Joaquin woke up and started to eat all my pumpkin salad even scoffing down some of the baby spinach. We ended up buying him a chicken and cheese sandwich on turkish and it was really good. I told Jas "this sandwich is way better than a subways one. The truth is, there is no comparison. Bellagio vs Subway, go with the one with the wanky name!
We are so pleased Joaquin is eating well now, I am so pleased more than anything, I think it is the Jewish mama coming out in me and I just want my son to eat and eat and eat!

We had a lazy afternoon walking home in the wind. At home Jas played with his Iphone and like Dooce says in her blog:
"Interestingly, I have received a dozen or so emails from male readers of this site that said something to the tune of yes, sex is good, but it doesn't come close to the iPhone. And then the signature of the email would say SENT FROM MY IPHONE 3G. Ladies, I think I just stumbled across our salvation".
I think Jas likes his Iphone more than me at the moment, he plays with it in bed and then when he turns off the light then he hugs me.

At 4.30pm a friend came over with the excuse to use my toilet as she was in the area. She played with Joaquin and I was just about to put him down for a sleep, he became super excited and then I handed him to Jas and said "Byee! I am going for a coffee with my friend can you put him down for a sleep?" See I am a bad mother. The truth is I felt a bit liberated being out without my little one, sometimes it is good, sometimes it feels as all my legs and arms and organs are missing when he is not there. In the end Jas told me how hard it was to put him down as he just wanted to play and then when J took his toys away from his cot he cried and roared like a lion until he fell asleep. He is going through a faze, fighting any time he has to sleep in the afternoon. As he is more mobile, he is walking and I think may be thinking " I can walk now, why should I sleep like all the other babies during the day? Let me play Mama and Da Da, I do not want to sleep!"
I may have to start to put him down for a sleep a bit earlier say 4pm and not 4.30-5.00. He is overtired by then and just does not want to sleep, he wants to play and smile and talk in his cot. We have to hold him down as he want to get up and stand up in his cot and sleep. I read in the baby bible that at 13 months they do need a few hours of sleep through the day and the best option if they are not wanting to sleep is to get them obviously in a routine, wine them down before they go to sleep such as reading a story in a darkened room, and then put them down at the same time every day and if they want to play then simply just take away their toys and let them cry. Well Jas did that and he slept over an hour in the afternoon and we were able to get ready to go down to the pub for my friend's party.

my little munch munch

I just put Joaquin down for a sleep, he had breast milk even though he secretly just wanted the milk bottle (we use glass now due to the dangers of using plastic that heats up). He loves a good bottle of milk, but he does like to breast feed as well at night I think. I am not sure if I have any milk left, maybe.
I have been eating Turkish delights with rose water, they are spectacular blocks of sweet pink softness and just leave a mixture of freshness and rosewater in my mouth, like eating solid pink bubbles. I am thinking what we will have for dinner tonight and how my teeth are starting to hurt from all that sugar in the turkish pink sugar bombs.
Oh well, I took Joaquin today to a family day care center near the university. The lady or carer was really nice, from the UK and has a 2 year old son with a welsh name. On Monday she cares for another little boy who is nearly 3 and soon will be off to preschool at the end of the month. There is a garden outside to play in the grass and sun, they do cooking and play games and do interactive activities such as paintings. Makes me feel like a bad mum as I do not do any of these things.
The carer call her J, said Joaquin had beautiful eyes and thought it was weird his eyes were already green, as "green is the color that forms last in eye color" well I did not know that, i did not even know you could tell he had green eyes. Jas and I say he has green or hazel eyes, based on the fact we both have green or hazel eyes.
The carer was also impressed I am still breast feeding J and said they are "pro breastfeeding" there. Which is good, I think.
I did like the atmosphere and "feeling" at J's family day care house and I am really thinking it would be good for Joaquin, but at the same time thinking do I really want someone else to care for my son while I am off at university looking at tiny insey winsey teeth and bones belonging to long dead mammals that are over 20 million years old?
I am not sure, I have to think about this.
After going to "check out" the family day care center I walked over to Uni and had lunch with K who is 20 weeks pregnant and saw the other members of the lab. Joaquin is always friendly and cute, he is shy at first but very placid and smily and loves playing trying to say everyone's names.
By the way it has been 20 min and he has not gone to sleep again, and was just crying and standing up on his cot trying to get the music box to play again. I had to calm him and put him back down in his cot, cover him with the blanket and put the music on again. I pat his tummy and he calms down, and then when I leave he cries. He has been crying the last few days when we put him down, he is starting to understand what bye bye and chau and when we leave him alone means. I am not sure if he is scared or just does not want to sleep.
He stood up by himself today for 5 secs and looked very natural. He will be walking soon I think. He also stood on the mini trampoline at the carer's house and held onto the bars and bent his knees and moved up and down .... jumped. He has never been on a trampoline before but he saw the two other boys on it before hand and wanted a go and just did what they were doing. Very perceptive I think. I love my little munch munch (his nick name the last few months)

Joaquin is 51 weeks old

Joaquin is nearly one, yes 12 months old. I wish I had done something similar to Dooce and written a letter to Joaquin for every month or milestone he has overcome, like she did for Leta her daughter who is now 4 or 52 months old.
I was sitting with him on the ground (before I was lying on the ground asleep and he was waking me up with wet mouth kisses and hair pulling) and he came up to me and bit me on the shoulder.
When he was 8 months old whenever he bit, it meant he was tired. So when we told our friend to babysit him when he was 10 months old, we gave her a list of instructions and one was if he bites he is tired, give him a bottle and he may probably sleep.
Now i am not too sure what bitting means. Is it that he is tired? Maybe. Is it that he is bored, very possibly! Is it that he is hungry? could be as well. All I know is that as I type this I am thinking I should feed him soon and put him down for a sleep and I am really feeling the baby bite on my left shoulder.

very tired, up all night

Joaquin is nearly 9 months old and I am nearly 34 (in a few days time). Time is really zipping past as the cliche dictates.
I am so tired as he woke up at 12.45am crying unhysterically and I could not feed him as he was crying and sobbing. Finally i talked to him and calmed him down walking around the room and he fed. He was even smiling and jas had to hold him while I went to the toilet.
Then he woke up at 5am and I fed him and I put him back to sleep and all i heard was the jingle and rattle of blanky bear and no peep from him. At 6.30am Jas alarm went off, and I still not had gotten back to sleep and I got up with him and made some coffee and breakfast and I had a shower and at 7.15am in the middle of breaky, he starts crying again and so i got him out of his cot and breastfed him again. I put some bonjela on his two top incisors. I am not sure why he is out of sorts, I think he may be hungry as last week he was off his veges and now may be hungry, and it is all because of the two upper incisors that came out last week (Monday 25th Feb one came out, and soon shortly after I think on Wednesday or Thursday the second one came through). He vomited his food twice last week, on Monday and Wednesday. We don't know if it was because he chocked and had a reflex or due to teething.
We bought Annabel Karmel book on food for babies and toddlers so maybe that will help me get inspired and feed him different things. Last night had baby pasta with zucchini, broccoli, salmon from a can, white sauce and small amount of shredded parmasan. He loved it, then a whole can of baby custard (banana and chocolate. We had some dulce de batata con chocolate for desert that we bought from Norton St Deli in Bondi Junction, for only 3 dollars and cents. Good price, very cheap.
Ok back to bed
besos

Lazy Sunday asado

Today is Sunday. It is nearly 8pm and the sun is still out, it is still incredibly light out and it had rained before. It does not get dark until 11pm.
We had an asado with my family and Sebas postdoc director who is visiting El Sur from Cordoba.
We had a little lamb on the asado and chorizos with a salad made of freshly picked lettuce from my mum's garden. I also made chimichurri with fresh tomatoes, garlic, parsley, orgegano, oil and viniger. We had lunch and played some trivial pursuit. Joaquin had a little nap before lunch and only slept for 30 min and I went in to get the trivia from the cabania and he was crying in his little cot. Poor munchkin. I got him up fed him and Jas made his lunch (a small plate with lamb cut up in small pieces, fresh peas from the garden semi-mashed, small baby cubes of carrot and pumpkin mash. He ate it all. He also had some grapes (just the fleshy bit inside) and laughs so much when Seba throws the grapes into the air and tries to catch it with his mouth. He had a laughing fit yesterday in the afternoon when we were having lunch. After lunch today we tried to put him to sleep in the cot as he was so tired but he cried quite a bit and it really is draining to see this to go through this for both Jas and I. Finally I got him out of the cot breastfed him and he fell asleep and we put him in the cot to sleep. This was at 6.30pm and he is still alseep now. I think he is quite upset as his second tooth came out yesterday.
I would like to go to the park camping as we have less than a week left in Esquel. I will miss my parents my brother so much. It is terrible. I hope we will be back in September!

The night the lights went out

Today is a beautiful gorgeous day in Patagonia. It rained all day yesterday and snowed on the mountains and was cold outside.
We managed to go for a walk in the rain up the hill and by the river and there was a high cloud on the mountain Sierro 21 and was raining. Even though we were all rouged up it was cold, we were wet and the rain really felt like snow as it touched the skin on my hands.
As we turned away to walk home with the dogs we looked up at the Sierro and it was covered with fresh snow, it looked like a big cake with icing sugar or as Andrea said Panatone con azucar inplpable.
Joaquin stayed at home and mum was getting him to sleep for a little afternoon nap, mind you afternoon here is 9pm. That is the time we went for walk. It was still light when we got home at 10.10pm. Andrea and I left Seb and Jas who went back to look for the dog leash that Seb had left behind on the walk. We left them and went to the local corner shop to buy some cheese as my dad had ordered us to get some for his polenta with chorizo colorado he was making. On our way back from the shops we saw Seb and Jas with the two dogs and the two leashes walking down the street on the way home and we met up and all walked back together. People were already coming out from their home as it was no longer raining but there was a chill in the air.
When we got home wet and cold Dad was nearly finished the polenta and we had also bought some pategrass cheese to have as a snack with some galletitas. Joaquin was sitting on the mat playing, my mum was on the sewing machine sewing a bag she is making for me. I saw that Joaquin was still tired and very hyperactive. My mum told me he had slept nearly the whole time we were away and was now playing by himself. He sits up very well straight and tall.
Jas sat down with him on the mat and Joaquin was trying to climb all over him like a koala. This is the first time we have seen this happen as if Joaquin is trying to get up and stand up, but he can't crawl yet so we are waiting for that milestone. At 10.30pm Jas went to the cabin to get the bath ready and I was cleaning up getting ready to take Joaquin up to the house (rugged up as it was really cold outside for mid summer) and suddenly the lights went out. Damm that. I was a bit stressed and we were all looking for the torch. My mum and dad were calm and it was still light outside. I finally found the torch and then took Joaquin to the cabin were Jas had prepared his bath. My mum gave us some candles and Jas lit them and we bathed him. Joaquin must have sensed I was stressed as in the bathroom he peed on the floor while in my mum's arms. He had a little bath by candle light and I was playing with torch with him, he was trying to get it when I left the torch on the soap-stand. He loves anything new and knows when something in different. He also loves having a bath and playing with the plastic frogs in the bath.
After the bath we changed him and dressed him in his warm polar pjs and I got ready to feed him by candle light and as soon as i got started I thought to myself if the lights come back on we will all be blinded I better tell Jas to turn the light-switches off just in case and then lo and behold the lights came on!
Then i fed him and he fed well and we wrapped him and Jas gave him a bottle top up and put him in his cot and we kissed him goodnight. He cried for a while protesting and sobbing and I left him with Jas and went to the house to get ready for dinner. Jas waited until he was alseep and then came down and we finally ended up having dinner (polenta con chorizo colorado) at about 11.30. Poor little munchkin was really tired!

i am sicky mama

I am just writing a quick post about how my life is going with my little munchkin!
He is having a small sleep but and it is 11.21am. He woke up at 8.50am for a feed and was quite congested and then I put him back down in the cot without the quilt and just wrapped with a wrap and covered by a sheet. I think he has been sleeping with too much bed clothes and I worry now that he was too hot.
He has been sick with a cold for over a week and a half, from the weekend we went to Scone. I think he got sick from being with his little toddler cousin who was also sick with a cold. It is his first real cold but thankfully he has had no temperature. I think he is at the last part of the cold so hopefully he just has congestion and sniffles and then this will go away. But it is upsetting to here him breathing with a rattling noise when he feeds.
I also was sick but now getting over it too. It was horrible so I feel for him. But otherwise he has been a good little boy. we went to a bbq on Saturday night he was well behaved did not cry and slept and ate. He had a little sleep for 30 min at the bbq and then ate and had a longer sleep afterwards and was still asleep when we got home and put him back in the cot. he is such a cutie!

trials and ways of the world

Finally Friday is here and the week has gone slow.
It rained quite a bit and on the television the news said this morning that there was a weather warning for Sydney and I expected hailstones like in Lismore.
So with trepedation I ran down the street to meet Gaby and Isabella and with Joaquin in the pram and the sky so grey and angry we walked down to the beach to meet the other mothers.
It did not rain until much later and we all had lunch together inside the pub, all the mums and their babies. I had a hamburger even though my mother tells me not to eat meat that has been processed together to form a patty that is not cooked properly. But I ate it anyway and felt a bit guilty. The other mums had fish or pasta or chicken schnitzel.
I fed him and he fell asleep on me so I could eat the chips while talking to the other mothers and I felt some relief.
It really is grown up the atmosphere, the pub, but no one drinks beer or wine, though I did see some mothers from another group with older babies drinking away wine and beer.
Gaby and I stayed until the rain ended and then packed our babies up in their prams and we both placed our rain water gear over the prams to avoid raindrops on our babies.
We walked home and parted ways on our street, I walked up the street and stoped at the corner shop and bought some chocolate (how decadent) and placed some letters that I had to post in the post box. He was asleep by that time and I do not blame him, it was nice and warm in the pram covered in plastic wet weather gear. By the time I got up the hill the rain had started and i got him out of the pram and had to wake him and walked down the steps home. I left the pram on the street and then went back to get it.
He waited for me patiently and when i got in i made a cup of tea, I killed a few cockroaches and sat down to have some tea and chocolate.

Then I fed him and changed his nappy and wrapped him and placed him in the cot. I waited and waited for him to sleep, but he just kept moving and unwrapping himself and grunting and making noises and i went into my bed to wait for him to sleep and he did not sleep. What happened then I do not know but while I was waiting for him to sleep I ended up sleeping for 10 min. When I woke up he was still grunting so I gathered he had not slept. So i put his music on again and then decided to wrap him and I went out of the room and turned the baby monitor on to hear him and he cried for 1 min not solid crying but protest cries and 2 minutes later he was asleep. So here I am waiting for Jas to come home from work and letting him sleep a little bit. Late but better late than never.

While i wait the upstairs neighbors make so much noise, I still consider them to be elephants stomping back and forth, screaming and causing havoc. I don't know how Joaquin stays sleeping through the noise, outside the wind is still howling.

Joaquin and afternoon sleeps

It is 3pm and just got the little munchkin to sleep in his cot during the day. He cried when I wrapped him but i had tried to whine him down before hand but he was already tired and upset.
Lets see how long this afternoon sleep lasts.
He cried and protested for about 10 min and then made some more protest sounds and fell asleep. I can't believe it I made a cup of tea like Jason said and then went to check on him as it was very quite and he was asleep. Great!
Jas has been putting him to sleep like this for a week or so and it has been working fine. His sleep lasts about 1 hour and a half nearly two. Wow if it lasts so long for me I do not know what I will do in that time. I am trying to finish a paper and start with some bandicoot fossils.
There is so much noise around the house with the upstairs elephant kids thumping around and building machinery outside. But he is still asleep.
My friend came to visit with her little 18 month old and he was walking around playing with everything, he actually played with the speaker pushing it and instead of it falling backwards it fell on him bruising him on the forehead. He got a little cut and a big bump. I hope he gets better.

Joaquin is 4 months today

Today Joaquin turned 4 months old (17 weeks old).
I am now at home and he has had a little sleep. He still only sleeps 20-30 minutes at a time and today he has slept once down at the pub with the mothers group, the second time in the pram when I was walking home and the third from 5.30 to 6pm. Now he on the play mat, he is a bit grumpy grabbing the hanging mobiles and the toys. He gets frustrated but he can grab things quite well now and gets frustrated when he grabs them and can not put them in his mouth.
He is wearing his dinosaur tshirt that my mother got him from Esquel that is for a 6 month old.
I went to the mothers group down at the beach and he was a bit grumpy there as well but overall he was well behaved and alert and looking at the other babies.
We mothers talked about everything from baby fat on our bodies to baby massage.

the baby whisperer

Today has been very busy and Jason tells me he does not know how i fit everything into my day.
I slept in until 8am, then I got ready and woke him up at around 10 and fed him (second feed for the day with first feed of the day at 8am). I got ready to go down to the park to do some exercise with other mothers. There were only two other mothers and their babies, I had walked there from home so that was good exercise to start with. It was quite hot but with a cool breeze and there are already a lot of peskie flies around Sydney. Joaquin was quite content in the pram while I walked there. He looks around in the pram and just sits there buckled up and slouched.
At the park I layed him down on the mat with the other babies and he watched the trees and skies and was patient. I even put him on his tummy and played with the grass pulling some of the grass out. he then got frustrated and I put him in the pram so he could sleep but he just cried and cried and did not want to sleep. So in the end I did some exercises with him, i held him when i did some sit ups and he smiled at me, i put him on the mat while i did push ups and he cried. he was very mimoso and just wanted me to cuddle him.
In the end we all left and I was going to walk home but I called Jas and he came and picked me up.
At home I made some sandwiches for lunch and then got ready to go to the university. I had expressed some milk so Jas gave him some while I was at uni and also got him to sleep. He put him in the cot (calmed him down beforehand by talking to him and walking him around the room in his arms) then he put him in the cot and he cried for 6 min and then miracously fell asleep and slept for 2 hours with out waking. That is a milestone as it is the first time he has slept without waking for 2 hours during the day. Jason is the baby whisperer.

Then they came to pick me up and he was quite a happy chappy. I fed him at home and we bathed him and I made dinner. Then we all went to bed

12 weeks today

My little munchkin is 12 weeks today, he is growing well, smiles a lot but was very grumpy yesterday. Perhaps because he had an upset tummy.
He also has gained over 300grams in the last week yeah!!! We are trying to put on weight on him as he is long and lean! (not like mummy who is frumpy and not a Clovelly yummy mummy.
Hopefully by mid-November I will shed the unwanted kilos by the time we hit Buenos Aires and Patagonia.
I am feeing better overall. My milk supply is up, I am more confident being a mum, I even went into uni to do some work on papers that I need to finish. I just have to work harder on the papers, finish them, do more walks a week (more exercise) and then i will be very happy with myself.
Today i will be out to the mothers group and maybe lunch at the beach with a friend and her bub.
Jas is going out for drinks after work so I will bath him and put him to bed tonight on my own, wish me luck, i need it. though he has been good as of late in the moses in the cot with the music/sea toy that plays music and has moving seahorses with bubbles and lights! He watches it and nods off to sleep with little crying.
He is asleep now so i better go and do my things before he awakes, i.e. have a shower.

grumpy bum joaquin

Today little one has been grumpy and miserable. I think it was his upset tummy and he funally did a large dirty nappy. He only is doing one every 4-5 days but they are big blow-outs and mustard in colour and normal for breastfed babies.
I tried too get him to cat-nap but to n o avail so after chatting with Jas with google-chat and him doing research 9from the web and his collegues) such as
How can i get my baby to nap
and
naps the basics
In the end I wrapped him, fed him, closed the blinds of the room and put him in his moses and cot and he slept for 2 hours and I was able to sleep 2 hours too and felt great but had very realist dreams.
So hopefully that will work in the future.
Just waiting now for Jason to get home from work so he can look after him while I cook dinner and clean the house a little bit. I guess I am a typical "mummy at home", worrying about housework and a clean home. But I am getting to do other things which keep my brain busy and I won't let my Phd in Paleontology go to waste, no siree!!! I will also finish my papers as it is a great oportunity now for them!

cat naps for the little man

I am sitting here on red lounge with Joaquin who is asleep in my arms.
I actually got him to have 2 cat-naps today one was for 20min the other 35 min. He usually does 20 min sleep cycles. So today he ate, played and slept. Not much crying just a bit before falling asleep on the bouncer.
So with him asleep on me now that is his third nap of the day.
I am getting to sleep small naps as suggested by Jason. We tried it out on the weekend at Scone and it works well. He does not like to sleep throughout the day but with small 20 min cat naps it is better than nothing and he is not as grizzly!

So Today with a little bit if order in my day I was able to have a shower at 7am when he was still sleeping, make the bed, do a load of washing and hang it outside, , make and have lunch, steralize bottles, and also write and send an important e-mail in spanish.
All this with limited crying!!!
It is 5pm i still have to do another load, feed him, give him a bath, make dinner, have dinner, organize my day for tomorrow.
Tomorrow I want to go for a walk and finish off both my papers. One I have to fix some changes and the other finish of.

Joaquin does not want to sleep

Just got Joaquin to sleep.
It is hard work, he is very alert and awake but with signs of tirdness:
unsettled behaviour, moving arms and legs, hands clenched tight, and small cries and shrieks.
So here is what i did to get my little active 10 week old to sleep during the day.
1) made sure he was fed
2)let him play a bit on mat
3)changed wet nappy
4)wrapped him (here is where complaints started)
5) Walked the living room floor up and down
6) sang to him an argentinian lullaby "Duermame me ninio)
7) he began to cry and cry and struggle and get upset
8) I patted his bum
9) then after 5 min of cries began to say shhhhh
10) This stopped his crying and he began to look at me in the eyes for 4 min with no blinking then began to blink and close eyes and finally sleep.
So then i sat down on couch with him he slept for 15 min.
Now he is awake again!!!!