Genevieve is now almost two weeks old and I am sleeping through the night.
Michelle gets up for a feed every few hours, but is mastering the art of
feeding while lying down and catching a bit of shut-eye. She sleeps well and
easily for now, and has started to have some reasonably aware and active times
in-between.
I left off in my last entry at day four. At that stage I had left the house
once since Michelle and Genevieve returned home, and that was to get takeaway
for the first night's dinner. We have left the house two more times, now. The
first was dinner and pictionary with friends. These friends have a new baby of
their own, so noone was embarassed when one or both started screaming :)
Pictionary was good, however Michelle and I are not the Pictionary powerhouse
team that we are (mostly due to Michelle) at trivial pursuit. In trivial
pursuit I take the science questions and Michelle takes everything else but
sport. Sport kind of gets lost somewhere between the cracks.
That was day six (6), and on day seven (7) we went into town for the one
week checkup. The good news is that mother and baby are still doing fine,
and it turns out that there is no bad news. Genevieve had put her birth weight
back on plus 220g, giving her a mass of 3.4kg.
When Michelle's milk came in feeds dropped to only five or ten minutes a
piece. Now that Genevieve's digestive system has gotten used to the new
foodstuff they are back up to around the 45 minute mark and she is sleeping
really well.
We have a bouncer, and her back is starting to become strong enough that
she can sit in it without a great deal of supportive padding. It is a useful
device. When she is awake between feeds Genevieve likes to be held. This is
something that is easy enough to do one handed. A surprising number of chores
can be achieved using only the other hand, but there is a limit. Having a
bouncer means that both hands can be free. Only a foot is occupied in keeping
her comforted.
I mowed the lawn yesterday. She enjoyed the mower sounds while I was going,
and afterwards we had a nice little stroll around the yard. We don't have all
that much to show, but she seemed fascinated by our immature macadamia tree
and liked the smell of crushed mint leaves.
The grass had been long for a few weeks. Unfortunately the mower blew a
head gasket after its last outing. Our grass is altogether too robust and
healthy. A mower's work is never done, and is never easy.
Benjamin
