Closer to crawling

Caelan the brave

He got his five month immunisations on Monday - over a month late but at least it's done now. He was such a brave boy and didn't even cry, I was really scared because the last two times he's screamed his poor wee head off, but this time he was great. Well he is over six months old ya know - he's a grown-up! hehe The nurses were all amazed at his size and couldn't get over how tall he is. It's great to have such a big, strong boy.

He was pretty sleepy for the rest of the day and a little grizzly but all in all he was pretty damned good. Unfortunately for Chris he woke at 6am on Tuesday morning screaming his head off and wouldn't settle, he screamed for over an hour. My poor boys! When I got home at about 7:15am they both weren't happy, Caelan had red swollen eyes and Chris was incredibly over the constant screaming. I know what that's like and it just aint fun when nothing will calm him. He wasn't hungry, he wasn't wet/pooey, he was just screaming. Caelan looked at me with his red puffy eyes, tears still rolling down his face and gave me a little smile - made me want to cry! That was probably to do with the immunisations I'd say. Apart from that all's fantastic.

Six months old and talkin'

Caelan turned six months on Saturday - holy moly he's half a year old! WOW!!! Ok I'd promised myself I wouldn't do that whenever I talk about how old he is, I know it's boring and I know you're probably rolling your eyes and saying "I know, I know, you can't believe it... Yeah, yeah, you're amazed and wonder how it happened... You say it all the time, you're shocked at how quickly the time goes by..." But OH MY GOD I REALLY AM!!! hahaha I'm sorry but how on earth do I have a six month old son?!?! Well of course I know HOW I have a son, we all know that - there were birds, and some bees, and I'm pretty sure there was a Chris there too... Annnnyway! He's six months old :)

Swimming rocked! He absolutely LOVED it. He had the bestest time and flapped and splashed the whole time - it was too cute. We knew he'd enjoy it as he loves bathtime but he really loved it - it was so lovely to watch. Chris got in the pool with him - it's their weekend time which is nice cause he spends heaps of time alone with Mummy. Also Mummy just about vomits at the idea of getting into togs!! hehe Though watching made me want to be in there with my guys. It was so awesome, I was smiling, giggling and snapping away madly, whilst feeling incredibly proud - 'My little boy is swimming!'. His friend George is taking the same class so they had a little chat in the pool (cute last photo).

AND he started saying dadadadaaa yesterday!! 'My little boy can talk!'. Wow this motherly pride this is pretty intense. We were in The Baby Factory and I heard this baby talking, well kinda shouting and I thought 'Hehe cute', kept walking 'Hang on!!!!! There are no other babies around!!!'. I spun around and looked at our little boy in his buggy talking. Ooohhhhh how excited I got. I think Chris thought I was crazy, but my lord it was so exciting. I think Caelan thought I was crazy too. Just like he'd been doing it all the time he was shouting and really happy about it. Yesterday was a great day - he was really happy and talkative, the cold had improved and the sun was a shinin'. Yesterday was a great day.

Anything else... Oh he's started to have the odd bit of finger food too. He's had apple and pear whenever I'm eating one and bread and banana. He thinks it's great. Tis a very messy exercise this feeding oneself but boy oh boy it sure is fun!

Oh and teeth, or I should say ow and teeth. He thinks it's really funny to use them now - youchy! The two bottom middle ones are out of the gums now, they're not very high yet thank goodness. It's all a happenin now - which reminds me, he can sit on his own for much longer now and has just worked out that he can put his hand down to stop him falling if he starts toppling over to one side. What a clever boy!

It all changes so quickly

He's got teeth!! They're not all the way up but they're a comin'. The bottom middle tooth on the right is level with the gums, but out of the gums and will be fully out in no time I'm sure. How exciting! That's all - just wanted to post that as I made a point to say he had none yesterday and just a day later THEY'RE HERE! Amazing. Well I'd better go get him so he can test them out on my nipples! hehe

Still gummy

Aside from all the dribble, shoving everything into his mouth and rubbing, playing with ears and general grizzlyness - we have no signs of teeth. He's also got another cold dammit all - it started with coughing and sneezing in the weekend and now he's a snot machine again. He's one of those lovely babies that has snot running from his nose to his lip - nice!! I always said I'd NEVER have one of those too :) hehe It's also one of Chris' pet hates - we're now "those" parents, with a scungy baby who has a trail of snot from nose to mouth. Nice - he'll be sucking it in soon. Ugh - before I make myself sick I'll change the subject!

Saturday was ahhhh... great :) We were very prepared, got ready early, packed Caelan's bag, feed him - he had a small lunch so as not to be too full when swimming, cancelled an appointment to see a house and off we went. We were running early!! Awesome. I'd charged the camera batteries so there was no chance of running out. All morning and on the way there we kept telling Caelan he was gonna be swimming soon and how exciting that was. We get there (still early) and have pick of the carparks, waited for a while and then went to find out where the swimming pool was. The pool looked awesome - we got more excited. We then realised that we were a week early! hahaha I always knew it was on the 7th but for some reason I was a week ahead of myself. I asked Chris the date and he said it was the end of September. OPSY! hahaha We told Caelan it was a test run and now that we know the best way to get there, we're all prepared for next week. Poor little boy! Stupid parents!

Beaches and horses

What a lovely weekend!! We went up north and gawd it was wonderful to get out of Auckland! All three Clarks, with dog in tow had a great time. The drive up was really good with just a bit of crying before Orewa and then quiet for the rest of the way - whew! It was starting to get pretty stressful, I wanted to kill the other drivers - ram them while screaming "Get the feck outta the way, my baby's crying!". hehe We spent Saturday with Sola and Mark in Ruakaka. Caelan had great fun with Aunty Sola again - he thinks she's real funny. He loved meeting another dog too, giggling as he patted her like he does with Toa - super duper cute.

On Sunday he had his first "real" beach trip - I say "real" as these Auckland things just aren't beaches! ;) It was a glorious day. Caelan loved having his hands in the water and grabbing handfuls of sand - thank god he didn't eat it! We spent Sunday at the farm, he loved seeing his Great Grandma, Grandma and cousin again and meeting all the animals! Everyone thought he was just gorgeous - of course! hehe And HUGE - of course! hehe He was soooo good, we were really worried about how he'd sleep but he was amazing and went to sleep when he was supposed to without a peep. Hurrah!

Last night was a different story! Not sure what happened but he woke at 12:30am screaming his head off. We just couldn't calm him for ages - it was so sad. He wouldn't even open his eyes - poor thing was absolutely frantic for ages. I tried to feed him to calm him but he didn't want to know about it. Finally he calmed down a bit and I was able to feed him - not because he was hungry, just to calm him and settle him down. Probably shouldn't have but he was just soooo upset and that worked. We're wondering if perhaps it was night terrors - if so, it can just bugger off and not happen again thanks. He woke again at 4:30am doing the same thing but wasn't screaming for as long and was able to be calmed relatively soon. Needless to say, all three Clarks are bloody tired today.

Naked bubba

All good in our hood

Everything's really going well. Caelan's such a happy chappy now and the lowered dose is going well *touch wood*! Hurrah!! He's really happy and relaxed most of the time which is oh so nice for Mummy and Daddy.

Saturday was a hideous, hideous day and night though - not sure why but he was really, really grizzly and unsettled. It got worse over the afternoon and evening and ended with him screaming uncontrollably for close to two hours in my arms. Nothing would calm him, even just a little - it was his worst scream for the whole time, no breaks, no lessening. It was really horrible. Chris had gone out for the night and got home to Caelan and I sitting together crying. Poor little boy then konked out finally. Poor, poor boy. Poor Mummy too goddamit all! hehe He woke on Sunday completely fine and has been since. So it was just a bad time for him, which all babies get unfortunately!

He's now eating meat and hates it! hahaha But I'm sure he'll get used to it soon. Ugh it really disgusts me feeding it to him (me being a non-meat eater and all), it smells so yucky! Also I can't test the temperature in my own mouth how I have been up until this point, that's Chris' job when he's home and the fingers job when he's not.

Caelan starts his swimming lessons soon. SOOOO EXCITING! We can't wait. He starts on Saturday the 7th of October, a couple of weeks time. Super excited bout this :) I'm sure he'll love it. Ohhhh that reminds me, I'd better check out Trademe for some swimming togs for him.

Here's Caelan last Friday with all his friends from coffee group. Left to right - Porter, Liam, Bella, Mitchell, Grace, Lily and Caelan. Aint he a biggun?!

Oh the fear

We doing something terrifying... we're trialling reducing Caelan's losec. GULP! It's real scary and the thought of him turning back into The Screaming is horrifying, it truly is. But we hate giving him all this crap so have only given him half for the last two days. He has the morning dose and we haven't given him the night one. I dunno how it's going... Last night he was really unsettled, but then again we did go out to Dressmart to get him some more clothes (constantly having to do this at the rate he grows!) and he missed a sleep. So it was more than likely just overtired - we hope! He screamed this morning for 40 minutes too - dunno what that was but I do hope it wasn't reflux related pain. He stopped though and was able to be calmed so I'm thinking not...

While doing the groceries last week I saw a note on the board for a wooden highchair for sale - $10! I knew Chris wouldn't like it as he hates the wooden ones but it was 10 dollars! So we discussed it and decided that even if we just use it till we can get the one we want and then sell it. On Saturday morning off I went to check it out, it lived down the scungiest street and in an even scungier block of flats. I walked through the mud and gunk, past piles of rubbish and discarded furniture and kids toys to the door. UGH. Surprisingly it was in really good condition - needless to say I scrubbed the shit outta it and then disinfected it before Caelan could even look at it!

We definitely wont be keeping it though, it doesn't have any straps to hold him in safely and it's not very stable. Where the seat sits on the legs is really unstable and it's nearly fallen off twice. We used it in the weekend but then last night I was back to feeding him in the bouncinette (as horrible as that is to use!) as it's safer. He really enjoyed sitting up to eat and being able to look around at everything. So we shall get one soon.

Yesterday Caelan did a 180 degree turn while on his tummy. It was so funny, we put him down facing his toys and we were on the couch behind him. 'Stuff the toys!' he thought 'I wanna see you guys' and turned around to see us. He didn't roll, he just turned on his tummy - shouting and making monster noises the whole time. So cute!

A "normal" bedtime

We have succeeded! Last night Caelan went to bed at 7:30pm and slept till 7am. YAY!! Well he's been sleeping till 7am for ages but the point is he WENT TO BED AT 7:30pm. That's blimmin' awesome! He was going to bed too late so Chris and I had no time together, Caelan would go to bed and we'd pass out. haha Quite literally!! We've been working towards getting him a bit earlier each night and finally we hit the target. Bloody marvelous!

He's also changed from three hourly feeds to four hourly - this was a bit damned scary, we thought it might make him wake in the night, but no. For the last two days he's fed four hourly and has still slept through, so we were right - it was time! God we're good!!! hehehe

Another thing that happens a bit more now is sitting unassisted. Well not really, ok it could be called just balancing for a wee while at time. Sometimes three or so minutes - but he's sitting by himself, this is exciting. Chris and I both get super excited and tell him he's "Such a good boy!!", he's probably wondering what the hell his mad parents are on about now... ah well.


This is my friend Olivia - she's got reflux too. We play once a fortnight and I spew on all her toys.


You're real pretty Olivia.

He's huge!!

Our little budda is now 9.03kg and 68.5cm and doing incredibly well - well that's what our Plunket nurse said this morning anyway! As usual I found it a complete waste of time aside from the weigh and measure. The weekend was great, we were able to go out to friends for dinner on Friday night and our good little boy took a bottle from Grandma and Granddad - horray. He was really good for them and went straight back to bed - BUT woke at 3:3am. GGRRRRRRRR! We think it just must have been because it wasn't us who put him to bed, can't think of any other reason cause he's been sleeping through the night for yonks. Chris went in and calmed him down and rocked him back to sleep - he's such a good'un! Of course it wouldn't have worked had I gone in to try as I'm feeding lady - he would have wanted to feed instead then. Well that's what we think anyway - poor Chris! The rest of the weekend was great and Chris loved his first Fathers Day yesterday - we showed him how much we love him :)

The last three photos are of Caelan's friends from coffee group - Bella, Tyler, Liam and Porter.

New noises

Caelan's just discovered he can make more noises - he now sounds like a chimpanzee. Soooo cute! He's oooooing all over the place and loving it. Everything is going marvellously at the moment, he's happy and well and the sun is a shinin'. What more could one ask for?!